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Police: Man Tried To Buy Child Sex

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2006

TAMPA - New to the Bay area, a 29-year-old mother turned to her cell phone to link up with a chat room in hopes of meeting friends.

What she found was a 20-year-old man interested in paying to have sex with her 2-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter, at one point offering her $100, Tampa police said.

Kareem Abdul Hack of Tampa corresponded with the woman for five days before announcing his desires Friday, prompting her to call police. Under their supervision, she arranged a meeting with Hack about 8 p.m. Tuesday in her family's room at the Sunset Inn, 2106 E. Busch Blvd., where Hack was arrested.

Detectives videotaped the meeting. On the black-and-white footage, released Wednesday, the woman's face is obscured. She takes Hack's hand and sits with him on a bed as they talk.

Police arrested Hack less than two minutes into the meeting, after detectives said Hack offered $20 to perform oral sex on the 3-year-old.

Hack was held without bail at Orient Road Jail on Wednesday. He is charged with four felony charges, including sexual battery on a child under 12, for attempting to arrange sex with the children.

He didn't meet the children, sex crimes Detective Mark Sutkoff said. They stayed at the Tampa police district office near Busch Gardens while their mother participated in the taped meeting.

The case broke new ground for Tampa police, who often caution parents about monitoring children's Internet use on home computers but were unaware of the ability to enter chat rooms from cell phones.

"I think this should be a wake-up call for parents," sex crimes Sgt. Julia Massucci said. "Start monitoring your children's phones."

Massucci said the woman and Hack began chatting online Aug. 28 about being new to the area. Once she told him she had children, "he crossed the line and started text messaging these vulgar requests," Massucci said.

Police did not elaborate on how the conversations escalated but said Hack first propositioned the mother Friday. She contacted police with the text messages she had saved.

"The text messaging was mind-boggling … pages and pages of negotiations for different sexual acts with her son and daughter," Sutkoff said.

Under detectives' guidance, the woman tried to arrange a meeting with Hack on Friday and failed. She and police tried again for Tuesday. "She asked me, 'What should I reply?' I gave her general terms, and she put it in her own words," Sutkoff said.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is analyzing Hack's and the woman's cell phones as evidence, police said.

Hack came to Florida more than a year ago from Queens, N.Y., to study at the University of South Florida, said his mother, Waheeda Hack, who was disturbed by the arrest.

"That's not possible," she said. "That's not Kareem."

She said her son had taken a semester off to work full time and pay for his car. Jail records show he works for a construction company in Zephyrhills.

Kareem Hack has a close-knit family, his mother said. He frequently watched over his young niece and nephews in Orlando, she said.

"He's a wise kid," she said. "He's very, very respectful."

Amanda Poole, Hack's girlfriend of two years, also was stunned. The couple live near the university, where Poole said Hack had been studying psychology and business.

"He's not into partying, drinking, nothing like that," Poole said, noting he visits his parents' house in Brandon often to help his mother with chores.

"This is something I could never imagine him doing," Poole, 20, said of his arrest. "It doesn't even come close to who he is. … He's a quiet, reserved person."

Public records show nothing of this severity in Hack's background. University police in November charged him with felony burglary, which was reduced to misdemeanor criminal mischief, court records show. He pleaded no contest and paid $185 in court costs; adjudication was withheld.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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