A previously convicted child sex offender was taken into custody this week after a month-long, multi-state investigation in which he allegedly held a series of sexually explicit online conversations with an investigator posing as a 13-year-old girl from Maryland, authorities say.
Daniel Louis O’Brien, 42, who authorities say is homeless, is charged with enticement of a child under 16 and for failure to register as a sex offender, according to a press release from the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office. He was taken into custody Thursday by Boston Police following his release from a Boston medical facility.
O’Brien is classified as a Level 3 sex offender — the state’s most severe rating — based on a 2010 conviction in Middlesex County for attempting to kidnap a child and enticing of a child under 16, making plans with a then-12-year-old to run away together and traveling to Massachusetts from Virginia as part of that plot.
“This individual has a history of preying on children online,” Suffolk DA Rachael Rollins said. “Young children are especially vulnerable to online risks and exploitation as their education and social circles have moved online amid the ongoing public health crisis.”
Authorities say O’Brien attempted to entice a person who he thought was a 13-year-old girl — but was really a criminal investigator from the Frederick County Sheriff’s Department in Maryland — to run away from home with him through a series of sexually explicit conversations in April and May while he was in the medical facility.
O’Brien was arraigned by telephone in the Central Division of Boston Municipal Court. Judge Robert McKenna set $50,000 cash bail, ordered GPS monitoring and told O’Brien to stay away from and have no contact with children. His bail was revoked in an open case out of the same court for failing to register as a sex offender. He is due back in court June 24.
Rollins said reports of online crimes have “increased dramatically” during coronavirus shut-ins.
“Children are among the most vulnerable members of our community,” Rollins said, adding that “anyone who attempts to harm or exploit a child in Suffolk County will be held accountable.”
