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Nancy Grace
Man Charged With Soliciting Sex Online With Mom and Teen Daughters
Aired August 16, 2007 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MIKE BROOKS, GUEST HOST: Tonight: Police say this man went on line expecting to meet a mom and her two daughters, ages 11 and 14, for sex. The father of five writes on line, and I quote, "I am interested in sexual encounters with you and your daughters. Are either of them virgins?" And that`s just the tip of the iceberg. Guess what? We`ve got your e-mails, Mr. Weidner.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chat transcripts released by police reveal disturbing details in the case of Drew Weidner. Weidner claims he`s fantasized about having sex with his 19-year-old stepdaughter, also replying he`s incredibly turned on by having sex with young girls while their mother watches in the same room. He closes one chat, "I`m available weekdays. Would love to get together with the kids before they go back to school."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Also tonight: A 15-year-old Boy Scout leaves home for his Scout meeting and vanishes. Tony is only one step away from being an Eagle Scout. An overachiever at only 15, he is a high school senior. Tonight, we need your help in finding Tony Beard (ph).
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fifteen-year-old Boy Scout Tony Beard was last seen leaving his home Sunday, headed to his Boy Scout meeting. Tony never made it to that meeting and hasn`t been heard from since, his computer, camping gear and money all left behind, police analyzing that computer for potential clues, while an Ohio community still waits and prays for Tony`s safe return.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He`s been in a really good mood recently. He`s been (INAUDIBLE) pretty stable (INAUDIBLE) I don`t think there`d be anything that would suggest that he would take off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Hi. I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. Sick fantasies played out on line, a married man and father of five tries to arrange sex with a woman and her 11 and 14-year-old daughters. You`re busted and you`re going down, Mr. Weidner!
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say it started with keystrokes and ended with arrest, a detective posing as the mother of two daughters solicited on line by Drew Weidner, who cops say not only solicited sex from the mom, but her 11-year-old and 14-year-old daughters. Weidner set up a meeting at a local diner, where he was taken down by police, charged with multiple crimes, including criminal solicitation and statutory sexual assault.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We`ve been in this chat room less than five minutes. We`ve already been asked, as a 14-year-old girl, to give our picture to somebody of 23 years old across the country. We`ve been solicited by an adult live sex video Web site to show us live sex with adults on live video. We`ve been solicited for dating site for adults. And we`ve only been here for five minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Good evening. Again, I`m Mike Brooks, in for Nancy Grace. A 40-year-old man, allegedly father of five, married, and he`s soliciting sex with a law enforcement officer who is posing to be a woman with two daughters, ages 11 and 14.
To get the latest, we go out to Jane Velez-Mitchell, investigative reporter, and author of "Secrets Can Be Murder." Jane, when the people here -- when our viewers hear the details of this, it`s going to make them sick!
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Mike, this is such a graphic story, this affidavit is so incredibly X-rated, we have to dance around the facts or we could be in trouble with the FCC.
This is what authorities say. They say that Drew Weidner, a 40-year- old guy, married man from Pennsylvania, went on line and he thought he was talking to the mother of an 11-year-old and a 14-year-old. He asked, Are they virgins? Because I always fantasized about deflowering a virgin. I would love to do that. He then goes on to said he have sex with the mother, oral sex and sexual intercourse while the girls watch, then they join in. They can all have sex every which way with each other, and then he can watch the two girls have sex with the mother.
Well, then they make a date to meet at a diner just about a half an hour drive outside of Philadelphia. He gets there on Tuesday, and voila, he is arrested because the mother turns out to be a detective on an Internet task force.
The funny part is that he said, I`m worried about going to jail, on these Internet chats, and I want to make sure you`re not a cop. Well, tonight he is in jail on $250,000 bond.
BROOKS: That detective, she was a cop and he`s locked up.
Let me just -- you know, reading right from the affidavit of probable cause for the arrest -- and we`re going to get to Mr. Green, the district attorney from Delaware county, Pennsylvania, in just a few minutes.
I just want to read you some excerpts. Now, these are the excerpts that our -- CNN standards and practices unit allowed us to use tonight because -- look, I`ve been in law enforcement for almost 27 years, and this is one of the most graphic, quadruple-X-rated affidavits I have ever read. And it`s disgusting. It`s disgusting! I even blushed on this. And I worked prostitution and perversion for a number of years.
