WILMINGTON, Del.– Federal grand juries in Delaware have indicted three men for setting up sexual encounters and exposing explicit content to children through online chatrooms.
Federal prosecutors said 42-year-old Scott Allen Rupert of Pottstown, Pa., 38-year-old Stanley Eugene Morris of Preston, Md., and 55-year-old Jeffrey Darlin of Swarthmore, Pa., have been indicted on charges of attempted enticement of a minor and attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor.
Each man faces a minimum sentence of 10 years to life in prison for the charges of child enticement and transfer of obscenity. Each man also faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years to life of supervised released following their prison term and must register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which he lives, works or attends school.
Prosecutors said an undercover investigation was conducted at the Wilmington office of the Department of Homeland Security over the past few months.
Rupert was indicted on child enticement and obscenity charges on Jan. 24 for an incident that is alleged to have occurred Jan. 9. Prosecutors said that on Dec. 2, Rupert set up a meeting with an undercover federal agent posing as a 14-year-old girl. According to investigators, Rupert traveled to Bellevue State Park in Delaware to meet the "young girl" for sexual activity. Rupert also sent the undercover agent a picture of his genitals in the chat room, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Rupert has been arrested for these charges previously in April 2006 while he was on active duty in the United States Navy and stationed in Norfolk, Va. In July of 2006, Rupert was convicted in a general court martial of enticement of a minor under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Rupert was sentenced to four years of confinement in the Navy brig but was released from confinement in June of 2008. Rupert was subsequently registered as a sex offender.
Since this is Rupert's second offense, he faces an additional mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison that must run consecutively to the mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life, for the enticement charge.
Prosecutors said that following the Rupert arrest, Morris was indicted on Feb. 7 after being arrested Nov. 29 for using a Web camera to send videos of himself masturbating to what he believed was a 14-year-old girl. Investigators said an agent went in a Yahoo chatroom Sept. 29 and told Morris that she was a 14-year-old girl from Dover. Prosecutors said Morris tried setting up face-to-face meetings with the "girl" for sexual activity and gave the undercover agent access to his Web camera so they could watch him masturbate.
Prosecutors said during the arrest, federal agents searched Morris' home in Preston and found his desktop computer with over 11,000 online chat logs. Along with the logs, investigators said they found a printed copy of one of the logs displaying the fake address in Delaware where Morris said they were going to meet up.
After detaining Morris, Darlin, who works as a custodian at Swarthmore Presbyterian Church, was indicted on March 6 for child enticement and obscenity charges. Prosecutors said that on Feb. 10, Darlin traveled from his Swarthmore home to Bellevue State Park in Delaware to meet a supposed 14-year-old girl for sexual activity. Authorities said that on Jan. 21, Darlin sent pictures of himself from a computer in his church's office to show the undercover agent what types of acts he wanted to perform. After their meeting at the park, Darlin planned on taking the girl to a hotel on Route 202 for the sexual acts he described, according to investigators.
Authorities said Darlin was arrested at the park after arriving pre-arranged meeting with the undercover agent. Federal agents said they found numerous condoms, a backpack containing a bottle of wine, sexual toys and a large jar of honey inside his car.
The Swarthmore Presbyterian Church fired Darlin after the incident and aided agents in the criminal investigation, prosecutors said.
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