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Police: Sex Offender, 66, Solicited Investigator Online

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By GEOFF FOX The Tampa Tribune

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 2, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - A 66-year-old registered sexual offender was behind bars Friday after police said he attempted to persuade a woman to let him have sex with her children.

Unfortunately for Richard John Hannon of 5110 Sandpiper Road, New Port Richey, the woman he was communicating with online was an undercover investigator with the state Attorney General's CyberCrime Unit, the agency said in a statement.

Hannon was being held in the Land O' Lakes Jail on Friday evening with bail set at $5,000. He was charged with soliciting a parent for unlawful sex acts with a child, a third-degree felony. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

The New Port Richey Police Department helped investigate and arrest Hannon, whose residence was searched Friday.

Hannon contacted the investigator in an Internet chat room a couple of months ago, apparently thinking he was communicating with the mother of a 12-year-old boy and 10-year-old girl, records said. He graphically described what he wanted to do to the children.

Hannon admitted to having online conversations with the investigator, records said.

Friday wasn't the first time the Queens, N.Y., native ran into trouble online.

According to the Attorney General's Office, he was arrested by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office in 1999 for using a computer to solicit sex with someone he thought was a young boy. Instead, it was a law enforcement officer.

In that case, Hannon served six months of community control and 21/2 years of probation with no Internet access.

Reporter Geoff Fox can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or gfox@tampatrib.com.

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