Transcript Staff Writer
A 30-year-old Tulsa man was arrested Tuesday by Norman police detectives, after he allegedly arranged a sexual encounter with a woman he thought was a 13-year-old virgin while communicating with her in an Internet chat room.
Aaron Sandor Vajda was charged Thursday in Cleveland County District Court with attempted lewd proposal to a minor; attempted abduction of a person under age 15; use of a computer to violate Oklahoma law; possession of child pornography; and engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses.
The woman posing as a 13-year-old virgin was in fact Nikki, a 36-year-old Colorado resident who works with Norman police detectives in busting would-be pedophiles. Nikki is the owner/operator of U.S. Cyberwatch, an Internet-based organization that tracks would-be child predators (uscyberwatch.com). Nikki asked that her real name be withheld to protect her children from retaliation.
Nikki said she posed in the chat room as a "girl who knew very little about anything sexual."
"He liked that and got very graphic -- so graphic with the Web cam images he sent that he's being charged with pornography," she said.
This is the second time Vajda has been taken in by the virgin ploy. The first time was 15 months ago, Nikki said.
"But because we didn't have a pre-existing agreement with Tulsa police, he wasn't arrested," she said. Nikki said Vajda went to the pre-arranged meeting place in Tulsa, but detectives weren't waiting to arrest him, as they did in Norman.
"U.S. Cyberwatch did post his photo and chat room logs (on their Web site) and community notification went out (fliers and letters warning neighbors and employers that Vajda is a potential pedophile)," she said.
Vajda initiated a series of conversations with Nikki in early June, police said, and was arrested by detectives after arriving at an east central Norman residence where he thought he'd be meeting the 13-year-old.
"U.S. Cyberwatch targets only those child predators who want to meet in real life," she said.
Nikki said U.S. Cyberwatch is planning to conduct a community meeting in Norman later this year to raise awareness of the predators lurking in Internet chat rooms.
"We're focusing not only on catching these predators, but also on prevention, so that children can avoid becoming the target of a predator in the first place," she said.
District Attorney Tim Kuykendall is sponsoring the community meeting, tentatively planned for early fall "after school starts back up," Nikki said.
Tom Blakey 366-3540 tblakey@normantranscript.com
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