ISLE OF WIGHT Co., Va. - A Virginia Beach man is accused of sex crimes against children.
36-year-old Chad Poro is accused of trying to meet up with a 13-year-old girl for sex acts when he was met by investigators, according to the Isle Of Wight County Sheriff’s Office.
He was arrested on Friday, but investigators say they had been watching his online chats for several weeks. They said their investigation started in December. They said he thought he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl, but it was really law enforcement.
Lt. Tommy Potter with the Isle of Wight County Sheriff's Office said the online conversations started off simple but progressed to inappropriate videos and pictures.
They said Poro traveled over an hour from Virginia Beach to Isle of Wight County to engage in a sex act with who he thought was a minor.
Potter said, “When they’re willing to take it one step further by traveling, that concerns me. That bothers me for the safety of our children.”
“This past Friday evening, Mr. Poro wanted to come here to Isle of Wight County to meet this individual, and unfortunately his intentions were to bring narcotics to this juvenile and also to engage in sexual activity with a person that he thought was a 13-year-old juvenile,” said Potter.
He is facing the following charges:
- 6 counts of Use of a Communications device to request a minor to expose genitals or exposing genitals to a minor, Va. Code 18.2-374.3
- 6 counts of Use of a communications device to request sex acts from a minor, Va. Code 18.2-374.3
- 1 count of Distribution of certain drugs to persons under the age of 18, Va. Code 18.2-255
Lt. Potter said parents need to protect their kids from online predators.
He said people use locks and security cameras to protect their homes but don't do enough to protect online predators to reaching children.
"We worry so much about protecting our homes the old-fashioned way, we’ve really fallen short as far as protecting our homes as far as technology goes,” said Potter.
This case was in collaboration with the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
“We will continue to work with our partners throughout Hampton Roads to aggressively pursue these types of cases,” said Potter.
Poro is expected in court on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.
He is currently being held in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail.
He declined an interview with News 3 through jail officials.
