Here we present the typed copy of Samuel Bassett's statement. Sam's hand-written letter can be viewed as a .PDF file by clicking here. This file has been posted here on July 06, 2011 but was written at an earlier date. (Our photocopy of this original letter unfortunately had some of the words in the right-hand margin chopped out. We have added our own interpolations of those missing words within [brackets] in our post below.) Mr. Sam Bassett wants you to know that he told the detective that there was no way he would send her those kinds of pictures and there was no way that he wanted to meet her in person.
Dear Mr. Orr:
My name is Sam Bassett and I am currently sitting in custody at the Yavapai County Jail due in part from the [sting] done by Detective Pam Edgerton for "luring a minor for sex" as well as 7 other men or more on the same sting by Dt. Edgerton. I moved back to Arizona about a year ago to better my life and [to look] for a very good job offer, also to help my parents out and spend some time with them as they are both up there in age. My mother is already in the first stages of dementia so I [wanted to] be there for my parents.
Well, in February while I was on Facebook, I got a friend request from "Brean Fox" which I saw had the same interests in Rodeo and [Horses?]. I believe her age was 18 or 19 at the time, so I added her [into my Facebook friend list]. Then she asked me to add [her] on Yahoo where she asked me if I liked younger women. And I am 35 and I told her I didn't mind younger women; that I've dated 21 years old [women]. She then started asking me for pics and movies of me or of younger women and she begged [me] to send her pics of younger women in sex acts.
I told her I wasn't comfortable sending her those kinds of pics, not knowing that it wasn't till after I sent her a pic of myself she told me that she was 13 yrs. It then occurred to me she was joking or [in Law] Enforcement, which I asked her several times if she was. Still concerned, I didn't send any more pics to her or talk to her for awhile, yet she would beg to send more. She then asked me to meet her at "Jack-In-The-Box" so we could do things in a sexual nature, where I told her no way would I meet her.
It wasn't worth my time and if she was 13 yrs. old I didn't want to go to jail. So I wouldn't meet her. She continued to beg for pics and movies and would get mad if I refused to send them. After about [a month] of chatting with her, I got fed up with her always asking to meet her or to send her [some pics]. So I deleted her and blocked her from my Facebook and Yahoo.
The next day, Detective Pam Edgerton and several other detectives showed up at my house and told me I was under arrest for luring a minor for sex. I'm now on a one-million dollar bond and have 32 counts of the same thing over and over again for chatting with a detective which I believed to be an 18 year old girl.
I ask where is the justice in this case along with along with any of these cases to take men and ruin their lives as Detective Edgerton has [done]? I would never send pics to a 13 year old girl or meet to have sex with them. I believe Detective Edgerton is very wrong, along with the Yavapai County Sheriff's department, in entrapping men to make them think they are talking with an 18 year old then changing their age to 13 to trap men ... innocent men, at that! The ones in the wrong are the detective and YCSO in a sting that has ruined my life and 7 others as well!
I am willing to meet with you to talk more as long as it doesn't interfere with the visits with my parents on Wednesday. Thank you for your time and concern in this case.
Sincerely,
Sam Bassett
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Shawn Thompson Says Her Facebook Photo Was of a 19 Year Old
Here we present the typed copy of Shawn L. Thompson's statement. Shawn's hand-written letter can be viewed as a .PDF file by clicking here. This file has been posted here on July 06, 2011 but was written at an earlier date. Mr. Shawn Thompson wants you to know that the detective who chatted with him had posted 19-year-old profiles of herself to sites like Facebook, with a photo that obviously portrayed a person older than 13. Shawn says this detective is creating crimes and criminals out of thin air! Shawn Thompson is a father of two, with prior service in the U.S. Army.
To Scott Orr,
I am Shawn Thompson and I am one of many prisoners in the Yavapai County Detention Center after having been arrested as part of an unlawful "sting operation" designed to create criminals out of innocent men. This targeting of innocent men is led by Sheriff's Detective Pam Edgerton who sets up a false identity posing as a 19 yr. old on various adult web sites. She posts her 19 yr. old's profile on social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Plenty Of Fish, Tagged, and several other sites. Most of these sites require their users to verify that they are at least 18 years old. So she states that she is 19 years old on her profile and posts a picture.
Once she makes contact with an innocent target she quickly starts making suggestive and very explicit sexual comments and switches the chat forum over to Yahoo (which has no age verification) and then announces that she is actually a 13 year old pretending to be a 19 year old. The innocent target of the sting has no way of knowing which story is true. Is she really 19 or only 13? In fact, both identities are entirely false. There is no 13 year old and there is no 19 year old. There is only the detective trying to lure innocent men into committing a crime which, without her zealous efforts, would never have occurred. She has created a crime and a criminal out of thin air!
Several of the men here attempted to meet with the unknown girl to verify her age and were arrested at the meeting site. I refused her suggestion of a meeting unless she could verify her age to my satisfaction. When she would not verify her age I told her, "I do not need the drama" and stopped the chats and deleted all of the chat files on my PC. Four days later I was arrested at my home. The sheriffs then bragged to the press about having captured another dangerous child predator.