Let me just read you this one -- a couple of these (INAUDIBLE) It`s unbelievable. "I have a 19-year-old stepdaughter I fantasize about, but nothing has ever happened. And of course, as I am sure every man fantasized, I would love a mother/daughter encounter. How old are your daughters?" Then he goes on to say, "I am 40-year-old married father of five, with one stepdaughter. My wife and I have a great sex life, but I like meeting the couples for threesomes. My stepdaughter is gorgeous, and I have sexually fantasized about her for a while."
Then he goes on to say, or to write in these e-mails, "I like moms in their mid-30s and above, daughters probably no younger than 14 or 15-ish."
I tell you what, this guys -- and again -- again, folks, this just the tip of the iceberg. This is just some of the things we could read.
Right now, I want to uncage the lawyers. I want to hear what they have to say. In New York, we have Doug Burns, defense attorney. Also in New York, Mickey Sherman. All of you know Mickey, another defense attorney. And also Sue Moss, family law attorney and child advocate.
OK, Mickey. You`re this guy`s attorney. And when he got locked up, he admitted to this. He said -- they asked him, Did you write this? Yes, I wrote it. How`re you going to defend this guy?
MICKEY SHERMAN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: For a lot of money.
(LAUGHTER)
SHERMAN: Why can`t we ever get an easy cases in these studios? Let me tell you -- you know, the problem is, forget about his admitting it...
BROOKS: Hey, you`re a big-time defense attorney. Come on!
SHERMAN: Forget about the admission. They got the computer. I mean, everyone always -- for some reason, whenever I -- and I represent people who do this -- they always make sure that they save the e-mails and the instant messages and God knows what. They just love to keep the records of the crimes. And the police come in, they get a search warrant, they get the computer, they get a computer forensic guy and they find not only this chat but God knows how many others. As often as not, they find child pornography. The evidence is overwhelming.
The only thing I can say in his favor is -- it`s not in his favor, but in mitigation -- is that people take on other identities when they start chatting on the Internet.
BROOKS: Oh, you`re going to say...
(CROSSTALK)
SHERMAN: They`re not necessarily good identities, but they love to fantasize and -- but the problem is, it`s just so offensive to 99.9 percent of the world, there`s not a lot to work with.
BROOKS: So what are you trying to say? Are we -- are we -- as defense attorneys always go back to, are we talking something mental, multiple personalities, or what?
SHERMAN: No, incredibly stupid. It`s a couple of notches below insanity, and it`s not diminished capacity. But it`s kind of the -- the way of the world in the millennium that we love to fantasize and role play on the Internet, and a lot of people do it.
BROOKS: I don`t know about a lot of people. I sure don`t do it. And I`m sure you don`t do it. You`re an officer of the court. Sue Moss, what say you?
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: There`s a special place in hell for this guy, and he`ll be there. But before he goes, he`s going to jail. He`s going to jail for attempted rape, for attempted solicitation of rape, for all types of other offenses, including endangering the welfare of minors. And that`s just the beginning because when he gets out, if he gets out, he`s got five kids. Not only is he going to lose custody, but this guy is going to be lucky if he gets supervised visitation because it is unsafe to have his kids with him or any friends of his children with him, based upon the e-mails I read.
BROOKS: I hear one of the defense attorneys going, Come on. Was that you, Mickey, or was that you, Doug?
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That was me, Michael. And you know what? You have to look at legal academics versus the real world. In the real world, I agree with my colleagues. My God, how in the world could you possibly defend this? But in legal academics, as Mickey said, this is fantasy and ideation, possibly. And the reality is, he wasn`t trying or objectively chatting with a woman and her kids, he was chatting with a cop. And the reality is, is that it may be defensible slightly, from that standpoint...
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: ... you trying to say it`s entrapment?
BURNS: Well, there`s certainly an issue as to who came up with the idea in the first instance. If he did, then it`s not entrapment, but we don`t know enough about it. But maybe they planted the seed in this guy`s mind. We don`t know.
BROOKS: Oh, oh, oh! They planted the seed in this guy`s mind.
BURNS: Very possible, Michael.
BROOKS: But how...
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: How are going to going to plant a seed in this guy`s mind? It was on -- it was on America On Line chat room titled Open-Minded Parents.
BURNS: Michael...
BROOKS: So you don`t think this guy`s been in there cruising for a long time?
BURNS: Let me give you a little hypothetical. The guy`s on line, and all of a sudden, the cop e-mails him and said, Hey, are you interested with sex and a woman and her kids? And he turns around and says, yes, you know what ? I am. Well, on that hypothetical, that`s entrapment.
BROOKS: Well, I tell you what. Let`s -- let`s hear what the real deal is from a real attorney. Let`s go out to Philadelphia to G. Michael Green. And thank you for being with us. He`s the district attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania,, and CEO of Internet Crimes Against Children. Thanks for being with us, Mr. Green.
