Phong Lu - Internet Predator - BUSTED

Phong Lu thought he was instant messaging a 14-year-old Milford girl when he sent her a streaming video of himself masturbating. The girl actually was an undercover FBI agent.

Now Lu, who lives in Danbury and is a native of Vietnam, is in custody for using the Internet to entice a minor into sexual activity, authorities said. The charge carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison.

An FBI inspection of his seized computer determined that Lu, of Sandpit Road, has 36 females listed as buddies. Of these, three are 14 and another three are 15.

Of the others, so far seven have been determined to be 16 and nine to be 17, according to an affidavit filed by Robert Nash, a Milford police officer assigned to the Connecticut Computer Crime Task Force.

Nash's affidavit claims one of the girls on Lu's buddy list admitted having sexual relations with him. Another girl, a 14-year-old from Westport, told authorities his e-mails "frightened" her.

As a result, Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Wines filed a request with U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport, urging him to keep Lu behind bars without bail until his trial.

She told the judge that Lu lives on a street in Danbury that is a pickup and drop-off point for a middle school bus.

"This is an age group that falls within the population of the victims the defendant targets for enticement," Wines told the judge.

Nash alleges Lu first communicated with the undercover agent on Aug. 4, 2005, and did so sporadically until last November, when the contact picked up.

According to the affadavit, on Dec. 6, he sent the masturbation video and asked if it turned her on. On one occasion, he asked if her mother would allow her to sleep over at someone's house so they could get together.

On Dec. 28, he arranged to meet her at the Barnes & Noble bookstore in the Westfield Connecticut Post mall, the affadavit states.