In most of these cases the sheriffs obtain a search warrant to search the victim's PC. But in one case here of one of the eight currently waiting trial or a plea for entrapment, Chad M. requested evidence [through] his lawyer from the P.C. [held] in evidence. But [Chad] was told that his messages on "Plenty Of Fish" that justified his case were mysteriously "deleted." And not by him. The Baptist minister in Phoenix who committed suicide rather than to endure what we are presently going through here is an example of the type of "criminals" the sheriffs are currently targeting.
I have no previous criminal record and have been a law abiding citizen who proudly serves in the Army. I have a wife, two children, and an aging mother who are dependent on me for their care and support.
We desperately need your help in bringing the true facts of these immoral sting operations to the attention of the Public. The sheriffs are not capturing dangerous child predators as they proudly claim.
Shawn L. Thompson
To Scott Orr,
I am Shawn Thompson and I am one of many prisoners in the Yavapai County Detention Center after having been arrested as part of an unlawful "sting operation" designed to create criminals out of innocent men. This targeting of innocent men is led by Sheriff's Detective Pam Edgerton who sets up a false identity posing as a 19 yr. old on various adult web sites. She posts her 19 yr. old's profile on social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Plenty Of Fish, Tagged, and several other sites. Most of these sites require their users to verify that they are at least 18 years old. So she states that she is 19 years old on her profile and posts a picture.
Once she makes contact with an innocent target she quickly starts making suggestive and very explicit sexual comments and switches the chat forum over to Yahoo (which has no age verification) and then announces that she is actually a 13 year old pretending to be a 19 year old. The innocent target of the sting has no way of knowing which story is true. Is she really 19 or only 13? In fact, both identities are entirely false. There is no 13 year old and there is no 19 year old. There is only the detective trying to lure innocent men into committing a crime which, without her zealous efforts, would never have occurred. She has created a crime and a criminal out of thin air!
Several of the men here attempted to meet with the unknown girl to verify her age and were arrested at the meeting site. I refused her suggestion of a meeting unless she could verify her age to my satisfaction. When she would not verify her age I told her, "I do not need the drama" and stopped the chats and deleted all of the chat files on my PC. Four days later I was arrested at my home. The sheriffs then bragged to the press about having captured another dangerous child predator.
In most of these cases the sheriffs obtain a search warrant to search the victim's PC. But in one case here of one of the eight currently waiting trial or a plea for entrapment, Chad M. requested evidence [through] his lawyer from the P.C. [held] in evidence. But [Chad] was told that his messages on "Plenty Of Fish" that justified his case were mysteriously "deleted." And not by him. The Baptist minister in Phoenix who committed suicide rather than to endure what we are presently going through here is an example of the type of "criminals" the sheriffs are currently targeting.
I have no previous criminal record and have been a law abiding citizen who proudly serves in the Army. I have a wife, two children, and an aging mother who are dependent on me for their care and support.
We desperately need your help in bringing the true facts of these immoral sting operations to the attention of the Public. The sheriffs are not capturing dangerous child predators as they proudly claim.
Shawn L. Thompson
Monday, July 4, 2011
William Says She Placed a Personals Ad Stating She Was 18
Here we present the typed copy of William R. Adams' statement. William's hand-written letter can be viewed as a .PDF file by clicking here. This file has been posted here on July 04, 2011 but was written at an earlier date. William wants you to know that Detective Edgerton had passed herself off as an 18 year old woman on the adult dating site known as "Plenty Of Fish."
To Scott Orr visiting Jeff Bayles:
This Is My Statement.
My name is Wiliam (one of the Yavapai 6). Entrapped in an Internet Police sting carried out by the Yavapai Sheriff's Dept., and personally by a Detective Edgerton who posted a Personals Ad on the "Plenty Of Fish" adult dating site saying she was 18. I answered to the ad, believing she was 18. She wrote back, engaged me in a conversation, then said she was 13. She lured me from "Plenty Of Fish" where there is age verification onto Yahoo where there is none. She asked me to send her nude photos, even movies, which I wouldn't.
She pressed me to meet with her, luring me with directions to Gurley Street and the "Jack In The Box" restaurant (common rendezvous), as I hardly knew how to find Prescott, even.
After being taken to the Camp Verde County Jail, Detective Edgerton asked me if I wanted to write a Letter Of Apology to the victim and to her family ... to give them some comfort and closure? I wrote the apology she asked for, found out 3-1/2 months later from the Public Defender that there never was a minor or a victim in the Internet Chats.
I only know about God and mysteries and secrets that he shows and teaches me. I don't understand many things and get very confused why I am here and why I have to stay here in Hell?
But I don't think the Police should do bad things themselves trying to get someone to do something bad.
Now some background: I am a nearly 59 year old virgin, impotent from the age of 12 from a chemical burn to my genitals. Can be proved by medical exam, but no one will let the truth out and approve it cause they don't want anyone to know that I am a Victim, not a Predator. I've never touched a minor inappropriately, not ever ... this can be proved by Lie Detector ... but they don't want anyone to know the truth about me 'cause then people would begin to understand. (So they won't let me take a Lie Detector test.)