G. MICHAEL GREEN, DELAWARE COUNTY, PA, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Hi, Mike. How`re you doing?
BROOKS: Good, buddy. Hey, now, tell me exactly how this whole thing went down.
GREEN: Well, this case illustrates a typical traveler (ph) case. Our Internet crimes against children task force has handled about 625 of these since January 1 of 2000. In this instance, what happens was an on-line relationship was developed between the defendant, Mr. Weidner, and an undercover detective, a young woman acting in our office, a sworn police officer, Michelle Deary (ph). And over the course of a number of weeks, they communicated on a fairly regular basis.
The issue of entrapment is one that comes up often and was mentioned in the discussion this evening. Part of what the Internet crimes against children task force does is to operate pursuant to very strict standards and procedures nationally. We`re one of 46 such task forces. My responsibility is the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
In the case of entrapment, what we do is preserve all of the communications between our undercover detective and the suspect. And that information, of course, would be made part of the record down the road in this case, as it is in all of the cases we deal with of this type.
BROOKS: Now, what exactly is he charged with, and how many counts are there involved in this?
GREEN: Well, there are a number of counts. He`s charged with criminal attempt to rape, which is a felony of the first degree in Pennsylvania, criminal attempt to aggravated indecent assault and a number of related charges. He`s also charged with criminal solicitation to both rape and aggravated indecent assault. In these cases, typically, the charging includes both attempt and solicitation charging.
BROOKS: Right.
GREEN: The solicitation, of course, is often complete on the transcript alone. It`s important that the conversations take place exactly as they`ve taken place in this case, and that is with the suspect suggesting the intimate contact and suggesting the rendezvous.
BROOKS: And I tell you what, in this affidavit, which was extremely well written by Detective Deary, I can tell you, you talk about intimate -- as I said, Mr. Green, I was in law enforcement for almost 27 years, and this is disgusting to me. In fact, I had a case one time -- one of my colleagues, he had a well-known man in the community, extremely wealthy, got on line and he got on line with an FBI agent. And basically, he said - - you know, they said, We`ll meet at the Burger King. And the FBI agent posing as the 13-year-old little girl said, Well, I`ll be on my bicycle. And this man said, Don`t worry, I`ve a pickup truck we can put your bike in on the way to the hotel. It`s -- to me, it`s just disgusting.
Let`s go to the lines. Christina from Alabama. Thank you for being with us. You have a question?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do. I was just wondering if the sick pervert has ever had any kind of sexual contact with any of the five children that reside with him.
BROOKS: That`s a great question. Let`s go out to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with Kevin Miller, investigative reporter. Kevin, has there been any contact?
KEVIN MILLER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Mike, from what we know right now, there hasn`t, but police are investigating that. What we know right now is he`s been charged with what the Delaware County district attorney has told us.
BROOKS: Now, also, there were a number of things seized, Mr. Green. They went also doing the simultaneous search warrant at his house as this arrest was going down?
GREEN: Yes. What happens, Mike, is this -- this contact and the arrest occurred in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. We`re just south of Philadelphia.
BROOKS: Right.
GREEN: This individual was actually from Berks County, which is in the Reading area, not far from Harrisburg My colleague, Mark Baldwin (ph), who is the DA in Berks County, shortly after the arrest obtained a search warrant to seize digital devices in the home of this suspect.
this point, of course, the forensics had not been complete on those digital devices, but that will take place shortly and we`ll have a report. That`s fairly common in these cases. When there`s a traveler, we like to have local law enforcement, local to his home, do that -- do that investigation through a search warrant.
BROOKS: Now, is there a possibility there could be additional charges, if, you know, he has any kiddie porn? Again, this is just wondering if he does. We`re not saying that he does. But could there be additional charges once they take a look at all the forensics?
GREEN: There could be.
BROOKS: Very, very interesting.
Let`s go out to the lines. Desiree from California. Thank you for joining us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Thank you. Could you tell me, if this guy is convicted, how much time will he get, if any?
BROOKS: Mr. Green, how much time is he looking at right now?
GREEN: Well, he`s looking at probably a century, potentially, because of the charging. But the reality is, in Pennsylvania, like many states, there are sentencing guidelines that deal with prior record scores and the offense gravity score and come up with a range of sentencing. So it`s very difficult at this early stage to predict what may happen in this case.
BROOKS: Do we know if this guy has ever had any priors or any other sex offense crimes whatsoever?
GREEN: Well, at this point, I`m not free to comment on that, Mike, unfortunately. I can talk about other cases, and actually, studies that have been done. It`s -- the real concern is other contacts.
