RAPID CITY, S.D. — A South Dakota man, charged with soliciting sex with a minor over the Internet, used Motherless.com's instant chat system during the commission of the crime, according to an affidavit seeking a search warrant.
Federal authorities in February were issued a search warrant at Motherless.com's New York offices to seek out all data of the alleged solicitation involving a user who went by the name "bonehead."
"Bonehead" later was identified as 28-year-old school custodian Casey J. Godfrey of Rapid City.
Godfrey, indicted in late January by a federal grand jury for attempted enticement of a minor using the Internet and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, has pled not guilty.
Authorities said that Godfrey actually was speaking through instant chat to Trooper Monty Lovelace, who had been conducting undercover conversations on Motherless.com and Yahoo.com posing as a 14-year-old girl.
After a number of requests for vagina and panty shots, authorities claim Godfrey later sent Lovelace a penis shot allegedly of himself.
After executing search warrants on Godfrey's computers and mobile devices, authorities were allowed by a judge to seize electronic communications on the Motherless.com servers in relation to his computer accounts.
According to court documents, Motherless.com complied with the search warrant on Feb. 13 and copied materials for federal agents to solidify their case.
Godfrey, upon conviction, could face a mandatory minimum of 10 years’ imprisonment up to life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, as well as lifetime supervised release.
A trial date has not been set.