I have mental problems, have always been very socially isolated especially in the weeks leading up to my arrest, was suffering a quiet breakdown. The day, and days, leading up to my arrest was having trouble understanding things. On the day of my arrest, my car was steaming on the verge of completely overheating. I barely made it to Prescott and the Jack In The Box. I had no rational awareness of my car's obvious state. I couldn't understand or comprehend my car's state, or my own. The Police at first tried to drive my car away, then saw it was steaming and undriveable, and then had it towed. They don't want anyone to know about the car 'cause someone might begin to understand. (if they put two-and-two together.)
As I went through Booking, my personality began to de-construct and began repeating things like the booking officer and what others said. They put me in an empty cell, took away my clothes and made me wear a padded suit all day and night till the next day.
After repeated requests to make a phone call that day and night, they finally let me use the phone but it wasn't working and the call didn't go through. They finally took me to a counselor the next day and he released me to the Sex Offender jail dorms when I told him I wasn't suicidal and had threatened harm to no one.
That's when I learned to keep quiet and no matter how bad my mental condition so they wouldn't put me back in Solitary.
--William (of the Yavapai 6)
To Scott Orr visiting Jeff Bayles:
This Is My Statement.
My name is Wiliam (one of the Yavapai 6). Entrapped in an Internet Police sting carried out by the Yavapai Sheriff's Dept., and personally by a Detective Edgerton who posted a Personals Ad on the "Plenty Of Fish" adult dating site saying she was 18. I answered to the ad, believing she was 18. She wrote back, engaged me in a conversation, then said she was 13. She lured me from "Plenty Of Fish" where there is age verification onto Yahoo where there is none. She asked me to send her nude photos, even movies, which I wouldn't.
She pressed me to meet with her, luring me with directions to Gurley Street and the "Jack In The Box" restaurant (common rendezvous), as I hardly knew how to find Prescott, even.
After being taken to the Camp Verde County Jail, Detective Edgerton asked me if I wanted to write a Letter Of Apology to the victim and to her family ... to give them some comfort and closure? I wrote the apology she asked for, found out 3-1/2 months later from the Public Defender that there never was a minor or a victim in the Internet Chats.
I only know about God and mysteries and secrets that he shows and teaches me. I don't understand many things and get very confused why I am here and why I have to stay here in Hell?
But I don't think the Police should do bad things themselves trying to get someone to do something bad.
Now some background: I am a nearly 59 year old virgin, impotent from the age of 12 from a chemical burn to my genitals. Can be proved by medical exam, but no one will let the truth out and approve it cause they don't want anyone to know that I am a Victim, not a Predator. I've never touched a minor inappropriately, not ever ... this can be proved by Lie Detector ... but they don't want anyone to know the truth about me 'cause then people would begin to understand. (So they won't let me take a Lie Detector test.)
I have mental problems, have always been very socially isolated especially in the weeks leading up to my arrest, was suffering a quiet breakdown. The day, and days, leading up to my arrest was having trouble understanding things. On the day of my arrest, my car was steaming on the verge of completely overheating. I barely made it to Prescott and the Jack In The Box. I had no rational awareness of my car's obvious state. I couldn't understand or comprehend my car's state, or my own. The Police at first tried to drive my car away, then saw it was steaming and undriveable, and then had it towed. They don't want anyone to know about the car 'cause someone might begin to understand. (if they put two-and-two together.)
As I went through Booking, my personality began to de-construct and began repeating things like the booking officer and what others said. They put me in an empty cell, took away my clothes and made me wear a padded suit all day and night till the next day.
After repeated requests to make a phone call that day and night, they finally let me use the phone but it wasn't working and the call didn't go through. They finally took me to a counselor the next day and he released me to the Sex Offender jail dorms when I told him I wasn't suicidal and had threatened harm to no one.
That's when I learned to keep quiet and no matter how bad my mental condition so they wouldn't put me back in Solitary.
--William (of the Yavapai 6)
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Brad Binkley Says He Knew She Was a Cop and Told Her So
Here we present the typed copy of Bradley C. Brinkley's statement. Brad's hand-written letter can be viewed as a .PDF file by clicking here. This file has been posted here on June 29, 2011 but was written at an earlier date. Mr. Bradley Brinkley wants you to know that the "Brenna" persona who chatted with him had a membership to an Adult site and had posted photos of her newborn baby! Brad knew she was a fake 13 year old and repeatedly told her so, even suggesting that she was a cop. The whole thing seemed like some prank being played on him by an ex-girlfriend.
May 30, 2011
Dear Scott Orr,
I'm writing to you in hope that you'll take interest and publicize our situations. I am a 42 year old business owner with a good reputation and strong moral values. I am currently awaiting trial at the Yavapai County Jail on charges of "Luring a minor for sex" because of a misguided "sting" operation from the Yavapai County Sheriff's Department. I believe there are about 8 of us in here for basically the same thing. As I am sure each case is different in their own way, my hope is that you'll look into the unconstitutional and unfair way each case came to be.
