Lansing - Attorney General Mike Cox today announced the arrest of Van Buren County resident Kenneth Michael Pomeroy for using the Internet to commit child sexual abusive activity.

            Attorney General investigators and local police arrested Pomeroy, 58, of Hartford, late yesterday in South Haven.  Pomeroy chatted online with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, but he was in fact talking to undercover personnel.  Pomeroy chatted with a volunteer from Perverted Justice on two separate occasions, sending inappropriate pictures each time.  Pomeroy was arraigned Thursday in 7^th District Court before Judge Arthur H. Clarke III on three counts of using a computer to solicit a child for immoral purposes, a 10-year felony, and one count of using a computer/Internet to disseminate sexually explicit matter to a minor, a four-year felony. 

            Judge Clarke released Pomeroy on a conditional personal bond requiring the defendant to have no contact with minors and to avoid using the internet.  Pomeroy is scheduled to be back in court for a preliminary exam on November 9, 2009.

            Parents are encouraged to check their children's "buddy lists" for Pomeroy's screen name, "mikep37013".  If they believe their child had contact with Pomeroy, parents should contact the Attorney General's office at (313) 456-0180.

            To date, the Attorney General and his Child and Public Protection Unit have arrested 247 Internet sex predators.  An August 2009 sting in Livingston County yielded nine arrests and 21 predators were arrested during an October 2008 sting in Grand Rapids.

             For more information on how to protect your child from Internet predators visit www.michigan.gov/csi.  Citizens can also report suspected Internet child predators via the Report Internet Abuses against Children link, or by calling the Child and Public Protection Unit at (313) 456-0180.

            A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.  

    -30 -