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Man pleads to soliciting online

Norfolk man pleads guilty to trying to sexually solicit a Spotsylvania County detective who was posing online as a young boy


Date published: 7/19/2006

A Norfolk man who took part in an Internet sex chat from a public library in the Tidewater area pleaded guilty to a felony yesterday in Spotsylvania County.

Gary Don Castle Jr., 28, was arrested late last December at a public library in Portsmouth as he sat at a computer terminal.

At that time Castle was chatting online with a person whom he believed was a 13-year-old boy, according to prosecution evidence. It was actually a Spotsylvania sheriff's detective using a laptop computer with a wireless connection outside the library.

Within the past couple of years Spotsylvania detectives have arrested dozens of people in an online sting aimed at people soliciting sex from children. The detectives set up profiles as 13- or 14-year-old children and wait for someone to contact them.

The detectives typically pretend to be young girls. In this case, Detective Clay Blankenship pretended to be a 13-year-old boy who told Castle he had "no interest in girls," according to Castle's written plea agreement.

The two began to chat late last November, and the conversations turned sexual, according to the evidence. Blankenship learned that Castle was chatting with him from the Portsmouth library. He contacted Portsmouth police and library personnel.

Blankenship went to Portsmouth last Dec. 28 and began chatting with Castle. While he was outside, officers with the Portsmouth Police Department went inside and arrested Castle.

Castle got the punishment that has been typical in these types of cases in Spotsylvania--six months to serve in jail, probation and 200 hours of community service. Castle will have to register as a sex offender and won't be allowed to use the Internet for five years except for work or school.

To reach BILL FREEHLING: 540/374-5424
Email: bfreehling@freelancestar.com



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Date published: 7/19/2006


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