Golden– Internet sexual predators have literally entered a new dimension, law enforcement officials say, through a 3-D chat room that already has led to a Denver man’s arrest.
Steven Wayne Wood, 26, turned himself in Wednesday after Jefferson County district attorney’s investigators contacted him. He has been charged with suspicion of Internet luring and is being held in the Jefferson County jail on $5,000 bail.
The website IMVU.com allows visitors to create a persona with a computer-generated animated figure called an avatar by choosing things such as gender, clothes and skin color.
The avatars can interact by exchanging words and by gestures that range from handshakes and hugs to suggestive kissing.
“This site is alarming, disturbing and alluring to kids,” District Attorney Scott Storey said.
The animation is appealing to kids and even resembles dressing up Barbie and Ken dolls, Storey said. But it also provides a new and sophisticated way for sex offenders to approach children.
Investigator Mike Harris, who is with the DA’s child sex offender Internet unit, heard about the website from middle-school students during a recent Internet- safety presentation.
Then parents alarmed about the website called him. Harris said he wanted to get the word out about the website’s potential dangers, and as he prepared for Thursday’s news conference, he had a “hit.”
“Within two to three minutes, we were talking sexually,” Harris said. The person allegedly was Wood, who thought he was talking with an underage female.
IMVU spokesman Manuel Rosso said in a statement that the company is cooperating with the DA’s office on the case.
IMVU also has implemented safety features, Rosso said, adding, “Each time a concern is raised, we continue to work diligently to address these issues.”
Harris said what concerns him most is the website’s mix of adult and child participants.
“Kids get caught in the 3-D cartoon feature” and are excited about a fun way to meet people, Harris said. “Unfortunately, some are child-sex offenders and are bad people who want to hurt our kids.”
Gloria Truax of Arvada was one of the parents who called Harris after her 11-year-old daughter went to the website by following a pop-up that breached a “fire wall” on the family’s computer.
Truax’s daughter thought she was on a fun site where she got to design clothes and dress people. Then Truax found “e-mails from people I didn’t know. … As a parent, my heart just sank.”
Parents need to monitor and limit their children’s Internet use, Truax said.
“They’ll give you grief … but we’re called as parents to keep them safe,” she said.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
