9 men arrested for attempting to entice children for sex

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    Rock Island, IL (Quad-City Times ) — Federal authorities on Thursday announced that nine men arrested in Rock Island during the month of November are facing charges of attempted enticement of a child to engage in sexual activity.

Several of the men also have been charged with related crimes that include travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and soliciting images of child pornography.

Two of the men are listed on the Iowa Sex Offender registry.

According to the affidavits filed in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, each of the men used mobile dating and social media apps to contact and talk to people whom they believed to be minors as young as 11 years old with the intent to meet to have sex.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from Rock Island Police, Illinois State Police, East Moline Police, Davenport Police, Galesburg Police, Knox County Sheriff’s Department and Macomb Police.

According to a news release issued Thursday by U.S. Attorney John Milhiser and FBI Springfield Special Agent in Charge Sean Cox, the nine men arrested and charged are:

Charles Walter Christopher, 42, of West Liberty, Iowa, a convicted sex offender currently serving a term of supervised release related to a similar case in the Southern District of Iowa. He is charged with attempted enticement of a minor to engage in illicit sexual activity, and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity.
Michael Robert McKinney, 23, of Silvis, is charged with attempted enticement of a minor.
Joseph Allen Wilcher, 39, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, charged with attempted enticement of a minor and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity.
Nicholas Bryan Swank, 31, of Muscatine, a convicted sex offender charged with attempted enticement of a minor, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity, and soliciting child pornography.
Jeffrey Alan Bosaw, 52, of Bloomington, Illinois, charged with attempted enticement of a minor
Douglas L. Christensen, 55, of East Moline, charged with attempted enticement of a minor and soliciting child pornography.
Auston M. McLain, 35, of Davenport, charged with attempted enticement of a minor, travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity and soliciting child pornography.
Damien Pernell Shepherd, 35, of Moline, charged with attempted enticement of a minor.
Douglas Michael Speer, 30, of Johnston, Iowa, charged with two counts of attempted enticement of a child and one count of travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual activity.
Attempted enticement of a minor carries a minimum prison term of 10 years and a maximum term of life. Travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual activity carries a prison sentence of up to 30 years. Soliciting images of child pornography carries a prison term of from five to 20 years.

There is no parole in the federal system.

Christopher, McKinney, Swank, Christensen, Shepherd and Speer have been ordered to be held in the custody of the U.S. Marshals until trial. Wilcher and McLain have been released on bond with conditions. Bosaw has a detention hearing scheduled for Dec. 8 in U.S. District Court, Rock Island.

The cases were investigated as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse.

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