NEWS_ARTICLE.RttP{Man Solicits 11-Year-Old For Naked Pictures Via PS3}

Houston Chronicle via Google News

Man Solicits 11-Year-Old For Naked Pictures Via PS3

A Kentucky man is accused of persuading an 11-year-old Humble girl to send him nude photos of herself while the pair played video games online.

Anthony Scott O’Shea, 24, of Somerset, Ky., has been charged with promotion of child pornography, online solicitation of a minor and sexual performance of a child. He will soon be transferred to Houston, said Sgt. Gary Spurger of the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office. The girl sent the man photos over the course of several weeks as they played games online with their PlayStation 3 consoles in December, Spurger said.

“She realized what she had done and felt bad about it and told her parents,” said Spurger, who investigated the case and coordinated the man’s arrest with Kentucky officials.
Online contact

The Precinct 4 Constable’s Office routinely investigates child pornography cases, but this is the first case Spurger said he’s aware of where the online predator contacted a child through a game console’s online network.

“This is another venue these guys are getting to use now that hasn’t been seen before,” Spurger said. “They’re on PlayStation or Xbox playing online games.”

According to court documents, the girl “performed” for the man using a Web camera. She said she met O’Shea playing the game Warhawk and that he had used the screen name “Thunder-kid.”

During interviews with investigators, the girl said that the man “kept pressuring her for more pictures and wanted to set up a meeting with her in order to engage in sexual activity,” the court record states.
Sent him photos

The girl told the man that she was only 11, according to records.

Spurger subpoenaed information tied to the screen name, which led him to O’Shea in Kentucky.

On March 2, authorities searched O’Shea’s home. He acknowledged that he had been in contact with the girl and that he had received her photos, officials said.

Authorities said they also discovered that O’Shea had distributed the girl’s photos to other people.