Predators luring girls via chat lines, authorities warn
By Maria Cramer. The Boston Globe Staff. 05/30/06
She was lonely and looking for someone to talk to. He was the kind voice on the other end of the line who said he wanted to be her friend. But when they met at his house in New Hampshire after weeks of phone conversations, he raped her.
She was 13. He was Philip Longeway , 32, a convicted sex offender from Manchester. Now, two years after their meeting, authorities are warning parents and teens about phone chat lines that put people such as Longeway in touch with victims like the young Boston girl.
Police have long been aware of the perils of online chat rooms. But recently, the Suffolk district attorney's office has taken a hard look at phone chat lines after 15 girls, ages 12 to 16, came forward over the last two years, saying they were raped or molested by older men they met through the phone lines. The service advertises a free, fun way to meet people, but officials fear that phone chat lines also provide a way for pedophiles and sexual predators to find victims.
Assistant district attorneys have begun to address the chat lines in presentations to students at area schools. Educational brochures police hand out about Internet chat rooms will soon include warnings about phone lines. Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said his office is also investigating half a dozen other cases of sexual assaults that followed meetings over the phone.
``Many parents don't know [phone chat lines] exist, let alone that they're dangerous," he said.
Longeway, now about 34, pleaded guilty in December to charges of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 and traveling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced to 17 1/2 years in state prison.
His victim, who is almost 15, is seeing a therapist. Her mother jumps every time she hears the phone ring. ``At one point, she had numbers in her bedroom from all kinds of guys," said the girl's mother. ``One of them was a teacher from Rhode Island. Another was an EMT from Connecticut. It's amazing. . . . It's disgusting."
The family's name is being withheld because the Globe does not reveal the identity of sexual assault victims without their consent.
Representatives from Ripple Communications , a Nevada-based company that runs chat lines, have cooperated with Suffolk prosecutors trying to track down predators, according to Conley's office.
A spokeswoman for the company said today that Ripple Communications cooperates with authorities in these kinds of investigations.
Officials from Middlesex and Essex counties and the Cape and Islands said they had not received reports of predators finding sexual assault victims on chat lines. But the increase of such cases around Boston is not surprising, said Gina Scaramella, executive director of the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.``People can use any method of gaining trust to make someone feel like they're safe with them," she said. ``A voice is a really compelling way to do that."
For the youths who use the chat lines, the appeal is obvious, said RaShaun Nalls , a youth worker at Project RIGHT, a community organization located in the Grove Hall section of Dorchester.
``If your self-esteem is low, it's easier to flirt on the phone," said Nalls, who over the years has counseled girls who said they were assaulted by older men they met on chat lines.
``They're not seeing the risks that are associated with it," he said.
Teens also like the chat lines because they are private. Many youths now have cell phones, so they can call from any location without worrying that their parents will catch them, Conley said. And the service is usually free, so parents are less likely to pay attention to the phone numbers on their bills.
Those advantages also benefit the predator, who uses the phone to gain the child's trust, Conley said. ``Then eventually, this guy suggests that he loves the young child, that he wants to be a confidant and loving friend," he said.
While most chat lines caution callers that they must be at least 18 years of age to use the service, no caller is screened, and the company is not liable for what happens to people if they meet in person.
The Boston girl joined the chat line in the summer of 2004. She created a personal voice mail, describing herself as a petite, young girl with dark hair. Immediately, her message box was flooded with voice mails from men requesting phone sex. She ignored them.
But then Longeway called. He described himself as a bored guy looking to meet someone friendly. He even sounded a little pitiful.
``I think I felt bad for him," the teenager said. When a police officer found them together in October 2004, as the pair was driving around Dorchester, the teenager said she was only worried she would get in trouble with her mother.
After months of therapy, she said she is finally realizing she was a victim and she has advice for any youngster tempted to call the chat line. ``Don't even do it," she said.
Matt Carroll of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.