BROOKS: Yes.
GREEN: And often, what happens later as a result of psychotherapy, we learn much more about what has happened in these cases than we know early on. There have been studies -- and really, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children have led the way in much of this area -- studies of prisoners, people who have been incarcerated as a result of convictions, and they`re much freer at that point to admit to contacts. And that`s really important information.
BROOKS: Absolutely. I mean, that`s crucial to making this case and making sure that he does that jail time, if he is found guilty.
Let`s go out to the lines. Barbara from New Jersey. Thanks for being with us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Mike. How are you?
BROOKS: Good, thanks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have a question. Does this fellow have any kind of Web site on Myspace.com that would be worth looking into?
BROOKS: Let`s go out to Vienna, Virginia, Donna Rice Hughes, Internet expert of www.Enough.org. Do you know if this guy has any kind of Myspace account?
DONNA RICE HUGHES, INTERNET EXPERT: No, I wouldn`t have that information. But I think what`s important, as I`ve been listening to the conversations, is to recognize that these kinds of predators are out there on a regular basis, interacting with real children, not undercover cops.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Myspace and sites like it are fantastic sites for the predators because you really get all your information about your prey. I mean, you`re getting a photograph of easy (ph) prey. You`re getting pictures of their friends. You`re getting the town that they come from. And sometimes, you`re even getting schedules. It`s very easy to (INAUDIBLE) So Myspace is a dream come true for them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Forty-year-old Drew Weidner locked up by Delaware County authorities. He tried to lure what he thought was a woman and her two daughters, ages 11 and 14, but it was actually a detective from Delaware County -- tried to lure them on line and actually went to meet them because he thought he was going to have sex with them.
Now, again, from the affidavit, I just want to read you just a few more of the excerpts that we are allowed to read because it is quadruple-X- rated and just -- and just disgusting. But he goes on to write on the Internet, "I am interested in sexual encounters with you and your daughters. I am available weekdays. Would love to get together before they go back to school." This is just sick! "I am terribly turned on at the thought of (DELETED) your daughters as you watch, direct the action and maybe join." Then he goes -- then he writes, "Are either of them still virgins?" Then he continues on, "Is the younger one eager to (DELETED)? Are you ready to let her? I have never taken a girl`s virginity. It would really turn me on to be the first."
Doug Burns, Mickey Sherman. What say you, Mickey?
SHERMAN: You know, we actually have a mayor of a major city in Connecticut who`s is in prison for not only meeting a mother and a daughter but actually doing the sex thing. So it`s -- I mean, this is in no way mitigating, but it`s apparently a lot more prevalent than any of us would imagine. The only thing I got to say -- and again, it`s not going to help the guy that much, but we are a dictum-driven (ph) society. We`re also result-oriented...
(CROSSTALK)
BROOKS: Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you -- OK. OK. There`s no victim here?
SHERMAN: Right. There is -- certainly, society`s a victim. But the bottom line is, if somebody is driving drunk down the highway and they go over and hit...
BROOKS: We`re not talking about a drunk driver right now.
SHERMAN: I know that, but we`re...
BROOKS: Mickey, we`re not talking about a drunk driver.
SHERMAN: Right. But often, the result controls what happens here. Nobody was hurt here. Again, only by the...
BROOKS: Nobody was hurt here.
SHERMAN: Right.
BROOKS: But if this had been a little girl, a woman with two little girls, who would have been the victim then, Mickey?
SHERMAN: Would have been the kids.
(CROSSTALK)
SHERMAN: Bottom line is, in the real world...
BROOKS: This is called prevention.
SHERMAN: Right.
BROOKS: This is called crime prevention. And they did...
(CROSSTALK)
SHERMAN: But the bottom line is there`s no actual victim here.
BROOKS: Wrong again, Mickey!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve caught doctors, lawyers, cops, firefighters, teachers, social workers, you know, really, all walks of life. One of the predators actually had to find a babysitter for his 13-year-old daughter so he could come over and molest someone else`s 13-year-old daughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks, sitting in for Nancy Grace. A 40-year-old man from Pennsylvania busted on the Internet.
And you know, right before we went to break, we were talking to our defense attorneys, who are trying to defend this guy and trying to make some sense of this, which Mickey and Doug didn`t and -- because they said there`s no victims here.
