Man Accused of Using Web for Teen Sex

A 31-year-old Anaheim man was charged Tuesday with using the Internet to persuade an FBI agent posing as a 13-year-old girl to have sex with him.

The case of David Jack Gritchen is the first in Orange County and one of only a handful in the country to be brought under a 10-week-old sentencing law that gives those convicted a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.

“There are, unfortunately, an awful lot of men trying to use the Internet to get their hands on young girls,” said Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, which is prosecuting the case. “This gives us a significantly heavier hammer.”

In an interview, Gritchen denied the charges and said he thought he was meeting an adult.

He was arrested Monday at a McDonald’s restaurant in Huntington Beach where he had gone to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, authorities said. During several conversations in an Internet chat room, she had agreed to have sex with him, authorities said. The “girl” actually was a male FBI agent.

According to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent Mark C. Hunter, the two met May 6 in an America Online chat room when Gritchen -- using the screen name Dudedud276 -- messaged Hunter, posing as Amber.

Over the next two months, according to Hunter, the two chatted several more times, often discussing sex. They agreed to meet at the McDonald’s in the 5000 block of Warner Avenue, then were supposed to go to Gritchen’s house to have sex, according to Hunter.

When Gritchen arrived at the restaurant about 3:40 p.m., Hunter said, he was met by a Huntington Beach police officer posing as Amber. She had called him twice that day on his cell phone to discuss the meeting, according to Hunter. As soon as Gritchen said “let’s go” and motioned for her to get into his car, Hunter said, the man was arrested.

Gritchen denied planning to have sex with a minor. “What happened,” he said, “was that I met her online, she asked for my number, called me a number of times, and when I spoke to her it was obvious that she was an adult. She asked me to meet her at a restaurant. I went there to meet her and got arrested.”

“Because the crime involves the Internet, which carries messages across state lines, it is a federal offense punishable by as much as 30 years in prison, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Y. Lee.

Arraignment was scheduled for Aug. 4 in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana.