Man posing as woman guilty of grooming boys on Internet
Press Release
Man posing as woman guilty of
grooming boys on Internet for sex acts.
According to
an article in the NZ Herald today a sexual predator who
posed online as a pretty 18-year-old woman to lure young
boys has pleaded guilty today to a number of
charges.
Cameron Hore, 28, surfed internet chatrooms
looking to exploit youngsters - some as young as 11 - and
get them to perform sex acts for him. Posing as Sarah
Ruddenklau, he even promised to pay some teenagers as much
as $6000 to meet up and have sexual relations with him.
After receiving sexual favours, he would refuse to pay the
money.
Alan Bell of ECPAT Child ALERT, a child
protection agency says ”This is a timely warning for
parents and the public. The offender here was a man
(pretending to be a woman) seeking out boys to provide him
with images of themselves carrying out sex acts. The common
perception is that girls are the victims of child sex
offenders but it is concerning that there appears to be a
trend for boys to be more often targeted than previously.
This means the same precautions should be taken regarding
the protection of boys as with girls.”
When his
victims came looking for their money, Hore threatened to
expose them by telling their friends and neighbours what
they had done for money. One victim was 13, and he attempted
to exploit another boy who was aged just 11. Officers
received around 20 complaints from people who claimed to
have been deceived by Hore, including complaints form his
own "close family, cousins, friends and associates,'' police
said.
Today Hore, who is profoundly deaf, appeared at
Christchurch District Court and through an interpreter
admitted 11 charges, including blackmail and sexual
exploitation between September 2009 and September, last
year.
“ The potential damage and suffering caused by
this sort of offence where young children are not only
abused sexually but are then faced with threats and
blackmail is not hard to imagine.” says Bell. The message
here for parents and caregivers is to maintain an interest
in what sites children are visiting and ensure as much as
possible that they only use the internet where they can be
monitored. Unfortunately this is difficult to achieve
especially with portable devices so education and guidance
is essential so that young people make the right choices
when surfing the net.”
Judge Jane Farish remanded
Hore, a data entry operator from Belfast, in custody until
he is sentenced at the High Court on July
4.
ends