Police allegedly duped an Indiana man into believing an undercover officer was a 13-year-old girl, with the man requesting various sexual acts and describing himself as “built like SpongeBob.”
On May 29, James A. Raber, 63, was charged in Randolph County Circuit Court with attempted child molestation and child solicitation.
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The Randolph County Sheriff’s Department deputy and Raber began communicating on the evening of May 8 after the deputy created a fake Facebook Messenger profile, according to a probable cause affidavit signed by the deputy and obtained by Law&Crime.
“Guess how old I turned on my birthday?” The fake account said that night, and Raber reportedly responded, “Let me guess 15.”
“Nope, 13!” the undercover detective responded.
According to the affidavit, Raber sent numerous sexually explicit messages and inquired about how the girl, named “Steph,” could “hide out” with him in a “safe country.” Raber allegedly believed “Steph” was with another man, “constantly” asking if she was having sex with someone else and claiming to be “jealous,” according to the court documents.
He allegedly asked the fake profile to send a photo of herself and even offered to pick her up and assist her in taking a bus down to Florida, where the fake profile claimed they wanted to go, but not before she performed sex acts on him.
According to the affidavit, when they agreed to meet, Raber asked “my sexy girl” if she was having sex with the person he thought was the other man, and expressed satisfaction that she was not.
“Now I’m a very big tall guy, 6’4″ 295 pounds, I’m built like Spongebob,” he said, making a vulgar sexual promise. “So if you ever had a fantasy about f—ing … SpongeBob, that’s me.”
On May 29, when the detective posing as the girl mentioned having difficulty leaving to arrive at their agreed-upon meeting place, a Village Pantry in Farmland, Indiana, Raber is said to have responded, “WTF, that really screws me driving to there today.” According to the court document, he once messaged her not to walk to the bar where he was because “there are cameras in the lot.”
When the fake profile indicated that they were leaving to meet, Raber allegedly left the bar and went to the Village Pantry, where Farmland Police Department officers and Randolph County sheriff’s deputies were waiting for him. They held him “without conflict.” The detective who signed the affidavit stated that Raber was the suspect after Raber confirmed during their interview that it was “his account that he was having the conversation with ‘Steph.'” Raber’s vehicle reportedly matched the one described in the fake profile.
On Wednesday, Raber faced an initial hearing on his charges. He reportedly has a lengthy criminal record, including DWI convictions and traffic violations.
It is unclear whether law enforcement suspected Raber of criminal activity or desires prior to the messaging, and thus targeted him, or if the detectives were targeting anyone.