In my case I am a medically retired combat veteran that served for over 12 years and was highly decorated and revered as an outstanding citizen and military Vet. I was online looking to meet and date girls from an adult dating web site. Along with two other girls I also came across "Brenna," what appeared to be an 18 year old new mother. As most men, I was looking at the main profile pictures and ages of each new girl I came across and asking if they wanted to meet in person.
Two of the girls were from Prescott and seemed as if they were interested in meeting, only one seemed very suspicious, like, she wasn't really who she was acting like. To start with, her profile picture of her holding a fairly newborn baby looked different from the three pictures she had. Plus all the pictures were thumbnails and couldn't be enlarged. They were small and distorted and hard to see clearly or unable to compare. It appeared that there were pictures of four different girls ranging in age from 12-13, 15-16, to the main pic of a new mother 18-19. But none of them could be enlarged to see if they were the same girl or how old they really looked.
Then the girl, "Brenna," asked to go to Yahoo to continue chatting and refused to chat on the adult site. As a person with a degree in computer programming and actively involved with computers since 2001, I'm pretty good at picking out fakes. One of the many perplexing issues is that she had profiles on at least two different adult web sites, both saying she was 19 years old. Plus she wanted to go to Yahoo to chat which is where all the fictitious people go to chat. I rarely, if ever, chat on Yahoo because of all the fake people on there, but this girl sparked my curiosity. So I went on Yahoo to continue our chat.
Once there on Yahoo she then informed me that she was only 13 years old. Again though, there were too many things, tell-tale signs that pointed toward her being a fake. The things she was saying, for example, she said she was 13 but looking for an older boyfriend and that her last boyfriend was 36 years old. Plus that she was home schooled but she had track practice and track meets like a regular public school would, not to mention it wasn't track season in March. Plus she kept saying over and over she was only 13. How many 13 year olds trying to pass as a 19 year old, on two different adult web sites, would then turn around and repeatedly say they were only 13? In addition to all that, her spelling and "text" chat abbreviations were better than mine, not that of any 13 year old. I even stated four or five times that I didn't believe her or what she was saying, telling her I believed she was a cop or someone else. Which all of this just sparked my curiosity even more, which also made me want to meet-see her in person all the more.
I wanted to prove she was a fake, that none of what she was saying was true. The fact that she kept pushing sex and if we were going to have sex didn't even phase me. I knew she was a fake and the point that she continued to push sex issues just reassured me that she was a fake.
Even at the end of our second and last chat I said at least twice that I only wanted to meet her, nothing else, just meet to see who she really was. Only she made it seem as though if there wasn't going to be any sex then she wasn't interested in meeting. Adding to the stupidity of the whole thing, what girl would go through all that just to meet and have sex with a total stranger?
It was an impossible scenario that could not, in any way, have even the slightest chance of being legit. At no time did I ever think I could possibly be chatting with an actual 13 year old and at no time did I ever think I could be breaking the law. From the very beginning I thought she was a fake, so much so that even after our first initial chat where I was lured to Yahoo, I had blown her off and forgot about her. She sparked my curiosity again after emailing me twice asking me to chat with her again on Yahoo, a second time.
If an actual 13 year old had shown up for our meeting, I would have been literally shocked out of my mind and left wondering if the world was actually becoming as stupid and fake as a Jerry Springer show. I was absolutely 100% positive there wouldn't be any 13 year old, but rather either a "no show," or an ex-girlfriend messing around.
I hope you take an interest into these cases as I am more than happy to show you any and all the "chats" (evidence) available in my case. If I can be arrested and charged with the extremely serious crime of "Luring a minor for sex," which carries a sentence of 15 years per charge per chat session, knowing "Brenna" was a fake, then anyone could fall into this misguided convoluted trap. The people need to be warned of this unconstitutional trap and informed that anyone can get sucked up in it. I have never been in serious trouble, I only have a couple of misdemeanors in my 42 years of life and I'm not a child predator or molester nor will I ever be one. This unfair entrapment operation unlawfully lured me in and it needs to be looked into before more innocent lives and reputations are ruined.
Thank you in advance for your time and possible attention-assistance.
Sincerely,
Bradley C. Binkley
May 30, 2011
Dear Scott Orr,
I'm writing to you in hope that you'll take interest and publicize our situations. I am a 42 year old business owner with a good reputation and strong moral values. I am currently awaiting trial at the Yavapai County Jail on charges of "Luring a minor for sex" because of a misguided "sting" operation from the Yavapai County Sheriff's Department. I believe there are about 8 of us in here for basically the same thing. As I am sure each case is different in their own way, my hope is that you'll look into the unconstitutional and unfair way each case came to be.
In my case I am a medically retired combat veteran that served for over 12 years and was highly decorated and revered as an outstanding citizen and military Vet. I was online looking to meet and date girls from an adult dating web site. Along with two other girls I also came across "Brenna," what appeared to be an 18 year old new mother. As most men, I was looking at the main profile pictures and ages of each new girl I came across and asking if they wanted to meet in person.
Two of the girls were from Prescott and seemed as if they were interested in meeting, only one seemed very suspicious, like, she wasn't really who she was acting like. To start with, her profile picture of her holding a fairly newborn baby looked different from the three pictures she had. Plus all the pictures were thumbnails and couldn't be enlarged. They were small and distorted and hard to see clearly or unable to compare. It appeared that there were pictures of four different girls ranging in age from 12-13, 15-16, to the main pic of a new mother 18-19. But none of them could be enlarged to see if they were the same girl or how old they really looked.
