Man Who Sought Sex With Minor Faces 14 Criminal Counts: Fairfax Police

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A 39-year-old Utah man who arrived in Fairfax County on Sunday to commit sexual acts with a minor was arrested by detectives from the county’s Child Exploitation Unit, according to authorities.

Jonathan Craig O’Neil was arrested as part of the Fairfax County Police Department’s ongoing operation targeting predators who use online platforms to have inappropriate conversations with people they believe to be underage, a police report said.

Detectives charged O’Neil with 14 counts of use of a communication device to solicit a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to the incident report. After being taken to the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, O’Neil was released on a $1,000 bond.

O’Neil is the latest suspect to be arrested in the ongoing sting operation.

“On occasion, we'll do an operation like this one to engage online predators who seek to interact with children — boys and girls — and solicit sex or sex acts from children,” Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a Feb. 11 news conference. “There's no entrapment associated with any of these operations whatsoever. We are remarkably transparent to people who are soliciting sex for children, and then, in fact, after we establish probable cause, we arrange to meet that predator, and we make an arrest.”

The department announced the arrest of seven suspects, including Richard Joseph Berkowitz, 36, of Fairfax, who had been employed by Fairfax County Public Schools since 2013. Until his arrest, he worked as a P.E. teacher at Falls Church High.

Related: Fairfax Teacher Among 7 Arrested In Child Exploitation Sweep

“Our detectives conducted an operation where they utilize online platforms and phone applications to engage in conversations with individuals,” said Major Elizabeth Melendez of the police department’s Major Crimes Unit, in February. “During these online encounters, the perpetrators initiated explicit conversations with detectives posing as children, soliciting sex acts from their underage personas. When the suspects agreed to meet the juvenile persona at a location, detectives were waiting to take them into custody.”

At that time, police released the following information about the seven suspects arrested as part of the investigation.

• Chad Hockman, 50, of Warrenton was arrested and charged with solicitation of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
• Carlos Antonio Saenz, 47, of Manassas was arrested and charged with solicitation of a minor and indecent liberties with a minor.
• Gustavo Ramos Cahuaya, 28, of Sterling was arrested and charged with solicitation of a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and production of child sexual abuse material.
• Richard Joseph Berkowitz, 36, of Fairfax was arrested and charged with four counts of solicitation of a minor and two counts of production of child sexual abuse material. Berkowitz was employed as a teacher at Falls Church High School. He was placed on suspension upon the allegations and remains suspended. He has been employed with FCPS as a teacher since 2013.
• Enrique Montesflores Espana, 48, of Arlington was arrested and charged with solicitation of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
• Charles Stephen Wolf, 24, of Washington, D.C., was arrested and charged with three counts of solicitation of a minor, use of vehicle to promote unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, and indecent liberties with a minor.
• Geoffrey Testa, 45, of New York has been charged with four counts of solicitation of a minor and production of child sexual abuse material. Testa is employed as a teacher at Amherst Central High School in Buffalo, NY. Testa is being held at the Erie County Correctional Facility in New York. Upon completion of the legal process, he will be extradited to Fairfax County.

Detectives ask anyone with information about these incidents or similar cases to call the Major Crimes Bureau at 703-246-7800, option 6. Tips can also be submitted anonymously through Crime Solvers by phone – 1-866-411-TIPS (866-411-8477), and by web – Click HERE. Download the ‘P3 Tips’ App “Fairfax Co Crime Solvers.” Anonymous tipsters are eligible for cash rewards. Please leave contact information if you wish for a detective to follow up with you.

Parents are urged to closely monitor their children’s online activities and use available security settings to prevent the use of inappropriate sites or platforms. Children should be encouraged to report any person engaging in inappropriate conversations or trying to coerce them into providing sexually explicit images of themselves.

Additional internet safety information provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can be found HERE. There are many applications predators use to solicit victims. Parents are encouraged to know what applications their children are using and have open dialogue on the dangers they may pose.