Accused sexual predator remains jailed

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Officials: Investigation sparked by explicit, online chat with undercover agent

By Alex Bridges -- abridges@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- A Lunenburg County man remains in jail accused of trying to have sex with a teen girl he met on the Internet, authorities said Thursday.

A grand jury in Frederick County Circuit Court last week indicted Chadwick Alan Hatch II, 21, of Virginia Street, Kenbridge, on seven counts of attempted indecent liberties with a minor. Hatch already had been charged in a lower court on one count of using a computer to solicit sexual activity with the same juvenile and faces indictment Dec. 8.

Hatch appeared in the court on Tuesday after his arrest. Retired Judge Herman A. Whisenant Jr. ordered that Hatch remain in custody at the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center without bond. The judge scheduled his next court appearance for Dec. 8.

Agents with the Northern Virginia-D.C. Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force charged Hatch with the offenses following an undercover investigation targeting online sexual predators, according to a news release issued Thursday by James Galbreath, an investigator with the Frederick County Sheriff's Office assigned to the group.

The investigation stemmed from a sexually explicit, online chat which Hatch initiated with an undercover agent working through the task force, according to the release.

"Hatch made contact with an individual he believed to be a 14-year-old female child to engage in a sexual encounter," Galbreath states. "During the court of the chat Hatch also sent a sexually explicit image and video to what he believed to be the 14-year-old child."

Agents searched Hatch's home in Kenbridge on Oct. 25 and authorities subsequently arrested the suspect on the single charge of using a computer to solicit sex with the minor, according to the release. Hatch was taken to Piedmont Regional Jail and held without bond until authorities transferred the suspect to Frederick County.

The grand jury indicted Hatch on the additional seven charges.

The Kenbridge Police Department and the Southern Virginia branch of the task force assisted in the investigation and arrest.

The matter remains under investigation and authorities have asked the public to help them determine if Hatch had any inappropriate contact with children. Anyone with information is asked to contact the area task force at 504-6529.