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"The offenders came to Fairfax County with the intention of committing a sex act with the minor, only to discover Child Exploitation Unit (CEXU) detectives and Street Crimes detectives waiting for them," county police said in a release.
The five men ranged in age from 24-53 and were charged with a total of 12 felonies.
They are:
- Steven Morales, 30, of Woodbridge: arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor and Attempted Indecent Liberties with a Minor.
- Karl Frey, 53, of Maryland: arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor and Attempted Indecent Liberties with a Minor.
- Joseph Nandigam, 24, of Fairfax: arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor and Attempted Indecent Liberties with a Minor.
- Adeel Chughtai, 30, of Lorton: arrested and charged with Solicitation of a Minor.
- Byron Crawford, 26, of Maryland: arrested and charged with two counts of Solicitation of a Minor and three counts of Distribution of Child Pornography.
Parents are urged to closely monitor their children’s online activities and use available security settings to prevent the use of inappropriate sites or platforms.
Children should be encouraged to report any person engaging in inappropriate conversations or trying to coerce them into providing sexually explicit images of themselves, police said.
Additional internet safety information provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can be found HERE. There are many applications predators use to solicit victims. Parents are encouraged to know what applications their children are using and have open dialog of the dangers they may pose.
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