As the internet continues its ever-expanding reach into our everyday lives, the number of individuals facing charges related to crimes allegedly committed in cyberspace seems to increase proportionally- and internet sex crimes have been a consistent lurking specter. Such is the case with recent charges brought in Fairfax County, Virginia against Wisconsin radio DJ Richard Kieffe. Kieffe, 55, appeared with his Fairfax criminal lawyer before Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Schell where he pled guilty to the charges on June 9th.
Kieffer's case began on May 3rd of this year when he was arrested at Reagan National Airport. At a May 28th hearing, probable cause was found to move the case to the grand jury level. Kieffer, who went by the name Rich Allen on WVBO-FM 103.9 in Wisconsin, was charged with one felony count of soliciting a minor by use of a communication device at his arraignment. The former DJ was charged based on evidence presented by Deputy Virginia Commonwealth Attorney Katherine Stott and collected by Fairfax County police Detective Nick Boffi in a series of online chats.
During the chats, Boffi purported to be a gay man attempting to arrange a sexual encounter between Kieffer and his own (fictitious) son. According to the chat logs, Kieffer, using the screen names "Cannibal Al" and "Just Looking," allegedly engaged in explicit conversations with the undercover detective fantasizing about and planning sexual contact with the man's supposed minor child.
During the first chat on April 1, Cannibal Al asked Boffi whether his son was clean and "if it was OK to do rape-type play with him," Stott told the court. Kieffer used his Just Looking moniker in a second chat on April 20, Stott said, and went into more detail on the kind of sexual game he wanted to engage in with Boffi's son "Will he play dead?" Kieffer asked. "I want to make it look like he was kidnapped. ... I'd like him to beg, 'Please don't kill me."'
Stott says chat logs also indicate that during an April 27th chat, Boffi shared a picture of a "white pre-pubescent male," and that Boffi told" Cannibal Al" that the image was of his 12-year-old son. It is said that Kieffer then told Boffi that he would have free time during a short trip to Washington DC at the beginning of May, and made specific plans to have contact with the "child" on the evening of May 3rd. No further contact was made between the detective and Kieffer before the DJ's arrest on May 3rd at the airport.
At his hearing on June 9th, Kieffer pleaded guilty to charges of sexual solicitation of a minor over the Internet. During the hearing, the former DJ spoke quietly to his Virginia criminal attorney, and answered questions from Judge Schell as to whether he fully understands the ramifications of pleading guilty to the charges. At his sentencing, scheduled for September 3rd, Kieffer faces up to 10 years in jail and up to $2,500 in fines. There is no possibility for parole in Kieffer's case under Virginia law.
This article is presented by The Law Offices of Price Benowitz, LLP, representing clients in Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. For more information, please visit our Washington DC Sex Offense Lawyer and Maryland Sex Offense Attorney websites.
