[Colonel]

Boy saved in Georgia after text-messaging family in Mass.

Associated Press

Published on: 09/29/06

HOGANSVILLE — A man was arrested after a 17-year-old Massachusetts boy he met on MySpace.com sent a text message to his family back home claiming he was being held against his will on the man's west Georgia farm, police said.

Ted Roy Williams, 58, was arrested Thursday and being held on charges of aggravated sodomy and false imprisonment, Troup County Sheriff's Lt. Rick Massie said. A judge set his bond Friday at $1 million.


Williams met the boy on the online networking site two weeks ago and after the two conversed on the site Williams eventually convinced the teen to visit him in Georgia, Massie said. He bought a plane ticket for the boy and picked him up at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on Thursday morning, and then took the teen to his rural home where he immediately began sexually abusing him, Massie said.

"The mood changed and the kid said he was sodomized and made to stay at the home," Massie said.

When the boy was left unattended after several hours in the home, he was able to send a text message from his cell phone to his family in Bourne, Mass., asking for help and giving the address of his location, Massie said. The family told the local police in Bourne, who notified Troup County authorities.

Massie refused to disclose what exactly the boy's text message said, adding that information was evidence in the case.

Massie said the boy was not physically restrained or held at gunpoint and that he was not injured. "When it got to the point that he was ready to go, he couldn't," Massie said.

The boy was still being questioned Friday afternoon by police — nearly 24 hours after Williams' arrest.

Investigators were trying to determine why the boy accepted the invitation to come to Georgia. Williams, a retired construction worker who is married, refuses to talk to investigators, Massie said.

Massie said Troup investigators have not dealt with a case like this before, calling the case "an ugly deal." He said it stresses the need for parents to monitor the Internet activity of their children and understanding the language they use online.

"In addition to saying look both ways before crossing the street and don't talk to strangers, we're going to have to add be careful of who you speak to on the Internet," he said.

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Here's his picture just so you know it wasn't me, or gtboys34, or Judas, or ... hmmm .... maybe that is Judas. Nah. Too old.

[img]http://www.colonelbrands.com/images/guyinGA.jpg[/img]