John J. Leavens
By the time John Leavens figured out that the police were on to him, it was too late.
Leavens, 22, of Oswego, used text messages and Facebook to try to get a 14 year old boy to have sex with him, according to his signed plea agreement.
The plea agreement and the criminal complaint against Leavens tell this story:
On March 5, 2012, a 14 year old boy (unnamed in the court documents) received a friend request on Facebook from someone calling himself “blade rapture”, who also had the AOL instant manager name “America’s Most”. The boy said he saw that blade rapture had four friends who were friends of his, so he accepted the request.
Immediately, the messages began. Do you live in Oswego, blade rapture asked. Do you want to chill with me? Can you sneak out of your house?
The boy said no, that he was only 14.
Next came the text messages. The new friend found the boy’s cell phone number on his facebook page.
Do you live alone? Do you want to watch porn with me? How big is “it”?
After that last question, the boy shut off his computer, blocked text messages from blade rapture and, the key to Leavens’ downfall, he told his mother the next day. She brought the evidence to Oswego Police the day after that.
It didn’t take much research for Oswego PD Sgt. Christopher Pooler to figure out that blade rapture was John Leavens. Pooler assumed the boy’s identity and contacted Leavens.
Leavens now asked for a “full body shot” photo of the boy, and, according to the complaint, “stated his desire to pursue a sexual relationship with the VICTIM (emphasis in the original document) and added that the sexual encounter would include another person referred to as “ANGIE”.”
Later, Leavens would admit that Angie was not real; he thought if he could entice the boy with sex with a woman, he might be able to have sex with the boy himself.
On March 10, Leavens’ last day as a free man, he texted and Facebook-chatted with Pooler, still posing as the boy. He remained adamant about wanting to have sex, according to a portion of a Facebook chat reproduced in the complaint:
“VICTIM: I never did nuthin like this b4
LEAVENS: ok and ill tell my mom that you’re my friends lil brother
VICTIM: she won’t kno
LEAVENS: no”
Pooler then asks what Leavens wants to do together and Leavens mentions a couple of explicit options. “(O)nly if your willin thats all well start walkin,” Leavens concludes.
Not long after, a police officer waited at the ice rink where the meetup is supposed to happen. Leavens arrived and, according to the complaint, appeared to recognize the undercover police vehicles. He turned and ran but was arrested at his home.
He confessed and explained he did it because he “was looking for a virgin boy to engage in sexual contact with in order to get back at his boyfriend who had cheated on him, and because virgins do not have any sexually transmitted diseases, so he would not have to use a condom.”
His guilty plea to a charge of using a means of interstate commerce to try to get a minor to engage in illegal sex means he could spend as little as 10 years in prison and as long as life. He also faces up to a $250,000 fine when he’s sentenced May 17.
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