INTERNET STING Another arrest on child-sex charges

He is the eighth man to be arrested on such charges since late January.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
NEW WATERFORD -- A 45-year-old Galion man was to be arraigned this morning on charges related to an undercover Internet investigation by New Waterford police.
New Waterford Police Chief Dan Haueter said he began chatting online with Kenneth L. Rice on Tuesday. Believing he was chatting with a 15-year-old girl, Rice made arrangements to meet in New Waterford, Haueter said.
Police arrested Rice around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in New Waterford. He was in Columbiana County Jail and faces felony charges of attempted sexual conduct with a minor, disseminating material harmful to minors and importuning.
"He wanted to have sex, and I guess he planned to spend the night," Haueter said.
"His driver's license is suspended and he doesn't have a car, so he had his dad -- who is some type of preacher -- drive him here. He said he told him he was coming to meet a 35-year-old woman with two kids."
Haueter said Rice told him he was being cautious in chatting online because he had been arrested before in Florida when he arranged to meet a girl who turned out to be a police officer. Rice told Haueter, however, that he had learned pretty well how to tell if he was talking to a police officer, and he could tell from Haueter's conversations that he was a teenage girl.
Investigation
Rice is the eighth man arrested since Jan. 30 as the result of Internet investigations by Haueter.
William Love, 63, of Twinsburg pleaded guilty Tuesday to a misdemeanor charge of disseminating material harmful to juveniles after he sent pornographic photos to Haueter on the Internet.
Love, who is a school bus driver, may face felony charges in Twinsburg, depending on what materials Twinsburg police find on his computer, Haueter said.
Others arrested on similar felony charges as Rice, and their arrest dates: Michael Black, 54, of Taylorsville Ky., Jan. 30; Michael Resann, 45, of Goshen, Ind., Feb. 14; Lonzo Stover, 38, of Attica, Ohio, Feb. 22; Gary L. Myers, 60, of Beaver, Pa., March 6; Rickey Turner, 53, of Thornville, Ohio, March 23; and Patrick Cumston, 55, of Vinton, Ohio, April 7.