I`d like to go to Jane Velez-Mitchell, investigative reporter and author of "Secrets Can Be Murder." And that`s appropriate for this particular show. Jane, who are the victims here, the real victims, do you think?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I can`t believe that they said there`s no victims. How about his wife? She is tonight being inundated with phone calls from the media. Her life is shattered. She will be subject to ridicule. Now, in the e-mails, he says he has five children and this gorgeous stepdaughter. We haven`t independently confirmed that, but he was truthful about everything else, so why would he lie about that? Those children, those five children and his stepdaughter, their lives are shattered. They will be subject to ridicule, and they may very well lose their father forever.
BROOKS: I`d like to go right now to Bethany Marshall, psychotherapist and author, "Dealbreakers: When to Work on a Relationship and When to Walk Away." Bethany, thanks for being with us. What drives a guy like this? And what drives him to act out his fantasies on line? I just don`t get it.
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Well, first of all, he does not have diminished capacity. He`s a financial planner and he owns his own business. And the prison study that your former guest was referring to was a polygraph study where these offender admitted that, on average, they had offended 14 years prior to their arrest.
But after the break, I really would love to comment on his multiple perversions and why he was so interested in a mother/daughter relationship because I think that that`s something that will fill out the picture here.
BROOKS: And we will do that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cops say it started with keystrokes and ended with arrest. A detective posing as a mother of two daughters, solicited online by Drew Weidner, who cops say not only solicited sex from the mom but her 11-year-old and 14-year-old daughters. Weidner set up a meeting at a local diner where he was taken down by police, charged with multiple crimes, including criminal solicitation and statutory sexual assault.
Chat transcripts released by police reveal disturbing details in the case of Drew Weidner. Weidner claims he`s fantasized about having sex with his 19-year-old stepdaughter, also replying he`s incredibly turned on by having sex with young girls while their mother watches in the same room. He closes one chat, "I`m available weekdays. Would love to get together with the kids before they go back to school."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks sitting in for Nancy Grace. Thank you for being with us tonight.
This guy, this 40-year-old guy who got locked up on the Internet, unbelievable. And right before the break, we were talking to psychotherapist Bethany Marshall and also author of "Deal Breakers: When to Work on a Relationship and When to Walk Away." We`re talking about what drives a person like this. And right before the break, she wanted to touch on the multiple perversions of this guy. And there has to be multiple perversions. Can you explain that, Bethany?
BETHANY MARSHALL, PSYCHOANALYST: Yes, most sex offenders have multiple perversions, so you have exhibitionism. He wanted to have these girls and mom watch him. You have voyeurism. He wanted to watch them having sex. You have a little sadism and domination and control. He kind of wants to be the big Poobah in this group of women.
BROOKS: And orchestrate everything.
MARSHALL: He wants to orchestrate -- maybe he did this as a financial planner. Maybe he does it in other parts of his life. But I would imagine, if you look back over his life, perhaps as a child when his mother cared for him, he sexualized that and had sexual fantasies about her? Did he molest his sisters? Did he have sisters? Did he watch his mother care for sisters? And did he sexualize that?
And so also he likes to hook up with other couples. Is he identified as being a child, and this couple is going to take care of him sexually? So if he identified with being a little girl, so all of these multiple perversions go around and around. But it is not just a slip. It is planned, purposeful and thoughtful what he did. This is not just fantasizing it. It`s an extensive pattern.
BROOKS: Well, I tell you what, Bethany, just from this affidavit that I was reading from earlier and some of those excerpts that we were allowed to read on air, it sounds like that he was, it was planned out.
I`d like to go back out right now to Donna Rice Hughes in Vienna, Virginia, Internet expert, and has her own Web site, www.Enough.org. Now, Donna, this not only happens online, this happens in real life.
DONNA RICE HUGHES, INTERNET EXPERT: Well, it does. But the point that I want to make is that you`ve got over 600,000 registered several offenders that are on the Internet. And one out of every 20 teenagers in the United States with Internet access gets an aggressive communication online from an adult to set up a meeting. So there are real victims. In this case, you know, there was an undercover cop. But you have these kinds of guys that are interacting with kids on a regular basis. Many of them, about 80 percent, are very explicit about their sexual intentions with the youth, and they pray on teenage vulnerabilities.
BROOKS: As was this guy. Now, I know MySpace not too long ago, they hired a security expert to come to work for them because of all the issues that MySpace was having, and it seems to have gotten a little bit better. But does the Internet -- for instance, this is AOL. Does the Internet provider, do they do enough to monitor these chatrooms for predators like this?
HUGHES: Well, when you have a monitored chatroom, for instance with AOL, they do have monitored chatrooms, and if the predator is actually displaying aggressive behavior in their messaging, then they`ll get kicked off. But oftentimes these predators do not. They disguise themselves if they`re in a public area, and oftentimes do not show their true intentions until they`re in a one-on-one type of conversation, IM or e-mail relationship with their potential victim.