Then the girl, "Brenna," asked to go to Yahoo to continue chatting and refused to chat on the adult site. As a person with a degree in computer programming and actively involved with computers since 2001, I'm pretty good at picking out fakes. One of the many perplexing issues is that she had profiles on at least two different adult web sites, both saying she was 19 years old. Plus she wanted to go to Yahoo to chat which is where all the fictitious people go to chat. I rarely, if ever, chat on Yahoo because of all the fake people on there, but this girl sparked my curiosity. So I went on Yahoo to continue our chat.
Once there on Yahoo she then informed me that she was only 13 years old. Again though, there were too many things, tell-tale signs that pointed toward her being a fake. The things she was saying, for example, she said she was 13 but looking for an older boyfriend and that her last boyfriend was 36 years old. Plus that she was home schooled but she had track practice and track meets like a regular public school would, not to mention it wasn't track season in March. Plus she kept saying over and over she was only 13. How many 13 year olds trying to pass as a 19 year old, on two different adult web sites, would then turn around and repeatedly say they were only 13? In addition to all that, her spelling and "text" chat abbreviations were better than mine, not that of any 13 year old. I even stated four or five times that I didn't believe her or what she was saying, telling her I believed she was a cop or someone else. Which all of this just sparked my curiosity even more, which also made me want to meet-see her in person all the more.
I wanted to prove she was a fake, that none of what she was saying was true. The fact that she kept pushing sex and if we were going to have sex didn't even phase me. I knew she was a fake and the point that she continued to push sex issues just reassured me that she was a fake.
Even at the end of our second and last chat I said at least twice that I only wanted to meet her, nothing else, just meet to see who she really was. Only she made it seem as though if there wasn't going to be any sex then she wasn't interested in meeting. Adding to the stupidity of the whole thing, what girl would go through all that just to meet and have sex with a total stranger?
It was an impossible scenario that could not, in any way, have even the slightest chance of being legit. At no time did I ever think I could possibly be chatting with an actual 13 year old and at no time did I ever think I could be breaking the law. From the very beginning I thought she was a fake, so much so that even after our first initial chat where I was lured to Yahoo, I had blown her off and forgot about her. She sparked my curiosity again after emailing me twice asking me to chat with her again on Yahoo, a second time.
If an actual 13 year old had shown up for our meeting, I would have been literally shocked out of my mind and left wondering if the world was actually becoming as stupid and fake as a Jerry Springer show. I was absolutely 100% positive there wouldn't be any 13 year old, but rather either a "no show," or an ex-girlfriend messing around.
I hope you take an interest into these cases as I am more than happy to show you any and all the "chats" (evidence) available in my case. If I can be arrested and charged with the extremely serious crime of "Luring a minor for sex," which carries a sentence of 15 years per charge per chat session, knowing "Brenna" was a fake, then anyone could fall into this misguided convoluted trap. The people need to be warned of this unconstitutional trap and informed that anyone can get sucked up in it. I have never been in serious trouble, I only have a couple of misdemeanors in my 42 years of life and I'm not a child predator or molester nor will I ever be one. This unfair entrapment operation unlawfully lured me in and it needs to be looked into before more innocent lives and reputations are ruined.
Thank you in advance for your time and possible attention-assistance.
Sincerely,
Bradley C. Binkley
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Jeff Balys Says She Had 36-Year Old Boyfriend
Here we present the typed copy of Jeffrey Balys' statement. Jeff's hand-written letter can be viewed as a .PDF file by clicking here. This file has been posted here on June 21, 2011 but was written at an earlier date. Mr. Jeffrey Balys wants you to know that the person who chatted with him had a 36-year old boyfriend, so there is no way he believed she was only 13. Jeff also asks you to consider why would punishment for his victimless crime be far more harsh, by several orders of magnitude, than sexual offenses that have actually been consummated by repeat offenders against actual victims?
I am a respectful decent 45 year old man and I have lived in Arizona for most of my life. Over the years here in Arizona I have owned and operated two businesses and before this all happened I worked as a project manager for trade shows traveling all over the world. I used to volunteer as a teacher for troubled youths teaching things like horse back riding. I worked with many troubled kids including a girl that was cutting herself as a result from being molested by her mother's boyfriend. While working with her and guiding her I was able to get her to stop cutting herself and become one of the volunteers helping other troubled youths. I had a good idea of what she was going through because I was molested as a young kid too.
