- NEWS RELEASE -

Date: May 25, 2006

Subject: Convicted sex offender gets 6 years as Internet predator

A man convicted over a decade ago of attempted first degree sexual assault on a child has been sentenced to six years in prison for using the Internet to try to entice a child for sex. Richard J. Barrett, 33, of Overland Park, received the sentence in Platte County Circuit Court after pleading guilty on May 25.

Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said, “This case is a dramatic example of the genuine danger posed by Internet predators. To anyone who might question whether children are really at risk on the Internet, convicting a man who had already been found guilty of trying to sexually assault a child should answer any doubts.”

According to Zahnd, Barrett drove to a Platte County residence believing he would meet a 14-year-old girl for sex less than three hours after chatting with her on the Internet. The “girl” was actually an undercover detective with Platte County’s Cyber Crimes Unit.

Barrett began chatting on the Internet with the detective posing as a young girl in a Yahoo chat room at 10:05 a.m. on June 27, 2005. The chat quickly became sexual in nature. Among other things, Barrett asked, “you thikn [sic] you could handle me slidin [sic] my hand up under your skirt?”

Less than three hours later, at 1:00 p.m., Barrett arrived an undercover location in Platte County that he believed to be the home of the 14-year-old girl. He was immediately arrested.

Barrett was charged the next morning with child enticement. The maximum penalty for that crime is seven years in prison.

Zahnd said, “Less than three hours after he used the Internet to lure a girl for sex, this convicted sex offender knocked on her door. Thankfully, this time that “girl” was in fact a law enforcement officer. But we know this man has the capacity to bring harm to actual victims, because he has done it before.”

Zahnd said Barrett was convicted of attempted first degree sexual assault on a child on November 4, 1994 in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The Platte County case was investigated by detectives in Platte County’s Cyber Crimes Unit and was prosecuted by Myles Perry, who is the assistant prosecutor assigned to that unit.