Now, there was just a study that came out recently, and we were talking about these kinds of online seductions. And what was extraordinary was that they found in about 73 percent of predators that were actually having sexual relationships with kids, that these youths actually knew that the offender was older, and what their intentions were, and actually went to meet with them on multiple occasions for multiple sexual encounters.
BROOKS: And we hear about those incidents happening all the time. And, again, to me, I just don`t get it, what drives -- we heard what Bethany said about multiple perversions. But to me, it`s hard for me to comprehend.
Let`s go out to line, Pat from Indiana. Thank you for being with us. You have a question?
CALLER: Yes, I do. Instead of entrapment, why doesn`t law enforcement require the Internet service providers to turn in these predators, even private chats that are on their servers?
BROOKS: Go back out to Donna Rice Hughes, why don`t they?
HUGHES: Well, I didn`t quite understand what the question was. Mike, could you clarify that?
BROOKS: Basically, why don`t law enforcement get involved more with the Internet services?
HUGHES: Well, they do. They`re very much involved with the Internet service providers, particularly as it relates to any type of predator or pedophile activity and also with respect to child pornography.
BROOKS: Right, and they can get subpoenas, because I know I`ve gotten subpoenas before...
HUGHES: Absolutely.
BROOKS: I`ve gotten subpoenas myself because of bomb threats in some other cases I had worked before. Let`s go back out to the line, Cindy from California. Thanks for joining us.
CALLER: Hi, how are you?
BROOKS: Good, thanks.
CALLER: Good. My question is, once forensics gets a hold of this guy`s computer, how long does it take to decipher what he has on it so they can move forward?
BROOKS: Let`s go back out to G. Michael Green, district attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and CEO of Internet Crimes against Children. How long do you think this will take, Mr. Green?
G. MICHAEL GREEN, DISTRICT ATTORNEY: Well, it usually takes about 30 days to six weeks to get a report back. What happens is the forensic lab - - in this case, actually Berks County`s lab itself -- will be doing that work. We`ll get back a complete report in writing, together with the original hard drive from those digital devices.
BROOKS: Very, very interesting. And, Sue Moss, what do you think, if he does have these kids, what are going to happen to them?
SUSAN MOSS, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, of course, they`re going to have the emotional shock of their lives, but are going to have to be kept away from Daddy Dearest, whether that be via only supervised visitation or no visitation whatsoever. My guess is that, once these kids find out what Daddy`s been up to, they`re not going to want to have contact with Daddy. And I don`t think any judge is going to force them.
BROOKS: I want to go back out to Doug Burns, defense attorney. Doug, in all seriousness, how do you prepare a defense case for this guy right now, with everything we`ve heard, when the forensics come back, I mean, how do you prepare a case for this guy?
DOUG BURNS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No, Mike, you make a very good point. I mean, some cases are, as Mickey said earlier, extremely difficult to defend. But, again, you don`t want to try the case on television without the rules of evidence or procedure, with all due respect.
BROOKS: Again, we always say he`s accused, haven`t been found guilty. But he admitted to these writings when he got locked up.
BURNS: Right, right. But what I`m saying, Michael, I mean, is we operate in a complicated legal process. There may be some motions to knock evidence out. We don`t know yet. It`s too early. The information you guys have presented, absolutely very, very strong, facially and ostensibly. But, again, we operate in a system of trials in court. And like the Duke case, I think we ought to just sit back and let it run its course.
BROOKS: I want to go back out to Kevin Miller, investigative reporter out of Pittsburgh. Now, Kevin, there have been some other stings around Pennsylvania, have there not, like this?
KEVIN MILLER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: You`re right, Mike, there has been. And this case is so big that -- you know, we talked about it this afternoon on KDKA Radio here in Pittsburgh. A lot of people are very concerned. One thing that hasn`t been brought up is this gentleman is eligible for bail at $250,000. And the next time we`ll hear from him is his preliminary hearing, which is August 22nd.
BROOKS: Did he make bail or is he still locked up in jail?
MILLER: As of time of broadcast, he had not made bail, and we have not heard whether or not an attorney has been appointed or, in fact, he has gotten one at the time of broadcast.
BROOKS: Now, Jane Velez-Mitchell, do we know whether or not this guy really is a financial planner? It seems like he was being right up front with everything.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Yes, he was, Mike. In fact, he sent a photograph of himself on the Internet, and that photograph matched up. So why would he lie, for example, about being a financial planner or having five children? The naivete that this man shows revealing all of this and then saying, "Oh, I don`t want to get caught. I hope you`re not a cop. I want to check that out." He has no idea how the system works. He is completely naive.
