NYC Attorney Arrested for Attempted Sex With 13-Year-Old
A New York City attorney has been arrested when he allegedly went to Ronkonkoma to pick up - who he thought was a 13-year-old girl he met on the Internet. Suffolk County Police say it was a detective who posed as the teen-aged girl.Suffolk Police say 30-year-old Steven Lever of Manhattan is being charged with attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor.
Police say Lever engaged in sexually graphic on-line chats with the a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl. He arranged to meet the girl at the Ronkonkoma Railroad station and take her back to his Manhattan apartment.
This seems to be becoming a trend . . . . Details here from 1010 WINS.com. Info about one "Steven Lever" who is a New York City attorney is here, but I have no idea whether or not he is the one described in the article.
Comments
I haven't had criminal law yet (that's next semester), but I wonder if an argument could be made for entrapment. I suppose it would depend on who initiated the "dirty" chat conversations. On a side note, what the hell is a detective doing posing as a 13 year old on the Internet anyway? Is my proclivity to defending Mr. Lever any indication that I'm destined for a career in criminal defense?
Posted by: Arvind | October 19, 2004 7:55 PM
When Mr. Lever decided to hop on a train to Ronkonkoma, he was acting upon his fantasies and an entrapment defense will fail. If he hadn't hopped that train, he'd be OK.
Posted by: Pete | October 20, 2004 3:49 PM
At the time of his arrest, Steven Lever was an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis, LLP. His picture was removed from the website the next day, but as of a month ago, the staff was informed he was "on leave", pending the outcome of his trial. John's right. It seems to be a trend. Especially with this firm. 2nd time in less than a year someone was accused and/or convicted of pedophilia. The first was Stephan Irving, former pediatrician/KE word processor, now convicted pedophile, was a Kirkland employee for 10 years before the FBI strolled into Kirkland, arrested him and roped off his desk. Now serving 21 years, 10 months. Can't verify whether the Steven Lever John has as located at 200 Park Ave is the same.
Posted by: Nancy | April 6, 2005 8:54 PM
isnt it ,by definition ,entrapment when a police officer contacts a man (the initial contact)?and it must be illegal to misrepresent themselves as 12 or 13 year old girls period.the very act of impersonating a 12 or 13 year old girl at the very begining must be illegal-the police officers should be invetigated by th internal affairs division-these officers should not be allowed to hold a batch after having entraped a man into anything.
Posted by: brand | August 27, 2006 9:26 AM