- Police said a local DEA agent arrested Tuesday night
solicited nine boys for sex in Las Vegas department stores by scribbling
a request on paper, wrapping the note around a small rock and then tossing
the stone at them.
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- Drug Enforcement Administration agent Steven Kinney,
who is jailed on three dozen criminal counts, is the fourth local law enforcement
officer to face felony charges since mid-February.
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- Las Vegas police said none of the children Kinney sought
out had sexual contact with him.
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- But Lt. Jeff Carlson, commander of the sex crimes unit,
said detectives believe the 42-year-old might have had contact with other
children in incidents that have not been reported to police.
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- "We're looking for other victims," Carlson
said.
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- Jose Martinez, a spokesman for the DEA in Los Angeles,
said Kinney was placed on paid administrative leave more than a week ago
as Las Vegas DEA agents and the Metropolitan Police Department jointly
investigated the allegations against him.
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- Martinez said Kinney has worked as a field narcotics
agent in Las Vegas for several years.
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- Kinney was booked into the Clark County Detention Center
on nine counts each of felony attempted sexual assault, felony attempted
statutory sexual seduction, felony solicitation of a minor and misdemeanor
annoyance of a minor.
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- Carlson said the boys solicited in the rock-throwing
incidents ranged in age from 9 to 14 years old.
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- The counts Kinney faces stem from three incidents, the
first of which occurred Jan. 25. All of the incidents involved at least
two children, Carlson said.
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- Boys shopping in department stores reported to their
parents that a man threw a rock at their feet with a note attached, Carlson
said.
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- "The notes would ask the kids whether they wanted
to do various acts and if so to meet him in a certain place, such as outside
the store," Carlson said.
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- In all the cases police know of, Carlson said the children
immediately told their parents what happened.
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-
- He said weeks of investigation led detectives to Kinney,
who was arrested at a relative's home in the western valley on Tuesday
night.
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- Kinney is the fourth area law officer arrested in the
past month.
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- Las Vegas police officer Jason Woodard faces charges
that allege he sexually abused a now-18-year-old woman over a three-year
period beginning when she was 13.
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- Detective Jack Brandon is accused of robbing a pair of
slot machine collectors in a Henderson bar and then using his unmarked
police car to make a getaway.
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- Officer Sean Curd faces nine felony charges in connection
with cocaine, steroids and an animal tranquilizer police say they found
in his home.
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- Anyone with information about the Kinney incidents or
who believes their child was approached under similar circumstances can
contact police at 229-3421 or Secret Witness at 385-5555.
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- http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2002/Mar-14-Thu-2002/news/18304486.html
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