BROOKS: Busted, Mr. Weidner.
But when we come back, a 15-year-old boy went to church then headed to a Boy Scout meeting, but never arrived.
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TONY BEARD, MISSING TEEN`S FATHER: He has a curfew of midnight, and he wasn`t home. It was getting close to midnight Sunday evening, and he hadn`t shown up, so I was getting a little concerned about him. And he just never came home.
And, I mean, it was early in the morning that he was not here at all that we really realized something was wrong. He left on good terms. He was dressed in his Scout shirts, so it appeared that he was going to -- Scout t-shirt, and it appeared that he was going to be going to the Scout meeting that night, but we found out that he never showed up there.
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BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks sitting in for Nancy Grace. Thanks, again, for being with us.
A 15-year-old Boy Scout, he`s a life scout, one step away from eagle, vanishes on the way to a scout meeting at St. Teresa`s church. For the latest, we go out to Bill Rinehart, reporter for 700 WWL Radio, Bill, what`s going on in this case right now?
BILL RINEHART, REPORTER: Good evening. Right now, it`s dark. There was not an organized search tonight. There was one last night, but tonight they`re just letting the police do their job. And police are keeping an eye out. Every few hours we`ll hear on the scanners that you`ve got to keep an eye out for this kid and, if you see him, bring him in immediately.
BROOKS: So they are putting lookouts for this young man out on a regular basis, right?
RINEHART: They are. They have listed him as a critical missing now, which gives a little more attention to the case.
BROOKS: And, usually, I mean, in that jurisdiction, do you know what critical missing -- I know in D.C. we had certain parameters for critical missing. But what does it mean where he lives?
RINEHART: It basically means that we don`t know where he is, of course...
BROOKS: Right.
RINEHART: ... and that there is a danger to his life. His life could be in danger at this point.
BROOKS: Now, does law enforcement feel that there`s any foul play at all involved in this case?
RINEHART: They`re not ruling it out. They don`t have any evidence that there is any foul play, but they`re not ruling it out. They don`t have any evidence that there is. They don`t have anything to show that there isn`t.
BROOKS: Now, has he disappeared before or anything at all like that in the past, Bill?
RINEHART: No history of that whatsoever. He`s been a good kid, as you mentioned, Boy Scout, Eagle Scout. He`s very intelligent. He`s advanced for his age, and he has experience camping out. But for him to stay away for this length of period is quite unusual.
BROOKS: And apparently a very, very smart young man, 15 years old, way ahead in his class. He`s going to be a senior this coming year. His parents were going to put him in even more advanced school on Monday before he disappeared. And anyway, he`s 5`9", 145 pounds, going to be an Eagle Scout, probably has some idea of survival skills. And didn`t they search a forest area yesterday?
RINEHART: There is a park here, and he was known to camp there. He was known to go there, and he has experience camping out. So last night, about 115 or so volunteers, including other scouts, Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, all turned out, volunteers, families, neighbors, even strangers came out. They walked through this large park looking for him, and they didn`t find any trace of him there.
BROOKS: We`ve heard a lot from his father. Take a listen to this.
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TONY BEARD, MISSING TEEN`S FATHER: He`s typically gone all day, and we didn`t really think anything was wrong all day. A typical Sunday was like, he`ll come home from church, he`ll change clothes, and he`ll go out and hang out with friends or shop and then go to the Scout meeting in the evening. After the Scout meeting, he`ll typically go to a friend`s house, and he`ll usually call me for a ride, although sometimes he gets a ride home on his own. So as long as he -- as long as he`s here by curfew, we don`t start worrying about him. So it wasn`t until that point that it was any concern.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKS: Now, I`d like to go out now to Jane Velez-Mitchell, investigative reporter and author of "Secrets Can be Murder." Jane, we know that he left. Did he walk away? Is his bike missing, cell phone? Does he have any money? What`s going on with him?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you know, he went to church with his parents on Saturday. They came home. Then he said he was going to the Boy Scout meeting. He had a backpack on. He left. The parents never saw him after that. And they`re very perplexed, because if he was going to run away, why didn`t he take more money with him? He had done some chores around the house and had accumulated some money, but he didn`t take most of that money with him. He also didn`t contact his girlfriend, didn`t contact his best friend.
