Man goes on trial in Internet sex sting

An employee of the U.S. Border Patrol went on trial Monday in U.S. District Court, accused of traveling from Florida to Spokane to engage in sex with an Internet contact who identified herself as a 13-year-old girl.

Rick A. LeVa, a 37-year-old computer technician for the Border Patrol, was arrested on Dec. 3, 2002, when he went to a Spokane apartment complex where “Susie Ann” promised to meet him.

There was no teenage girl at the apartment, only Spokane Police Detective Curt Kendall, who initially arrested LeVa on state charges. The state charges were dropped when the U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to handle the prosecution.

LeVa, of Sunrise, Fla., was indicted on federal charges of use of a computer to coerce or entice a minor to engage in an unlawful sexual act and interstate travel with intent to have sex with a minor.

A 12-member jury and two alternates were selected Monday to hear the case being tried before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Justin Quackenbush.

In opening arguments, defense attorney Mark Vovos told the jury that LeVa was victimized by law enforcement “creating a crime when there isn’t one.”

“There’s no victim in this case,” Vovos told the jurors. “There’s no sex. There’s no 13-year-old child.”

His client is a “victim of attempted seduction by a 50-year-old” police officer who posed as the teenager in e-mails and “instant messaging” the two exchanged, Vovos said.

“It’s a masquerade,” the defense attorney said of the police sting. “It’s a deceit. It’s a trick.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Lister said there didn’t have to be a teenage girl or sexual contact for crimes to have been committed.

LeVa “made some very specific sexual references about what he wanted to do to and with Susie Ann,” and he traveled interstate with the intent to carry out an illegal sex act with a minor, Lister told the jury in the prosecution’s opening statement.

After Internet instant messaging exchanges on Nov. 27 and Nov. 29, 2002, LeVa traveled from Florida to Spokane on Dec. 2 and sent another message to “Susie Ann,” telling her he was staying at a North Division motel, Lister said.

The following day, LeVa sent “Susie Ann” another message, asking her to meet him for lunch in Spokane.

A female police officer paged LeVa and posed as the 13-year-old girl when he called back. The officer gave LeVa directions to a vacant apartment, where he was arrested.

LeVa consented to police searches of his laptop computer and hotel room, and no child pornographic material was found. His waived his constitutional rights and spoke with detectives for three hours after his arrest, acknowledging some of the sexually explicit language of the instant message exchanges.

Lister said the Border Patrol had sent LeVa to Spokane for computer work, “but what was really the prime motivator was having sex with a child.”

But Vovos told jurors the prosecution lacks evidence to convict LeVa beyond a reasonable doubt.

His client knew from the language used in the Internet exchanges that he wasn’t dealing with a 13-year-old girl.

“Rick didn’t buy it for a minute,” Vovos told the jury, claiming his client “wanted to smoke out” the real identity and age of “Susie Ann.”

“He had to see who it was behind the curtain, and he played along,” the defense attorney said.

In the Internet exchanges, LeVa told “Susie Ann” he worked for the Border Patrol and had a 10-year-old son, and he sent a picture of himself.

“He’s no Brad Pitt,” Vovos said of his client. “He’s no babe.”

Vovos told the jury his client has met adult women on the Internet, and he believed the teenager really was an adult playing a game.

“He never believed the person he was talking to was a minor, and he was absolutely 100 percent right,” Vovos said.