Police say the man was persistent, continuing to send emails to a detective posing as a teen girl in a chatroom, after a joint police investigation ended.
(PORTLAND) - Several federal and local agencies worked together over the past weekend targeting on-line predators. Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Spokesman Jim Strovink says the mission, titled "Operation Cyber Sting 2007", was headed up by the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office and included partners from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Tigard Police Department, Washington County Sheriff's Office, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, the Oregon State Police, and Canby Police Department.
Civilian volunteers assisted with the mission by posing as decoys along with law enforcement personnel.
Strovink says over a three day period, trained on-line "Chatters" From the different agencies explored various chat rooms on the internet. With current research showing that 1 in 5 children between 10 and 17 years old are reporting being approached and sexually solicited online, investigators say it was no surprise that the alleged predators moved quickly and aggressively.
The first arrest was made within a couple of hours of the beginning of the operation when Allan Grabinski showed up at the decoy house expecting to meet a 13 year girl who was actually a Multnomah Sheriff's Detective named Paul Farnstrom.
The chats didn't stop there, Strovink says, and the alleged sexual predators kept coming over to the decoy house resulting in 6 arrests over the three day period.
James Schipper showed up to the house after driving from Klamath Falls. Schipper had been chatting with a Multnomah Detective Sergeant named Travis Gullberg since November 2006 when a similar interagency operation was conducted.
At around midnight on the last day, during the last hour of the operation, one more potential predator struck up a conversation with Sgt. Gullberg. The chat became sexual very quickly, but knowing he didn't have the resources to continue the investigation through to morning Sgt. Gullberg cut the chat short.
The alleged predator was persistent, however, and continued to send messages to Sgt. Gullberg over the rest of the weekend. Sgt. Gullberg even explained to the alleged predator that it was against the law for a 13 year old girl to have sex with an adult, but to no avail as the alleged predator continued to "groom" what he believed was a minor.
Ultimately, the alleged predator told Sgt. Gullberg, posing as a 13-year old girl, that he was going to fly from Seattle to Portland on Wednesday, February 7th to meet her. Gullberg quickly put together an arrest team with deputies and federal agents and set up at the airport with the help of the Port of Portland Police, according to Strovink.
"Doing what we do in an undercover arrest, we set up to meet our potential predator under the conditions that Sgt. Gullberg had laid out to him. The suspect's plane arrived right on time and at 8:17 Himanshu Upadhyaya was taken into custody on federal charges of Coercion and Enticement of a Minor for the Purpose of Sexual Contact."
Strovink says Sexual assault rates for children ages 12-17 are 133% higher than for adults according to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Predators focus on trusting, naïve, curious, adventuresome, affection seeking, and self esteem issues related to children when "grooming" or luring them in.
As indicated in this case they are willing to devote considerable time, money and energy in this process and the internet provides a sense of perceived anonymity for the predator.
The Clackamas Sheriff's Office asks parents to speak to their children about this serious issue. Talk about what is and is not appropriate when chatting online, what to do if the child believes they are being solicited online, and the things they should never do (ie. Agree to meet someone they don't know, or give out personal information such as address).
Parents who feel their child is or has been solicited online should contact their local law enforcement.
Cooperative interagency operations of this kind are proving vital in the effort to deter these predators and protect our children.
Suspects arrested during this operation are:
43-year old Allan Dennis Grabinski of Beaverton, arrested for alleged Attempt Rape II, Attempt Sodomy II, and Attempt Sexual Abuse II.
24-year old James Andres Schipper of Klamath Falls, arrested for alleged Attempt Rape II, Attempt Sodomy II, and Attempt Sexual Abuse I.
35-year old Kevin Lee Miller of Salisbury, NC, arrested for alleged Attempt Rape I, Attempt Sexual Abuse I.
28-year old Himanshu Upadhyaya, of Mauritius, arrested for alleged Coercion and Enticement of a Minor for the Purpose of Sexual Contact.
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