Suspected child predator
arrested in Castor Gardens

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

An Internet child predator sting snared a Castor Gardens husband and father last Thursday after he allegedly used his home computer to send numerous videos of himself masturbating to someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl.
James George Stone, 44, of the 6600 block of Lynford St., also propositioned the fictitious youngster for sex in online chats, according to a criminal complaint against him. The girl was actually an undercover special agent from the state attorney general’s child predator unit.
Stone was the 138th suspected child predator arrested by the unit since January 2005 and the 69th in the last 12 months, Attorney General Tom Corbett said.
According to the complaint, Stone first contacted the undercover agent on Sept. 5 in a Yahoo! chat room dedicated to discussions about video games. Using common Internet chat abbreviations and acronyms, the agent asked Stone’s age, sex and location. Stone, using the screen name “spanther5,” allegedly identified himself as an 18-year-old from “usa.” The agent identified himself as a 12-year-old girl from Pennsylvania.
Though the agent lost his Internet connection abruptly, Stone again contacted the agent on Sept. 27 and initiated a similar dialogue using the same screen name. Stone then sent the agent a private message allowing the agent access to Stone’s live Web camera. According to the complaint, the video feed showed a male from the waist down with his genitals exposed. He masturbated.
Stone allegedly repeated the scenario on Oct. 1 and 16; Nov. 13, 19 and 29; and Feb. 4. On those occasions, he allegedly asked the fictitious girl repeatedly if she was alone, if she had a boyfriend, if she had a brother, if she was naked, if she liked his videos and if she had ever engaged in specific sexual activities. He also invited her to let her friends see his videos and offered to have sex with her.
The agent linked Stone to the videos and chats through account information obtained from Yahoo! and Stone’s Internet service provider.
When state agents and Philadelphia police went to the suspect’s home last Thursday, he allegedly identified himself as the only male living there and the only user of the “spanther5” Yahoo! screen name. He told investigators that he is married and has two school-aged daughters.
According to the criminal complaint, Stone has no prior criminal record. He is charged with seven counts of unlawful contact with a minor and one count of criminal use of a computer. Each charge is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Stone is being held in Montgomery County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail. As the Times went to press, he was scheduled for an April 30 preliminary hearing in Collegeville. The case is being prosecuted in Montgomery County because investigators received the incriminating videos there. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com