Posed as millionaire, man gets 6 1/2 years for luring - A fraud artist who tricked a 12-year-old Cambridge girl into a sexual encounter with a promise of $200 million was sentenced yesterday to 6 1/2 years in jail.
Thomas Woodward, 32, met the girl in an internet chat room and exchanged hundreds of cellphone text messages with her before arranging a meeting.
The girl was at first reluctant, but agreed to sex for money after Woodward, posing as a Russian millionaire, gradually increased his offer.
Woodward took the girl to an area in Cambridge near railway tracks, where they had intercourse and she performed oral sex on him. As part of the con, Woodward let her hear a telephone message suggesting he had opened a bank account into which he would transfer her payment. The money never showed up.
"Her parents were contemplating bankruptcy and she wanted to help them out," Justice Sharon Nicklas said.
I am still amazed about what kids will do. Now if only more parents would watch what their children do on the computer…