Opinion ID: 1235169
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Starr's Communications with His Victims

Text: Starr was convicted on each charge of a nine-count indictment that included charges for the possession of child pornography, exploitation of a minor, and other related offenses. These charges stemmed from Starr's dealings with four minorsE.M., V.M., K.E., and K.S.
E.M., from Phoenix, AZ, testified that she met Starr on the Internet through a pen pal program on America Online (AOL) in 1996 when she was 17 years old. E.M. contacted Starr after reading his profile and deciding that his profile interests were similar to her own. Starr initially corresponded with E.M. via email but later began communicating using an instant message program on AOL. Starr and E.M. developed a relationship over AOL. She eventually revealed to Starr that she had emotional difficulties and engaged in self-mutilation. Starr discussed these issues with her. Eventually, however, the conversations became sexual in nature. Starr explained that he enjoyed dominant and submissive sexual practices, and that he believed E.M. had a submissive personality. Starr and E.M. began telephone sex encounters wherein they discussed their respective autoerotic behaviors. Starr asked E.M. to send him nude photographs of herselfin particular, he wanted closeup photographs of E.M.'s pubic area. As requested, E.M. took the photos and mailed them from Phoenix to Iowa. After convincing E.M. to take photos of herself, Starr also asked her to send him videotapes. E.M., who was still 17 at this time, borrowed a camera from her school and complied with the request. The first tape chronicled her daily life, showing her normal routine during the day, including changing her clothes in front of the camera. The videos also showed E.M. masturbating and performing anal penetration. E.M. testified that she made the video because Starr, her boyfriend, requested them. In the second tape, E.M. referred to Starr as master, and she complied with his request to show her anus on the video. Starr previously explained that he enjoyed watching E.M. punish herself; therefore, the video also included a portion where E.M. spanked herself. Again, E.M. testified that she made the video to please Starr. In the final video, E.M.'s 16-year-old friend, T. (last initial unknown), appears with her. Prior to filming, Starr and E.M. talked about including another girl in the videos, so E.M. approached T. with the idea. The video shows E.M. and T. naked and touching each other while Starr gave telephone instructions directing the girls to engage in sexual touching. E.M. conveyed to Starr T.'s discomfort with the conduct, but Starr urged E.M. to insist that T. participate. E.M.'s relationship with Starr ended when, after a week's hiatus, E.M. reevaluated the relationship and decided to end it by sending Starr an email.
V.M. testified that she met Starr via the Internet in 2004 when she was 16. V.M. posted a profile on a site called vampirefreaks.com, an alternative life-styles website. V.M.'s profile used the screen name Guttered heart and displayed her true age. Starr initiated contact with V.M. by sending her a message through the profile. Starr's profile name was darklordmaster11. Although he gave V.M. his real name, Starr lied about his agehe claimed that he was in his twenties, when he was really in his forties. Starr and V.M. began to communicate on the computer every other day for approximately one month. Starr eventually asked V.M. to email him nude photographs of herself using her webcam. V.M. made and sent Starr the photographs. Starr then requested more photos with closer shots of her pubic area. Starr began to talk to V.M. about submissive and dominant sexual activities and asked V.M. to meet him in person. V.M. never met Starr and stopped communicating with him after she tired of talking about sex.
K.E. testified that she began communicating with Starr via the Internet in November 2004 when she was 16 and living in Arizona. K.E. posted a profile on vampirefreaks.com, which included her birthday and residence, using the screen name XXunspokendesireX. Starr saw K.E.'s profile and contacted her through Yahoo, using the screen name darklordmaster.com. Starr told K.E. that he was between 22 and 24 years old when he was, in reality, in his 40s. Starr gave K.E. a business email address of lawsonline.com. K.E. informed Starr that it was easier for her to talk on the phone than to send emails, so Starr began to call K.E. at her residence. Starr told K.E. that he did not have a phone at his residence and that all calls were being made from his uncle's home. Starr talked to K.E. about meeting in Phoenix, but she resisted because she thought it would be difficult to meet in person because she lived with her mother. Starr told K.E. that he had photo albums containing nude pictures of other girls, and asked K.E. to send him photographs of herself. He specifically asked for photographs of her pubic and genital area. K.E. did not want to send nude photographs of herself over the Internet so she lied to Starr and told him that she did not have a webcam. K.E. further testified that she engaged in telephone sex with Starr, and he had, on occasion, asked her to soak a pair of [her] underwear in [her] cum and put it into a Ziploc baggie and mail it to him. Starr mailed a disposable camera to K.E. so that she could send the photographs. This disturbed K.E., so she stopped communicating with Starr.
K.S. testified that she began communicating with Starr via the Internet when she was 17. K.S. posted a profile on a website named Hi5. She noticed that Starr had interests similar to hers, so she sent him an email message. Starr and K.S. began communicating by email and instant message on a regular basis using the Hi5 website. They eventually began to communicate by telephone because Starr said email was too impersonal. K.S. told Starr that she was living in Karen, New York, and Starr expressed an interest in coming to visit her during spring break. K.S. told Starr about relationship problems with her boyfriend, and Starr began to talk to her about sex, specifically sadomasochistic sexual conduct. He told K.S. about a black room he wanted to build. The room would be painted black, have a bed in the center and be filled with various sex toys. Starr wanted K.S. to visit him in Iowa and told her of the sexual things that they could do to each other. K.S. testified that she had telephone sex with Starr but that she felt horrible after the experience. Starr told K.S. that he loved her and had never developed feelings for anyone so quickly. Starr asked K.S. to send him nude photographs of her pubic area, breasts, and buttocks. Starr told her that if she really cared for him that she would take the photographs. K.S. explained that she took the photographs and emailed them to Starr because she felt pressured by him. After K.S. sent the photographs, Starr told her that he would really enjoy a video of her taking her clothes off and spinning around. K.S. did not make the video for Starr and stopped communicating with him after resuming dating her former boyfriend.