Over the past year though I have been experiencing very rough times. I lost my house I owned and lived in for 25 years and my job I had for over 10 years. I was forced to move out of my house in Tempe and move to Cordes Lakes for living arrangements. Being at a severe low in my life and in a deep depression I spent a lot of time on the computer. I wanted a friend, someone to chat with when I needed. "Conveniently" I had met and started chatting with Detective Edgerton over 3 years ago. Because of my untreated severe ADHD I have a hard time getting anyone to chat with me for any length of time, but Detective Edgerton would always chat as long as it became of a sexual nature at one point or another. If we didn't discuss something sexual or me coming to meet her she would lose interest and not chat with me. The only thing I ever wanted was someone to chat with and she didn't act like any 13 year old I've ever come across. Over the 3 years of chatting with her it became a normal thing for her to talk about her 36 year old boyfriend and how they would perform oral sex on each other. From the time I lived in Tempe to the time I only lived 30 minutes away from her in Cordes Lakes she would continually try and talk me into meeting her in person, but I only wanted someone to chat with and wasn't interested in meeting her or anyone else. Also during all this time she asked me more times than I can count if I would send her some nude pics or movies of myself. She even went as far as begging me to send something, anything, as long as it was nude.
Detective Edgerton had stopped talking/chatting with me for a long time. By chance I had decided to write her and popped up on her screen. She said (later in her own words) she had not been doing internet crime, that she didn't have the time for them, and she had given up on trapping me. Once I popped up on her screen again she finally after 3-1/2 years got me to use my new web cam that was my first time using it. I was only giving in to her begging and pleading and doing what she asked, what she wanted me to do in order to keep chatting. I never wanted or intended to chat with a 13 year old girl nor did she even seem like any 13 year old I've ever met.
How is anyone supposed to know someone's true age on the internet where most people lie about who they really are? Why doesn't Yahoo protect us from things like this as other chat web sites do, why isn't there safeguards or warnings to tell us about things like this and what can happen? From my understanding, some of the other guys caught up in this were on adult web sites when they met her and she lured them to Yahoo. How can she be allowed to do that? Why does she lure everyone to Yahoo and she starts chats on adult web sites but then won't continue chatting with them there? Oh, and why are all my first chats missing from over 3 years ago and newer, and why are the chats missing from the guys' chats on the adult web sites where she lured them to Yahoo?
The only thing us men have done was get sucked into detective Edgerton's misguided, unfair trap, where her only intention was to get law abiding citizens to commit serious felonies. It's fair to state that if it weren't for Detective Edgerton's trap, none of these crimes would have been committed and none of us would be here. I believe none of us have been in any serious and none of us have ever touched a child inappropriately nor did any of us intend to. I am not a sex predator or child molester nor would I ever be one, yet I am sentenced to 5 years "Flat" time in prison, plus I have lifetime probation.
I will be 51 years old, labeled as a sex offender, I will have lost all my belongings, my place to live (mobile home), my car, having no place to live trying to find a job. Also I'll have to pay various fees and fines, about $450 per month for the duration of my probation which is my lifetime. There are numerous stipulations such as what time I can go to the store and never being able to go to the park or movies. I won't even be able to travel, which was my current employment. Now that I realize the full implications of what I was doing, I am truly ashamed of my actions and very grateful there wasn't a real 13 year old on the other end at the computer, but should I have to pay for that the rest of my life? Is this the crime that deserves a punishment of 1st degree murder or something of that magnitude? Is this really something that should ruin my life (literally the rest of my life) and the rest of the guys that are in here for falling into the same trap? The only thing I ever wanted was to have a friend to chat with online.
According to USA Today, 40% of our teens are sexting and chatting online, looking to meet older guys, so if that's what I was looking for I would assume it would be fairly easy to find an underage girl, but I didn't, I only wanted to chat. Even Detective Edgerton said in her own words that she knew I was never going to come meet with her. She said I didn't give the normal lines a sex predator would and she couldn't believe how honest I was, even shocked that my screen name was a real person and my actual address and phone number were correct and real.
Can our State/County really afford this? Totally ruining lives like mine, making me dependent on state assistance, unable to find employment and limiting me to this county, not being able to travel and look for work. Why is it a life sentence to chat about sex or send pics to a minor but it's not a crime to go meet them? How can one call what I did "luring a minor" when it was Detective Edgerton that contacted me and lured me?
Why is it in Yavapai County that sex offenders for this type of crime get 2 to 3 times more prison and probation time then anywhere else, even more than Maricopa County? I don't understand how in Yavapai County, where a 24 year old man has molested a 4-year old baby three times but only gets 85% of five years and only five years probation and it involved an actual real live victim? Oh, and he doesn't have to wear a GPS tracking device as I do, for life? How is it that a 25-year old man can have sex with a 14-year old girl giving her a permanent disease plus he's a repeat offender and only gets five years with an option to serve six with no probation? I have seen it over and over in here (Yavapai County Jail) where men with actual real victims, that have really harmed a child, and get less time/punishment than me. And I have never harmed a child in my life. I only want to be treated fairly, receiving the appropriate punishment for a victimless crime. Should my family and I be totally destroyed for life, not to mention the cost to our community, for an unconstitutional trap with no actual victim or anyone being harmed? Do we really want a society/community that hands out punishments like this for victimless crimes? Do people want to live in a community known for that, what kind of justice system is that?
The harshness and unjust punishments for unconstitutional traps and the cost that goes into these, is that what our county/community wants? My bet, and I'm positive most don't even know about it yet ... I only want a true and just punishment for my crime an not be pushed into the sentence I got because I was facing 84 years in prison, another unreal punishment.
