Thanks to an AMW tipster, Lonnie Ted Crabtree was arrested.
Now, thanks to some solid police work, he's pled guilty.
It all started when Crabtree went looking for a little something extra on the Internet. Unfortunately for him, he got a big surprise.
»The Full Story
This is the picture Crabtree sent to the young girl he solicited on the Internet. It is possible he has used the same picture in the past, and since he has been on the run.
Lonnie Ted Crabtree was a pilot for Mesaba Airlines, based at the Greater Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport. He was married, and had five kids and a nice home.
It sounds like a nice life. But apparently Crabtree felt that something was missing from his life. And according to cops, he believed that the missing quality was something he could find on the internet.
On August 12, 2002, Crabtree went online and started contacting people in chat rooms. He was very selective, and ended up having an extended conversation with 15-year-old "Brooke." Police say Crabtree told "Brooke" that he pays $100.00 an hour for girls to have sex with him.
He then sent "Brooke" a picture of himself, and asked if they could meet that day to engage in sexual intercourse. Crabtree even offered to pay her $130.00 an hour since she was a virgin. 15-year-old "Brooke" agreed to meet him at a local fast food restaurant in Walton, Kentucky.
Much to his horror, when Crabtree arrived at the restaurant he found not a 15-year-old girl, but a group of detectives awaiting his arrival.
When Crabtree had sought out a young girl on the Internet, he had ended up speaking with a detective. And it was to that detective that Crabtree announced he was aware that the legal age of consent was 16, and that he was willing to pay up to $130.00 an hour to have sex with a young girl who was still a virgin.
Crabtree was immediately arrested, and soon charged with multiple violations, including Attempted Compelling Prostitution.
Crabtree was able to bond out of jail, since he did have a good job and a large family in the area, and his hearing was only a few weeks away.
Detectives say that before his hearing on September 3, 2002, Crabtree quit his job, said goodbye to his wife and five children, packed up all his clothes and his computer, and left.
An anonymous AMW tipster told us where Lonnie Crabtree was and it was only a matter of time before law enforcement caught up with him.
It seems that Crabtree has been living the life of luxury in Costa Rica, but he forgot to do one important thing: he didn't renew his travel visa.
The Costa Rican government expelled him and thanks to tipsters, Marshals were waiting when he was kicked out of the Central American country.
The man authorities in Hamilton, Ohio say solicited a detective posing as a 15-year-old girl on the Internet finally fessed up to his crime: when brought before a judge, Crabtree pled guilty in May 2008.
Cops say the guilty plea couldn't have happened without the alert AMW tipster who pointed them in the right direction.