Police: Nevadan Got Girl to Leave
Man facing sex charge met area teen on Net
by Bill McCleery
Originally published in the Indianapolis Star, July 28, 2004
A 30-year-old Nevada man used the Internet to persuade a 14-year-old Fortville girl to run away from home and have sex with him, police said Tuesday.
The FBI has charged Sidney C. Moreno, of Reno, Nev., with transporting a minor across state lines for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity, a federal felony.
Police stopped the pair's vehicle Monday night in Wendover, Utah, on I-80, about four miles from the Nevada state line.
The girl had been missing since Friday and was the subject of an Amber Alert issued in Utah.
Moreno admitted to having sex with the girl and that he knew she was underage, according to federal court documents. The Indianapolis Star generally does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
Shortly after Moreno's arrest, the girl was taken to a juvenile detention facility in Salt Lake City, where she remained Tuesday. Authorities expect to bring her back to Indiana within five days, Hancock County Sheriff's Capt. Jim Bradbury said.
Moreno was being held in federal custody in a Salt Lake City jail pending his transfer to Indiana to answer the charges, said James H. Davis, the FBI's acting agent in charge in Indianapolis.
Family members in Fortville were breathing a sigh of relief Tuesday.
Fletcher Haynes, the girl's father, was notified by phone about 10 p.m. Monday by Fortville Police Chief Mike Shepherd, who let Haynes know his daughter had been found and was safe.
"I just kept saying, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you,' " Haynes said. "I think I even said one time, 'I love you'(to the officer)."
Haynes said he had begun to lose hope that he would find his daughter anytime soon. On Tuesday, he vowed to obtain counseling for the girl to get to the root cause of what prompted her to run away.
He first got to speak to his daughter by telephone at 2 a.m. Tuesday—his 55th birthday. Later, Haynes called it his best birthday present ever.
The girl's mother, who is divorced from the father and lives in Lawrence, agreed.
"I'm so happy and thankful," Karolina Haynes said. "I just feel like I could do cartwheels."
It was a four-man police force in the tiny border town of Wendover that made the arrest. Wendover, situated in the middle of a 120-mile stretch of desert, is home to roughly 8,000 people (1,500 on the Utah side, 6,500 on the Nevada side).
Wendover Police Chief Vaughn Tripp said an off-duty officer driving east on I-80 saw the suspect's SUV—a rented black Dodge Durango—heading toward Wendover. He alerted his fellow officers, who tracked the vehicle to a local gasoline station.
After confirming the license plate, they pulled the truck over and found Moreno and the girl in the front seat. Moreno did not resist arrest, Tripp said, and a search of the vehicle revealed no weapons.
The girl had her home computer's hard drive with her, along with an estimated $5,000 in cash reportedly taken from her father's safe at home and her cell phone, according to federal court documents.
Moreno traveled to Indiana on Friday and allegedly picked up the girl from her Fortville home.
On their journey from Indiana, the pair spent Sunday night at a Days Inn in Kimball, Neb., according to the documents.
Moreno and the girl have been communicating on the Internet for more than six months, according to police and family members. There is also evidence the two spoke by telephone.
On at least three occasions, Moreno sent the girl flowers, a move that helped police locate her Monday.
Several anonymous shipments of large flower arrangements and a box of chocolates arrived in February and March, Bradbury said. They raised concerns by the girl's father, who contacted local florists, seeking the name of the sender. The florists told Haynes they could not give him any names, Haynes said.
Haynes told police about the deliveries when they interviewed him after his daughter's disappearance. Detectives were able to obtain Moreno's credit card information, helping them identify him as the sender. He spent about $200 on the three deliveries of flowers he ordered through (800) FLOWERS.com.
"We got a lucky break, and that helped speed things along," said Bradbury of the Sheriff's Department.
Moreno has no previous criminal record, Bradbury said.
The girl's experience should serve as a warning to all parents to monitor their children's Internet usage, Hancock County Sheriff Nick Gulling said.
"I would suggest they not have Internet access in their bedroom," Gulling said. "Have the computer in a common part of the house where there are other people around. It's important to have a computer, in the house, but have it where the whole family can use it and know what's going on."
FBI agent Davis also stressed that parents need to be vigilant.
"Obviously, the Internet is a new forum for predators to seek out contact with juveniles," he said. "It's very important that parents monitor their children's activities on the Internet and who their children are talking to.
"They really should not be talking to anyone they don't know."
If parents are concerned that their children are possibly communicating with adults on the Internet, they should not hesitate to contact police and "let them sort it out," Davis said.
He and Fortville Police Chief Shepherd have 14-year-old daughters. Both said they had spoken with their daughters about the dangers of Internet predators in the wake of the Fortville family's experience.
Star reporter Dan McFeely contributed to this story.
