CSI: Yahoo (Or, How to Get Caught Soliciting a Minor on the Internet)

A Kansas man was busted at a Wichita Wal-Mart last week for trying to meet a 13-year-old girl he first encountered in a Yahoo chat room, according to a search warrant filed in Kansas federal district court. The suspect drove a T-top Pontiac Trans Am. The 13-year-old girl turned out to be an FBI agent.

The suspect, who was arrested by FBI agents in the Wal-Mart’s parking lot after buying condoms, originally contacted his target in a Yahoo chat room dubbed Kansas13. The man used the screen name “SSGT200079065.” His target’s screen name: “OMGitsMichelleAgain.”

According to the search warrant, during August 2006, SSGT200079065 repeatedly tried to send instant messages to OMGitsMichelleAgain, who was frequenting Kansas13. OMGitsMichelleAgain eventually replied to the suspect, who said he was enlisted in the army and serving at Fort Riley, Kan.

After a series of messages that gradually grew more provocative (the suspect referred to his member as “Henry”), the suspect gave the faux 13-year-old his phone number and told her to keep their conversations a secret from her mother. They eventually agreed to meet.

Early in September, according to the warrant, [suspect] indicated he “was going to wash his car, gas it up and leave” from Junction City, Kan., to drive to Wichita to meet the girl at a Wal-Mart and then get a motel room in Goddard, Kan. The suspect then asked the girl to buy condoms.

What followed was a stakeout that will seem familiar to anyone who watches television crime dramas.

The suspect arrived at the Wal-Mart and, when the girl texted to say she was uncomfortable buying condoms, he went inside and bought them from the pharmacy. The suspect was then arrested by special agents observing in the parking lot and admitted to his actions online. He also admitted to using another Yahoo screen name, “TXSSGT,” and said he was also corresponding with two other girls under the age of 16, whom he met in a Yahoo chat room called Texas20.

The subsequent search warrant filed against Yahoo allows the FBI to procure any and all information related to the suspect’s online screen names and e-mail addresses, any files in his briefcase and photos areas, any of the Yahoo IDs listed in his Friends list and all other service provider IDs on his Yahoo accounts, and the identity of the moderates and members of the Yahoo Groups “Kansas13″ and ‘Texas 20,” including the date the Group was created, the dates that members joined the groups, and the archived message posts and all records relating to the activities of the Group members, as reflected in the Group Activity Log.

So chalk one up to the FBI, doing Darwin’s dirty work one pedophile at a time. And if this search warrant justifies anything, it’s the assumption that yes, skeevy dudes drive T-top Trans Am muscle cars. And hang out at Wal-Mart. Gross.