By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

An Oklahoma man pleaded guilty Wednesday in a federal sexual-predator case developed in Jasper County via an Internet sting, and a Joplin man was charged the same day with possession of child pornography as a result of another cyber-crime probe.

Robert Dean Graef, 29, of Tulsa, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Springfield to charges of attempted sexual enticement of a minor and crossing state lines to engage in illicit sex with a child.

Graef was indicted in May by a federal grand jury after an investigation by a cyber-crimes detective with the Jasper County Sheriff’s Department and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

Graef engaged in several online chats with the detective, posing as a 13-year-old girl, between April 13 and April 17 of this year, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Western District of Missouri. Graef made arrangements to meet the “girl” April 17 at a cemetery in Carthage and was arrested by sheriff’s deputies when he showed up at a specified crypt in the cemetery.

Graef was carrying a pistol holder and a magazine of .40-caliber rounds when he was taken into custody, and a search of his vehicle turned up a .40-caliber pistol, two more magazines of .40-caliber rounds, 50 rounds of .45-caliber ammunition, duct tape, plastic zip ties fashioned into handcuffs and a pair of metal handcuffs, the federal prosecutor’s office said in a news release.

In pleading guilty, Graef agreed to forfeit to the government the Glock pistol and ammunition, and a 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible that he used in the commission of the crimes, the prosecutor’s office said.

Graef is facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in a federal prison without parole, and he could be assessed up to a life term without parole. He also is subject to a fine of up to $500,000.

Meanwhile, a two-week undercover investigation by a Joplin Police Department detective assigned to the cyber-crimes task force led to the arrest Tuesday of a 51-year-old man for alleged possession of child pornography.

Members of the task force and agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement served a search warrant at the home of Robert K. Childers at 107 S. Patterson Ave. and seized a desktop computer.

Joplin police Detective Chip Root said the search warrant was obtained based on information he developed in an undercover sting on the Internet. Childers allegedly sent Root images of child porn.

Forensic analysis will be performed on the seized computer, Root said. But a preliminary review of file contents was sufficient for the Jasper County prosecutor’s office to file a felony charge of possession of child porn against Childers on Wednesday.

Sentence pending