It’s a situation that haunts the minds of Web-savvy pedophiles all over the Internet.
You’re snooping around on a porn site, trying to find whatever it is you’re looking for, when all of a sudden, you learn through your computer that the FBI’s trying to track you down.
That’s exactly what happened to 21-year-old Jay Matthew Riley last week. The Prince William County, Va., resident was checking out some porn on the Internet when a pop-up message appeared and told him, in no uncertain terms, that the FBI sought a fine from the man, and that he could be subject to a criminal investigation.
The message caught Riley off guard. It’s one thing to be cautious around the FBI; it’s another to face the investigative unit when you’ve got a hard drive full of kiddie porn saved onto your home computer.
Which, apparently, Riley did.
Hoping to make clean out of a messy situation, Riley decided to turn himself in. He cruised up to the Prince William County police station, computer in tow.
Police ran a scan of the computer and found that, despite the fact that the FBI had not sought him out, he should be held in custody. Riley’s computer was chock-full of messages and photos sent his way from underage girls. One girl was only 13; she lived in Minnesota.
Riley was arrested on July 23 and charged with three counts of possession of child pornography, one count of using a communication device to solicit certain offenses involving children, and one count of indecent liberties with a minor. He’s being held without bond.
It’s unclear right now as to whether Riley’s aware of this or not, but police investigating the situation learned shortly after making the arrest that the FBI warning message did not come from the FBI at all. It was a virus that snuck onto his computer because of the porn he was watching.
Grandma always said porn could make you blind. That’s not true—that we know, anyway—but it can turn you into a true-blue idiot.
