Man Convicted Of Attempted Rape After E-Mail Sting Agent Pretended To Be 13-Year-Old Girl; Lawyer To Appeal Ruling On Privacy Of Chats

Donald Townsend had dinner with his wife, then left to meet a 13-year-old girl at a downtown hotel.

But what he discovered at Cavanaughs River Inn last June was that the “girl” he contacted on the Internet was actually undercover Spokane Police Detective Jerry Keller.

Spokane Superior Court Judge Michael Donohue on Thursday found Townsend guilty of attempted second-degree rape of a child.

The verdict follows a Superior Court ruling in December that Internet chats are not as private as phone conversations. Mark Hannibal, Townsend’s attorney, plans to appeal that ruling.

Townsend, 26, who faces five to 17 years in prison, will be sentenced in April. He is a registered sex offender in Lane County, Ore., for an offense that occurred when he was a juvenile.

The prosecutor’s office is waiting for more details of that incident in order to determine a recommended sentence.

The Townsend case was the first of its kind in Washington to deal with the issue of privacy in Internet chat rooms.

Keller testified at trial that Townsend admitted, after his arrest, that he preferred virgins because he thought they’d be more likely to be “sexually open to just about anything.”

Keller said he got a call from Spokane resident Mark Ivers, who received e-mail from Townsend asking if he knew any adolescent girls he could have sex with. The two men communicated in a chat room.

Under instructions from Keller, Ivers testified, he created a phony e-mail account and pretended to be fictitious teenage sisters named “Tammy” and “Cassie.” Ivers contacted Townsend under his assigned alias and told him their friend, “Amber,” wanted him to contact her.

Meanwhile, Keller set up an e-mail account with the log-in name, “Ambergirl87.”

An e-mail exchange between Townsend and Keller led to the arrest at the hotel.

Throughout the day-and-a-half trial, Hannibal frequently challenged the validity of the arrest. He asked Donohue to dismiss the case.

“No substantial step was taken to attempt the crime,” Hannibal said.

In a case where a person solicits sex from an undercover officer posing as a prostitute, the arrest is typically made after cash has been exchanged.

But Townsend tried to meet a girl who didn’t exist. There was no one but Keller at the hotel room, Hannibal said.

Hannibal also said he didn’t like the idea of a civilian masquerading as underaged girls on the Internet to help police make an arrest.

Donohue disagreed.

The judge said the “substantial step” was taken in the e-mail when Townsend said he wanted to have intercourse with “Amber.”

Deputy prosecutor Patti Walker said the guilty verdict was an important step in protecting children.

“This is a clear case of the Internet being used as a tool to gain access to a potential victim,” Walker said.

Hannibal thinks it was a clear violation of privacy. He contends that conversations made over an electronic device can’t be recorded without both parties agreeing.

Since Keller didn’t have Townsend’s consent, the chat transcripts shouldn’t have been used as evidence, Hannibal said.

In the December hearing, Judge Kathleen O’Connor rejected the argument that computer communications should have the same privacy protection as personal phone calls.

She said Washington privacy law does not apply to computer communications because the words of the statute do not specifically mention computers.

Hannibal tried to bring the matter before Donohue, but he was immediately thwarted.

“Judge O’Connor has ruled on this issue, and the court is not going to second-guess her,” Donohue said.

At the trial’s conclusion Thursday, Donohue said: “This is an odd kind of a case. I guess we’re going to be seeing a lot more of them.”