Internet sex predator waits for teen at school bus stop

DETROIT – According to the FBI, there are 500,000 adult predators online every single day, looking for their next young victims. These people start out as a kid's "friend," but then they want much, much more.

Prosecutors said Adelso Vicente, 28, of Palo Alto, Calif. drove 2,000 miles to molest his 13-year-old Macomb County victim. He turned a Facebook friendship into a sexual assault by moving from friendly chats, to making sexual innuendo, to sending naked pictures, to a cross country road trip for a face-to-face meeting.

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For 36 hours, Vicente planned his sexual adventure with a 13-year-old girl, eventually waiting at her bus stop and then following her to school. When she got off the bus, she got in his car and they went to a Shelby Township motel room to have sex.

"This happens every day in America," Andy Arena with the Detroit Crime Commission said. "They will come to your house and rape your kid."

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Experts say it starts innocently enough. A predator who's done their homework already knows what school their young victims go to, what music they listen to, what TV shows they watch, all because of what kids post on public social media web pages. The predator knows if your child is short on money, fighting with their friends or family, flunked a test at school or just broke up with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Predators like Vicente are the stranger that understands and supports them.

"They'll compliment them, and they'll say things in order to entice the kid to want to talk to them and be their friend," Alexandra Cizek, 16, of Plymouth said. "And that's when they get their hands on them."

Cizek said strangers online are smart and sneaky. She said her mother, Carol, monitors her computer use, but knows predators will keep hunting.

Experts say watching your kids Internet use isn't enough. Teens quickly move sexual banter offline and exchange phone numbers and send text messages. The FBI found 20 percent of teenagers have sent naked photos of themselves over the phone—more girls than boys.

"You have to limit what your kids do," Warren parent Tammy Henry said. "Protect them 100 percent. Know what they are watching and who they are going with."

Tammy and her husband, Martin, said their kids only use the computer in the family room and that they are friends with their kids on Facebook.

Even still, many experts said kids will open fake accounts their parents know nothing about and the conversations on those pages are far more personal.
Vicente is awaiting sentencing after he pleaded guilty. Prosecutors are asking that he spend 11 years behind bars, arguing anything less will fail to deter the half million child predators online right now.