An Air Force staff sergeant was sentenced to 11 years in prison after the teenage Craigslist pen pal he was inappropriately emailing turned out to be a sex crimes investigator, court records show.
Steven Romel, 32, formerly of the Orlando, Fla., area, recieved his sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to enticement of a child for sex in July, according to court records.
From Nov. 21 to Jan. 18, a special agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in Tampa, Fla., conducted an online investigation into adults using computers to communicate with and arrange for sex with minors, records show.
Romel responded to a November posting in the Craigslist casual encounters section titled "Guys n military uniforms r so sexy," according to court documents.
The ad posted by the Air Force investigator said he was an 18-year-old woman from Kissimmee, Fla. But after Romel's first email to him, the Air Force agent told Romel that he was actually a 15-year-old girl.
"I value honesty and will let u know im not 18. i turn 16 in Mar. If u don't wanna talk it ok i get it," the agent wrote, and attached a photo of a girl.
"It's cool with me, you are a cutie," Romel responded.
During the next two months, Romel asked his pen pal whether she could come visit him in Shreveport, La., where he was stationed.
"I really just want you alone," he wrote, and asked the teen how far she had "gone" before, according to court records.
In December, Romel asked his pen pal to send him a "naughty pic" to prove that she was really 15 and not a "fake or trap," according to court records.
The agent wrote that the teen would not send Romel such a photo.
"If things went bad, you would be ok, I would be the one in major trouble," Romel wrote, trying to convince the teen to send him a photo with her face cropped out. "I would be at risk to not see my son and lose my job. That's were [sic] I'm coming from."
In January, Romel booked a plane ticket for the teen from Tampa to Louisiana, court records show.
The agent posing as the teen asked Romel about bringing birth control, and Romel said he would get a morning after pill if one was necessary.
Romel was waiting for the teen at a Shreveport, airport on Jan. 18, a U.S. attorney's spokesman said in a statement. Romel was arrested, and agents found the Plan B morning after pill in his home, court records show.
©2014 The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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