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Sick pedophile code revealed in Craigslist undercover sting

The coded language pedophiles use to communicate online is shockingly simplistic.

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Kevin Morris

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A recent undercover sting in Mobile, Ala., provides a window into the secret world of coded language pedophiles use online. And it’s shockingly simplistic.

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Jurors heard opening statements yesterday in the case of Alan Preston Prine, 60, arrested last November after exchanging more than 200 emails with an undercover officer posing as a 32-year-old housewife offering up her two pre-teen kids for sex. The flurry of emails began with this message posted to the “Casual Encounters” section of Craigslist:

“P.hamily fun serious replies only bama won yes T.erday and kansas state lost don’t forget to H. elp the less fortunate this C. hristmas”

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Detective James Morton, who posted the ad, was using the capital letters as a simple code: In pedophile circles, PTHC stands for “pre-teen hardcore.” The ad was an invitation, and Prine took Morton up on his offer.

Prine’s lawyer is taking the “Internet as fantasyland” defense, claiming his client was simply role-playing. “It is not just officers who pose,” he told the court. “People on the Internet pose. This case presents a world of smoke and mirrors.”

A world of smoke and mirrors that nevertheless resolves into a pretty damning scene: Police busted Prine, carrying a pizza box, as he approached the supposed 32-year-old mother’s apartment on Nov. 20. Earlier, Prine had explained in explicit detail exactly what he hoped to get out of the encounter:

“Are you into that?” Prine had written to the detective earlier. “That,” referred to, in Prine’s words “sexual interaction between family members.”

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Did the mom like to participate (in the incest and child rape) or just watch? “I enjoy both,” the detective replied, before asking Morton for his age preferences.

“9-plus,” Prine said,.

The children were about that old, the detective replied. They were ready and willing, he said.

Prine replied: “Wow, I’m speechless.”  

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If convicted, Prine faces 10 years to life in prison.

Photo via Anniston/Gadsden

 
The Daily Dot