By Dirk Perrefort
Connecticut Post Online (Bridgeport, Connecticut)
Copyright 2006 MediaNews Group, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
MILFORD, Conn. — A Seymour firefighter was arrested Tuesday on charges of using the Internet to entice a 14-year-old Foran High School student into a sexual relationship, allegedly preying on her in chat rooms while the girl was using a computer at school.
Richard Reilly, 37, of Scott Avenue, picked the girl up from school last spring during regular school hours after engaging in online chat room sessions with her that included sexual references, police said.
Reilly, a 15-year veteran of the Seymour Fire Department, drove the girl to Gulf Beach, where they kissed at least once and he gave her a cellular phone for future conversations before returning her to the school, police said.
The alleged victim used a computer at Foran High to enter chat rooms and engage in conversations with Reilly, police said. Reilly, who turned himself in Tuesday, is charged with risk of injury to a minor and using a computer to entice a minor into sexual activity. Assistant Supt. of Schools Larry Schaefer said that while he couldn’t discuss specifics of the case, the school system uses software to block student access to chat rooms and other suspicious sites.
“We continue to encourage teachers, media specialists and parents to inform us of any type of site that may become a concern for our students,” Schaefer wrote in a statement. “Additional sites, which may number in the hundreds every day, are collected and added to the blocked sites software every evening.”
Kathy Bonetti, a spokeswoman for the school system, declined to comment on how the student was able to leave school grounds during regular school hours. Commenting on the matter would release information specific to the case, she said.
Jim Whitaker, the head custodian at the school, said that while the staff is good at identifying people who don’t belong on school grounds, the building has about 68 doors. He said the school’s computer system has blocking software but that students often circumvent it.
Melissa Jennings, a counselor with the Milford Rape Crisis Center, said the amount of children approached online is staggering. She said the most common time for perpetrators to surf the Internet for potential victims is 3 to 6 p.m., after kids return home from school but before many parents have returned home from work.
Some actions parents can take to prevent a perpetrator from contacting their child include limiting the amount of time a child spends on the Internet and placing the computer in a common room, such as the kitchen, where parents can monitor Internet activity. Jennings also advises parents to check the Internet sites and chat rooms visited by their children.
“They’ll probably be surprised by what they find,” she said.
Seymour Fire Chief Tom Eighmie said Wednesday that Reilly, a member of the Citizen Engine Company 2, would be placed on administrative suspension, pending the outcome of the criminal case. He declined to comment further.
Reilly, who was released on a promise to appear in court Sept. 26 for an arraignment hearing, could not be reached for comment.