By Howard Koplowitz
A former Rockaway Park resident now living in Connecticut was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison last week after he pleaded guilty to luring a 13−year−old girl into taking nude pictures of herself and sending them to him, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Philip Hawthorne, 28, of 746 West Thames St. in Norwich, Conn., admitted that he posed as a 16−year−old Boston boy and chatted with the victim over the Internet as a ruse to get her to take nude photos, Brown said.
Hawthorne was living at 140 Beach 123rd St. and 224 Beach 97th St., both Rockaway Park addresses, when the crimes were committed in November 2007, according to the DA.
Brown said the case “should serve as a warning to parents to closely monitor their children’s Internet access and activities. The Internet goes far beyond the boundaries of one’s neighborhood and can unlock the door for sexual predators to gain access to young children.”
Hawthorne was sentenced to five to 15 years in prison April 8 by acting Queens Supreme Court Judge Ira Margulis, Brown said. In addition to the sentence, Hawthorne was ordered to forfeit his computer and an order of protection was issued to the 13−year−old victim, whose name was not released.
The former Rockaway Park man pleaded guilty before Margulis March 19 to the charge of use of a child in a sexual performance, Brown said.
The DA said Hawthorne began communicating with the victim, a 13−year−old girl from Massachusetts, in November 2007 through a social networking site and the screen name ballin4lyfe1237@aim.com, when he pretended to be a 16−year−old Boston teenager named Keith.
The victim gave “Keith” her personal information, including where she went to school and the names of her parents, and Hawthorne convinced her to send him naked pictures of herself and a video where she was naked and showing her genital and anal areas, the DA said.
