When he was arrested outside a motel, Bergthold thanked cops for saving him from his addiction to child porn, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
The arrest followed two months of investigations by Will and Cook County sheriff police, who had been monitoring Craigslist, a classifieds website.
A member of the Police Child Exploitation Unit allegedly noticed an individual using the site to arrange meetings with fathers.
The investigator responded to Bergthold and posed as a dad willing to offer sexual access to his six-year-old daughter, police said.
This weekend Bergthold allegedly began pushing more aggressively to meet the ‘father’ and his ‘daughter’.
‘Bergthold’s demeanor changed,’ Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas told the Chicago Sun Times.
‘He communicated a sense of urgency in wanting to meet with the undercover officer and the minor child.’
He added officers believed Bergthold might have sought out a victim ‘if we did not end this investigation’, the Sun Times reported.
The investigator arranged to meet with the suspect at a motel, where he was promptly arrested. His computer has also been seized.
The Chicagoist reported Bergthold posted around 117 messages on Craigslist appealing for individuals to carry out his fantasies.
He had placed ads for women who wanted to be raped, among others.
He has been charged with two counts of indecent solicitation of a child and one count of travelling to meet a minor.
Bond has been set at $750,000 and he is due to appear in court on February 17. He is to have no contact with children under
No comments:
Post a Comment