Sincerely,
Jeff Balys
I am a respectful decent 45 year old man and I have lived in Arizona for most of my life. Over the years here in Arizona I have owned and operated two businesses and before this all happened I worked as a project manager for trade shows traveling all over the world. I used to volunteer as a teacher for troubled youths teaching things like horse back riding. I worked with many troubled kids including a girl that was cutting herself as a result from being molested by her mother's boyfriend. While working with her and guiding her I was able to get her to stop cutting herself and become one of the volunteers helping other troubled youths. I had a good idea of what she was going through because I was molested as a young kid too.
Over the past year though I have been experiencing very rough times. I lost my house I owned and lived in for 25 years and my job I had for over 10 years. I was forced to move out of my house in Tempe and move to Cordes Lakes for living arrangements. Being at a severe low in my life and in a deep depression I spent a lot of time on the computer. I wanted a friend, someone to chat with when I needed. "Conveniently" I had met and started chatting with Detective Edgerton over 3 years ago. Because of my untreated severe ADHD I have a hard time getting anyone to chat with me for any length of time, but Detective Edgerton would always chat as long as it became of a sexual nature at one point or another. If we didn't discuss something sexual or me coming to meet her she would lose interest and not chat with me. The only thing I ever wanted was someone to chat with and she didn't act like any 13 year old I've ever come across. Over the 3 years of chatting with her it became a normal thing for her to talk about her 36 year old boyfriend and how they would perform oral sex on each other. From the time I lived in Tempe to the time I only lived 30 minutes away from her in Cordes Lakes she would continually try and talk me into meeting her in person, but I only wanted someone to chat with and wasn't interested in meeting her or anyone else. Also during all this time she asked me more times than I can count if I would send her some nude pics or movies of myself. She even went as far as begging me to send something, anything, as long as it was nude.
Detective Edgerton had stopped talking/chatting with me for a long time. By chance I had decided to write her and popped up on her screen. She said (later in her own words) she had not been doing internet crime, that she didn't have the time for them, and she had given up on trapping me. Once I popped up on her screen again she finally after 3-1/2 years got me to use my new web cam that was my first time using it. I was only giving in to her begging and pleading and doing what she asked, what she wanted me to do in order to keep chatting. I never wanted or intended to chat with a 13 year old girl nor did she even seem like any 13 year old I've ever met.
How is anyone supposed to know someone's true age on the internet where most people lie about who they really are? Why doesn't Yahoo protect us from things like this as other chat web sites do, why isn't there safeguards or warnings to tell us about things like this and what can happen? From my understanding, some of the other guys caught up in this were on adult web sites when they met her and she lured them to Yahoo. How can she be allowed to do that? Why does she lure everyone to Yahoo and she starts chats on adult web sites but then won't continue chatting with them there? Oh, and why are all my first chats missing from over 3 years ago and newer, and why are the chats missing from the guys' chats on the adult web sites where she lured them to Yahoo?
The only thing us men have done was get sucked into detective Edgerton's misguided, unfair trap, where her only intention was to get law abiding citizens to commit serious felonies. It's fair to state that if it weren't for Detective Edgerton's trap, none of these crimes would have been committed and none of us would be here. I believe none of us have been in any serious and none of us have ever touched a child inappropriately nor did any of us intend to. I am not a sex predator or child molester nor would I ever be one, yet I am sentenced to 5 years "Flat" time in prison, plus I have lifetime probation.
I will be 51 years old, labeled as a sex offender, I will have lost all my belongings, my place to live (mobile home), my car, having no place to live trying to find a job. Also I'll have to pay various fees and fines, about $450 per month for the duration of my probation which is my lifetime. There are numerous stipulations such as what time I can go to the store and never being able to go to the park or movies. I won't even be able to travel, which was my current employment. Now that I realize the full implications of what I was doing, I am truly ashamed of my actions and very grateful there wasn't a real 13 year old on the other end at the computer, but should I have to pay for that the rest of my life? Is this the crime that deserves a punishment of 1st degree murder or something of that magnitude? Is this really something that should ruin my life (literally the rest of my life) and the rest of the guys that are in here for falling into the same trap? The only thing I ever wanted was to have a friend to chat with online.
According to USA Today, 40% of our teens are sexting and chatting online, looking to meet older guys, so if that's what I was looking for I would assume it would be fairly easy to find an underage girl, but I didn't, I only wanted to chat. Even Detective Edgerton said in her own words that she knew I was never going to come meet with her. She said I didn't give the normal lines a sex predator would and she couldn't believe how honest I was, even shocked that my screen name was a real person and my actual address and phone number were correct and real.
Can our State/County really afford this? Totally ruining lives like mine, making me dependent on state assistance, unable to find employment and limiting me to this county, not being able to travel and look for work. Why is it a life sentence to chat about sex or send pics to a minor but it's not a crime to go meet them? How can one call what I did "luring a minor" when it was Detective Edgerton that contacted me and lured me?
