Patrick Prye - Repeat Sex Offender - Soliciting sex from 11 year old child

Sarah Tofte of the Human Rights Watch says 25% of all sex offenders
re-offend within 15 years

Police say a 51-year-old Covington man used cell-phone text messaging to solicit sex from an 11-year-old child.

Patrick Prye is charged with two felonies: attempted unlawful transaction with a minor and unlawful use of electronic means to induce a minor to engage in sexual activity. He is at the Kenton County jail in lieu of $50,000 cash bond.

Police say Prye initiated contact with the child online and then obtained the child's cell-phone number early last week.

When the victim's parents discovered the text messages, they contacted police. An investigator posing as the child continued the text message relationship.

"The nature of the text messages and some recent cell-phone calls made to the decoy was enough to obtain an arrest warrant and a search warrant," Covington police Lt. Col. Spike Jones said.

Investigators arranged a meeting with Prye on Friday at a business in the 1600 block of Madison Avenue - three blocks from police headquarters.

Prye called the child's cell phone and asked the child to come outside, Jones said.

He was arrested and police served a search warrant on his home on East 20th Street, where they seized computer equipment.

"It is our belief that he was downloading child pornography involving children under the age of 10 involved in sexual activity," Jones said.

The investigation revealed that Prye was convicted in South Carolina of committing a lewd act upon a child under the age of 16. He was required to register as a sex offender for life.

The date of the conviction was not available Monday, but police said Prye was on parole when he moved to Kentucky in 2005. When he violated parole here, Kentucky authorities sent him back to South Carolina.

He returned to Kentucky in 2006. Police say he was registered with the state, but they are investigating why his name does not show up on the Kentucky State Police's online sex offender registry.

Jones credited the victim's parents with being proactive.

"Thanks to them, we have a child predator off the street," he said.

Police strongly encourage parents to regularly inspect their children's e-mails, online communications and cell phones.

Sexual predators frequently communicate with children via text message because it's more private than e-mail or phone calls.

"It's OK to invade their privacy if it's to prevent something like this," Jones said.