2 Charged in Sexual Assault of Girl, 15
By Tom Demoretcky, Staff Writer
Originally published in Newsday, August 13, 2001
A man and a woman were arrested over the weekend on charges of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old Massachusetts girl they met in an Internet chat room and brought to Farmingdale, Nassau police said.
Police said the girl, from Wrentham, Mass., just south of Boston, was held for a week at a home at 103 Lockwood Ave. They said she was taken from the house by police Friday after she was able to phone a friend and then police in Massachusetts, who notified local authorities.
After an investigation, Nassau police arrested Beth Loschin, 46, of that address, and James Warren, 41, of Hampton Bays. Loschin was charged with eight counts of sodomy and one count of first-degree sexual abuse, police said. Warren was charged with kidnapping, six counts of rape, 10 counts of sodomy and one count of sexual abuse, police said.
According to Det. Lt. Vincent Robustelli of the Eighth Squad, Warren made contact with the girl on the Internet, befriended her and made arrangements to meet her at a shopping mall in Wrentham on Aug. 3. He said Warren and Loschin drove up to meet her together and drove her back.
Robustelli said it appeared the girl went willingly and did not, at first, know what she was getting into. "The feeling I got was that she was having family problems at home and was reaching out on the Internet for a way to get away," Robustelli said.
During the week, police said, the girl was able to get to a telephone. She called a male friend who didn't know what to do because the girl didn't know where she was. Then, according to Robustelli, she called the Wrentham police, who had her look around the house for mail so that she could tell them the address. Wrentham police contacted Nassau.
Robustelli said that when Nassau police went to the house, they asked the girl to come outside. Once out of the house, she told them enough for them to begin an investigation, which led to the arrests.
Police said there were other people in the house, which they said was subdivided into several living areas, but that the occupants did not appear to be connected to the alleged kidnapping. They said Loschin's mother and a brother lived there and described Loschin as the divorced mother of two children. Police said that Loschin and Warren were apparently dating. A man who answered the door at Loschin's house Sunday said the family had no comment.
A woman who answered the telephone at the house in Hampton Bays where Warren lives said he had lived elsewhere but had stayed there for the past few months. She said he was a computer repairman. Warren's family couldn't be reached for comment.
Warren and Loschin were arraigned yesterday in First District Court in Hempstead. Warren was held without bail. Loschin was held on $80,000 bail. Both are due back in court Wednesday.
Police said the girl was taken to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, where she was treated and released. They said Wrentham police brought her mother to Long Island, and the girl was brought home.