Why is it in Yavapai County that sex offenders for this type of crime get 2 to 3 times more prison and probation time then anywhere else, even more than Maricopa County? I don't understand how in Yavapai County, where a 24 year old man has molested a 4-year old baby three times but only gets 85% of five years and only five years probation and it involved an actual real live victim? Oh, and he doesn't have to wear a GPS tracking device as I do, for life? How is it that a 25-year old man can have sex with a 14-year old girl giving her a permanent disease plus he's a repeat offender and only gets five years with an option to serve six with no probation? I have seen it over and over in here (Yavapai County Jail) where men with actual real victims, that have really harmed a child, and get less time/punishment than me. And I have never harmed a child in my life. I only want to be treated fairly, receiving the appropriate punishment for a victimless crime. Should my family and I be totally destroyed for life, not to mention the cost to our community, for an unconstitutional trap with no actual victim or anyone being harmed? Do we really want a society/community that hands out punishments like this for victimless crimes? Do people want to live in a community known for that, what kind of justice system is that?
The harshness and unjust punishments for unconstitutional traps and the cost that goes into these, is that what our county/community wants? My bet, and I'm positive most don't even know about it yet ... I only want a true and just punishment for my crime an not be pushed into the sentence I got because I was facing 84 years in prison, another unreal punishment.
Sincerely,
Jeff Balys
Monday, June 20, 2011
Chad Martineau Says She Had Membership to Adult Site
Here we present the typed copy of Chad Martineau's statement. Chad's hand-written letter can be viewed as a .PDF file by clicking here. This file has been posted here on June 20, 2011 but was written at an earlier date. Mr. Chad Alan Martineau wants you to know that the person who chatted with him at an adult web site was exactly that: an adult.
Mr. Scott Orr:
I am writing to express my disappointment in the sheriff's office and the judicial system in Yavapai County. I was recently pressured into pleading guilty to bogus charges because I was threatened with an extremely harsh sentence if I continued to proclaim my innocence. I accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty rather than face the threat of serving 15 years in prison. The tactic of using overly harsh sentences if cases are brought to trial is unjust and is preventing the tactics of the sheriffs from being brought to light in a public trial where they would surely be condemned.
I was imprisoned simply for having only one chat session with a sheriff's detective who initiated the online chatting while posing as a 19-year old female. At the time of the chat I was on an adult web site where participants are required to state that they are at least 18 years of age or older.
I have never had any interest in having any contact whatsoever with an underage girl and I was caught entirely off guard when the detective suddenly became a fictitious 13-year old instead of the 19-year old I had begun to chat with. I have no previous crimes of any kind and have never been arrested before. I am not a potential sexual predator and without this questionable "sting" operation no crime would have taken place. There was no 19 yr. old or a 13 yr. old so there was no victim. I am the only unfortunate victim in this operation designed to entrap innocent men.
The citizens of Yavapai County need to be informed about how our sheriffs, who complain of being under staffed and underfunded, are wasting precious resources to create crimes and criminals where none would otherwise exist. This misguided operation is not taking any actual predators off the street but is focusing on innocent men with no criminal history as their intended targets. There are no child victims to be saved by the sheriffs yet. These operations are destroying the lives of many innocent men.
Unfortunately the threat of harsh penalties are unfairly keeping these cases from being exposed in public trials where the citizens of Yavapai County might learn how misguided and unfair these schemes really are.
I am looking forward to meeting or speaking with you to share further facts and details about the life-destroying consequences of these entrapment operations.
-- CHAD MARTINEAU
Mr. Scott Orr:
I am writing to express my disappointment in the sheriff's office and the judicial system in Yavapai County. I was recently pressured into pleading guilty to bogus charges because I was threatened with an extremely harsh sentence if I continued to proclaim my innocence. I accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty rather than face the threat of serving 15 years in prison. The tactic of using overly harsh sentences if cases are brought to trial is unjust and is preventing the tactics of the sheriffs from being brought to light in a public trial where they would surely be condemned.
I was imprisoned simply for having only one chat session with a sheriff's detective who initiated the online chatting while posing as a 19-year old female. At the time of the chat I was on an adult web site where participants are required to state that they are at least 18 years of age or older.
I have never had any interest in having any contact whatsoever with an underage girl and I was caught entirely off guard when the detective suddenly became a fictitious 13-year old instead of the 19-year old I had begun to chat with. I have no previous crimes of any kind and have never been arrested before. I am not a potential sexual predator and without this questionable "sting" operation no crime would have taken place. There was no 19 yr. old or a 13 yr. old so there was no victim. I am the only unfortunate victim in this operation designed to entrap innocent men.
The citizens of Yavapai County need to be informed about how our sheriffs, who complain of being under staffed and underfunded, are wasting precious resources to create crimes and criminals where none would otherwise exist. This misguided operation is not taking any actual predators off the street but is focusing on innocent men with no criminal history as their intended targets. There are no child victims to be saved by the sheriffs yet. These operations are destroying the lives of many innocent men.
Unfortunately the threat of harsh penalties are unfairly keeping these cases from being exposed in public trials where the citizens of Yavapai County might learn how misguided and unfair these schemes really are.
I am looking forward to meeting or speaking with you to share further facts and details about the life-destroying consequences of these entrapment operations.
-- CHAD MARTINEAU
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