But here`s what we`re hearing tonight. Police are saying that this young man may have been somewhat depressed, that he told his friends that he was thinking of going to the neighboring state of Indiana and, in fact, had been thinking about doing that for some time. So it`s very possible that, with the pressure of going to a new school and having to deal with older kids in his class, he may have kind of freaked out and decided, "I`m heading for the hills and headed for a neighboring state."
BROOKS: Let`s go back out to psychoanalyst Bethany Marshall. Bethany, someone like this, overachiever, going to advanced school, do you think he might have just said, "Hey, I`ve had enough," and maybe his parents are pushing him too much?
MARSHALL: Yes, I mean, several things stand out to me. I have not heard the depression thing, but that could be a possible reason. I`m hoping that he`s a runaway and not that he`s a victim of foul play. I`m hoping that these parents are un-insightful and that this child was struggling with something that they couldn`t help him with. But it could be that he was depressed, struggling with sexual identity issues, didn`t want to go to the new school, something like that.
BROOKS: Thank you, Bethany.
Tonight, "CNN Heroes."
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is the verse?
LARRY GIBSON, DEFENDING THE PLANET: "In his hands are the depths of the Earth and the mountain peaks belong to him," but you won`t find no mountain peaks around here. They`re being taken.
Instead of extracting the coal out of the mountain, they`re extracting the mountain off the coal. My name is Larry Gibson. I am the keeper of the mountain.
The land right here was 300 feet higher than this. Now this cemetery is the tallest point. Around 1993, one vice president of coal fuel production told me that my 50 acres was worth $1 million an acre. I said, "You can have my right arm, but you`ll never get my mountain." I`ve locked the land into a land trust never to be sold, never.
I`ve been shot at a numerous amount of times. I`ve had my cabins burnt. I`ve had my dog shot. I`m just trying to make people in West Virginia stand up and be counted instead of being a part of something that`s destroying it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Larry is such an inspiration of trying to get the communities to put pressure on their elected officials and stop mountaintop removal. He`s not doing it for his self. He`s making a point: Don`t let this happen to your communities.
GIBSON: That`s why I put myself in the positions I put myself in. Sometimes you have to stand up in harm`s way, whether you know what`s coming or not.
The young people should be crying and screaming because they`re going to pay for what these people are doing. I`m here. My feet are planted. I`m not giving up nothing. I`m not back up nowhere. I can`t imagine not fighting.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it had rained on his first night out, I think that would have been part of a challenge, you know, to survive. But being away three days, three nights, I`m hoping that, if the weather does turn bad tonight and we haven`t found him, that that might encourage him to give it up somehow.
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BROOKS: I`m Mike Brooks sitting in for Nancy Grace. A 15-year-old disappears on the way to his Boy Scout meeting. You know, they said maybe he ran away. Apparently there`s no foul play involved that we know of yet. But right now, I`d like to go out, from Chicago is Maree Bullock. She`s vice chair of National Runaway Switchboard.
Thanks for being with us, Maree.
MAREE BULLOCK, NATIONAL RUNAWAY SWITCHBOARD: You`re welcome.
BROOKS: If he did, in fact, run away, what are the dangers of a 15- year-old boy out there on the streets? And how do law enforcement go about looking for him, even if he didn`t run away?
BULLOCK: The dangers that runaways face once they`re on the street is they have to turn to other options to support themselves. That`s panhandling, prostitution, stealing, selling drugs. And that`s where the real danger lies. So that`s what they turn to once they become desperate out on the streets.
BROOKS: Now, this boy is 15 years old, extremely intelligent. I don`t know how street savvy he is. But even someone who is as intelligent as Tony Beard, Jr., do you think that he still faces some of these elements on the street, if you will?
BULLOCK: Certainly, because a young person of that age doesn`t have the coping skills or the mechanisms to navigate those streets safely. And there are individuals on those streets that are looking for youngsters that are vulnerable.
BROOKS: And I know that there can be some mean streets out there, having been a cop in D.C., and then assigned to the FBI for 26 years. The streets out there are mean, and we hope that we can find Tony Beard and bring him home safely.
But tonight, let`s stop to remember Army Corporal Michelle Ring, just 26 years old, Martin, Tennessee, killed, Iraq. A single mother of two, Ring thrived in the Army after a turbulent upbringing in Oregon, Alaska and Tennessee. The military gave her confidence and purpose. Ring leaves behind two adoring sons, Mark and Brandon, parents, John and Shirley, and sisters Karen and Marilyn. Army Corporal Michelle Ring, American hero.
Thank you to all our guests. Our biggest thanks for you for being with us and inviting us into your home. See you tomorrow night, 8:00 p.m. sharp Eastern. Until then, stay safe.
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