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Attorney General Charlie Crist Press Release

January 26, 2006
Media Contact: Jenn Meale (850) 245-0150
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Crist: Broward Man Arrested After Arranging Tryst With "Minor"

TALLAHASSEE - Attorney General Charlie Crist today announced the arrest of a Broward County man for using the internet to solicit a minor to engage in sexual conduct. Alan Naj traveled from Broward County to Jacksonville intending to have a sexual encounter with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl, but who in fact was an undercover CyberCrime investigator from the Attorney General's Office.

Investigators with the CyberCrime Unit established contact with Naj in an online chatroom as part of their ongoing efforts to uncover internet crimes against children. Naj believed he was conversing with a 15-year-old Jacksonville girl, when in fact he was actually chatting with an undercover law enforcement officer. The communication continued over the course of one month, during which Naj solicited the "girl" with vivid sexual details of what he would do upon meeting her at a Jacksonville mall. When he traveled to Jacksonville for the supposed encounter, he was arrested and taken to a detention facility in Jacksonville. At the time of his arrest, he had several items of women's lingerie in his possession, presumably for his intended young victim.

"Cases like this unfold with chilling simplicity, often with tragic results for real victims," said Crist. "Our children must be protected from these predators, whose access to their unsuspecting victims is often aided by the internet."

Naj was arrested for solicitation of a minor and attempted lewd conduct. The arrest was made by officers with the CyberCrime Unit, with assistance from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, as well as the Law Enforcement Against Child Harm Task Force in South Florida, which conducted invaluable surveillance in Broward County to ensure the arrest. These agencies all participate in and are supported by Internet Crimes Against Children, a federally funded program working nationwide to educate law enforcement and stop these crimes.

The CyberCrime Unit's mission is to protect children from computer-facilitated sexual exploitation. The unit does this by working cooperatively on a statewide basis with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors to provide resources and expertise, while preventing the spread of these crimes through education and community awareness.

A study by the Crimes Against Children Research Center several years ago indicated that at least 24 million children between the ages of 10 and 17 use the internet regularly. One out of every five of these children received a sexual solicitation, one in every four received unwanted pictures of naked people or people having sex, one in every 17 was threatened or harassed and one in every 33 received an aggressive sexual solicitation asking the recipient to meet, phone or accept gifts.

In addition to establishing the CyberCrime Unit last fall, the Attorney General has taken several steps to protect Florida's children during the past year.

• Last May, Crist and Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Guy Tunnell, in conjunction with Pitney-Bowes, announced an enhanced state website that makes it easier to keep track of sexual offenders and predators in Florida.

• A new publication titled "Safe Steps" was produced for the purpose of educating parents on ways to protect their young children and alert them to issues involving teenagers. The publication was produced in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

• A series of one-hour courses called "Escape School," covering child safety for both children and parents, was presented at 25 locations around the state.

The Attorney General also successfully fought for the constitutionality of the Florida Sexual Predators Act – Florida's version of "Megan's Law" – which requires sexual predators to register once they are released from prison. The Florida Supreme Court agreed with the arguments put forth by the Attorney General's Office of the Solicitor General. The Supreme Court also agreed with the Attorney General's argument that automatically placing a convicted offender's name on a list of offenders is not unconstitutional. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider a legal challenge to the Florida law requiring sex offenders to register with the state so their pictures and other identifying information can be posted on the internet.