Cops: Man sought fathers on Craigslist ‘willing to share their daughters’
BY JON SEIDEL Sun-Times Media jseidel@suntimes.com January 27, 2012 2:14PM
Mugshot of Brandon J. Bergthold, 25, of Frankfort, Illinois.
Updated: February 29, 2012 8:04AM
A southwest suburban man seeking “fathers willing to share their daughters” on Craigslist pushed aggressively for a meet-up last weekend with a man he thought would offer up his little girl for sex.
But that little girl didn’t exist. And the man who said he’d turn her over to 25-year-old Brandon J. Bergthold was an undercover officer working for the Cook County Sheriff’s Child Exploitation Unit. Now Bergthold is being held in the Will County Jail in lieu of $750,000 bail, facing charges of indecent solicitation and traveling to meet a minor.
He told police he’s addicted to child porn, prosecutors said, and he thanked police for arresting him outside a motel in unincorporated New Lenox Township. He didn’t face child pornography charges Friday, but police said they’ll be searching his computer.
Their investigation into Bergthold has already lasted two months. Cook County police said they discovered Bergthold’s Craiglist postings Nov. 30, and an officer answered his query pretending to be the father of a 6-year-old girl.
It wasn’t until last weekend, though, that Will County Sheriff Paul Kaupas said Bergthold, who lives in the unincorporated Frankfort Square area, pushed for a meeting with the father and daughter.
“Bergthold’s demeanor changed,” Kaupas said. “He communicated a sense of urgency in wanting to meet with the undercover officer and the ... child. We became worried that he may seek out an unsuspecting victim if we did not end this investigation.”
So arrangements were made, and prosecutors said Bergthold drove to the 700 block of East Lincoln Highway to meet them. They also said he hoped to have sex with the non-existent 11-year-old female cousin of the undercover officer.
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