By By ROBERT BLANKENSHIP
Managing Editor
A man arrested in Escambia County on charges related to internet and child pornography pled guilty in Federal Court on Dec. 21.
Rodger Dale Stamps, 52, of Monticello, Fla., pled guilty to 14 charges including conspiracy, enticement of a child under 18 years of age for sexual acts, enticement of a person under the age of 18 to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct and several charges of transporting child pornography in interstate using a computer.
Another man who was later arrested and charged as an accomplice, Lawrence Bornstein, 72, of Tavarres, Fla., also pled guilty to four charges including conspiracy, enticement of a person under the age of 18 to engage in an unlawful sexual act and transporting child pornography in interstate using a computer.
The arrests came after a month-long investigation during the months of July and August. Stamps was arrested on September 1.
Stamps was arrested in Atmore by members of the FBI with the assistance of the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. He traveled to Atmore to meet with a boy he had been chatting via internet. However, the boy Stamps had been chatting with turned out to be officials with the ECSO.
ECSO Captain Chuck McMullen posed as a 13-year-old boy on the internet in various chat groups. According to Sheriff Tim Hawsey, McMullen talked with Stamps who was using the screen name "Infernodad" for about a month. During that time, Stamps sent numerous images of child pornography and images of himself nude. Ultimately, Stamps convinced the "child" to meet with him at a location in Atmore.
During the chats on the internet, Stamps introduced the "child" to a supposed 15-year-old boy named Justin. He also sent images of child pornography and told McMullen that it was alright to meet "infernodad." According to officials, Justin was actually Bornstein.
When Stamps traveled to Atmore for his rendezvous with a minor, he was met by McMullen, ECSO deputies and FBI agents. He had a hotel room there and when authorities searched his room they found a digital camera and computer, ready for use.
Stamps and Bornstein are scheduled to be sentenced in Federal Court on April 11 in Mobile.