Girl says e-mail pal kidnapped, molested her Three arrests made

August 14, 2001

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Three people have been arrested after a 15-year-old girl told police she was sexually assaulted by three people for a week after meeting a man with whom she had corresponded by e-mail.

The teen had been writing for several months with 41-year-old James Warren of Hampton Bays, and recently told him she wanted to run away from home, Nassau County Detective Lt. Vincent Robustelli said at a news conference Monday.

They arranged to meet Aug. 3 at a mall where she worked in Wrentham, Mass., police said.

Warren arrived at the mall with Beth Loschin, 46, of Farmingdale, police said. The teen got into their car, ''and after about an hour, she knew she was in over her head,'' Robustelli said.

The girl told authorities she was handcuffed much of the time and was kept under constant surveillance. She was taken back and forth between Farmingdale and Hampton Bays, and at one point was taken to Queens, where she was given to Michael Montez for some time, police said.

On Friday night, she was left alone and managed to call a friend and Wrentham police for help, police said.

She told police she was on Long Island but didn't know where, and they told her to look for mail in the house to find the address, Robustelli said.

Loschin and Warren were arrested Friday, Nassau County authorities said. Loschin was charged with sodomy and sexual abuse. Warren was charged with kidnapping, sodomy, rape and sexual abuse.

Montez was arrested during the weekend and charged with kidnapping, rape, sodomy, sexual assault and other crimes, said Mary de Bourbon, a spokeswoman for the Queens District Attorney's Office.

This article appeared in the Dominion Post Newspaper on August 14, 2001.