The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, Va.)
January 14, 2003 Tuesday Final Edition
REGENT LAW STUDENT CHARGED WITH INTERNET SEX CRIME
BYLINE: JON FRANK THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
A third-year law student at Regent University, who helped run several successful campaigns for local Republicans, was arrested Jan. 10 and charged with two counts of soliciting sex with a minor over the Internet.
Robin Vanderwall is being held without bond in the Virginia Beach City Jail.
Vanderwall, 34, is charged with two felonies - use of a communication device for crimes against children and attempted indecent liberties with a child 14 or younger.
Vanderwall was arrested after he contacted a Virginia Beach police officer who was posing as an underage boy in an Internet chat room, according to prosecutors. The officer agreed to meet with Vanderwall at a Virginia Beach park on the evening of Jan. 10. Vanderwall was arrested when he showed up at the park.
Vanderwall ran Del. Robert F. McDonnell's successful campaign against former Sheriff Frank Drew for the House of Delegates in 1999.
McDonnell, who is in Richmond now for the General Assembly session, said Vanderwall has not worked for him since then.
"He did a very good job in my campaign," McDonnell said Monday. "He was diligent and a hard worker. I am shocked by the accusations."
McDonnell said Vanderwall is a graduate of The Citadel and attends law school at Regent University.
Since 1999, Vanderwall has worked in other Republican campaigns, McDonnell said, including the successful campaign of Del. G. Glenn Oder, R-Newport News.
Last summer, he was an intern in the office of Virginia Beach Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey L. Bryant III.
Bryant said Monday that a special prosecutor will be brought in to handle Vanderwall's case.
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The Virginian-Pilot(Norfolk, Va.) April 23, 2004 Friday
April 23, 2004 Friday Final Edition
EX-LAW STUDENT CONVICTED OF SEX CRIMES;
POLICE SET TRAPS IN WEB CHAT ROOMS WHERE BEACH MAN PREYED ON CHILDREN
BY: Jon Frank THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH
In the summer of 2002, Robin W. Vanderwall appeared to have a bright professional future in the worlds of politics and law.
He was a law student at Regent University and had secured an internship with Commonwealth's Attorney Harvey L. Bryant III.
Vanderwall also had been a political strategist with several successful campaigns. In 1999, he ran Del. Robert F. McDonnell's successful campaign against former Sheriff Frank Drew.
On Thursday, Vanderwall's professional future came to an end.
After a three-day nonjury trial, Circuit Judge A. Joseph Canada Jr. convicted Vanderwall, 35, of five counts of soliciting sex with children via the Internet and one count of attempted indecent liberties with children.
Vanderwall faces up to 55 years in prison when he is sentenced June 21.
Canada said the case highlighted the Internet's power for good and evil. "Maybe this will send a message to weirdos out there using the Internet in an inappropriate way," he said.
The case also highlighted the complex investigations that police undertake to catch Internet criminals.
Female police officers pose as young boys in face-to-face contacts, and adult investigators pretend to be children on the Web.
According to trial testimony, Vanderwall used a computer in his apartment on Jake Sears Circle, off Centerville Turnpike, to enter chat rooms. There, he identified himself as "Saliare" and cruised the Internet for underage children, both boys and girls.
Virginia Beach police have a special unit dedicated to catching Internet criminals. Officers posed as 13-year-old children in the chat rooms that Vanderwall cruised in the fall and winter of 2002-03.
One officer pretended to be a 13-year-old girl named "Lil'SaraXOXOX." Another was a 13-year-old boy named "KennyJ13."
Another was a 13-year-old girl named "SweetSammie4U2."
From November 2002 through January 2003, all three "teens" had contact with "Saliare," who identified himself as a 5-foot-8-inch, 155-pound, 19-year-old white male, with short hair, hazel eyes, and a goatee.
Except for the age, it was a perfect description of Vanderwall.
The conversations started innocently but turned toward sex at "Saliare's" prompting. He encouraged the teens to meet him at malls and other locations. He offered to introduce them to "real" sex and bragged about his genitals.
He gave them his telephone number.
In one exchange, "Saliare" said he wanted to be the teen's first partner in both real sex and telephone sex.
Vanderwall's attorney, Christopher P. Reagan, argued that the conversations did not amount to solicitation under state law.
"The underlying theme," Reagan said, "was an interest in phone sex, which, as inappropriate as that may be, is not a violation of these statutes."
Police used the telephone number and America Online account to identify Vanderwall and began to set a trap. On Jan. 10, 2003, Vanderwall agreed to meet KennyJ13 at Northgate Park off Burnt Mill Road.
Officer L.M. Kinch said she disguised herself as a boy and waited in the park for Vanderwall.
An unmarked police car followed Vanderwall's vehicle as he drove from his apartment to the park, where he was arrested.
The challenge for prosecutors was tying Vanderwall to the electronic evidence.
Don Colcolough, director of investigations and online security for AOL, testified that anyone with the correct user name and password could access the "Saliare" account from any computer in the world. Police tied Vanderwall to two telephone numbers that "Saliare" gave the "teenagers."
Police found more than 100 contacts with two of the "teenagers" on Vanderwall's computer, police said.
"There is no doubt in this case that 'Saliare' is Robin Vanderwall," prosecutor Janet L. Westbrook said.
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