Police Say a Popular Officer Sought Boys in Children's Chat Rooms
by Robert T DeMarco
Michael Costello, 39, a popular youth officer was arrested Friday
night on charges that he used his computer to solicit sex from people
he believed to be 14-year-old boys. They were, in fact, detectives
conducting a sting, the police said.
He would log onto an AOL chat room named Queensnymfm using a sexually
suggestive screen name, they said, and begin trolling the Internet for
local teenage boys. According to the authorities, he would send those
boys lurid come-ons and then try to arrange meetings for oral sex.
Michael Costello, 39, a popular youth officer in the 114th Precinct in
Astoria, Queens, seemed like a model of community policing.
As supervising officer of the precinct's Law Enforcement Explorer
unit, he helped teenagers do volunteer work and learn about law
enforcement, community leaders said. With the Police Explorer Scouting
program, he taught them responsibility and helped troubled young
people with problems. He was the smiling man working the grill at
community barbecues and the dedicated coordinator of youth basketball
games.
But according to the authorities, once Officer Costello got home to
his apartment in Bayside and sat at his computer, his commitment to
youth took on a much darker side. He would log onto an AOL chat room
named Queensnymfm using a sexually suggestive screen name, they said,
and begin trolling the Internet for local teenage boys. According to
the authorities, he would send those boys lurid come-ons and then try
to arrange meetings for oral sex.
Officer Costello, a 14-year veteran of the force, was arrested Friday
night on charges that he used his computer to solicit sex from people
he believed to be 14-year-old boys. They were, in fact, detectives
conducting a sting, the police said.
He was arraigned yesterday in Queens Criminal Court on charges of
attempted use of a child in a sexual performance and several other
charges, which carry a maximum sentence of seven years in jail,
according to Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney.
Stewart London, a Manhattan lawyer who prosecutors said was
representing Officer Costello, did not respond to phone messages left
with his answering service yesterday. A spokesman for Mr. Brown said
that a different lawyer argued at the arraignment that Officer
Costello had never had criminal problems before.
Investigators first learned of Officer Costello's computer activity
three weeks ago during a routine investigation into online crime,
investigators said. According to a criminal complaint, during four
computer sessions last week, he logged on to the chat room and wrote
flirtatious comments to investigators using screen names linked to
profiles of 14- and 15-year-old boys.
According to the complaint, he wrote online, "I'm not much into
talking. I'm into meeting and doing. Tell me when U can go out and we
will meet then."
Investigators contacted AOL officials, who identified the holder of
the suggestive screen name as Officer Costello. Investigators obtained
photographs that he had sent to other screen names. The authorities
said the photographs were of Officer Costello.
In correspondences with one screen name carrying a profile of a
14-year-old boy, Officer Costello arranged a meeting at a Starbucks on
Queens Boulevard at 8 on Friday night, prosecutors said.
When he arrived at the Starbucks, detectives arrested him, prosecutors
said, adding that he possessed lubricant and condoms.
Officer Costello has been suspended from duty, police officials
said. Investigators said there was no evidence that he had actually
abused any minors.
Nancy DiMeglio, 74, vice president of the 114th Precinct's community
council, described Officer Costello as a popular officer and said she
was "in dead shock" to hear the charges.
"I never saw any inkling of what they say he's done," she said. "I
never heard him speak out of line or anything, never any foul
language. Everyone considered him a straight-A guy."
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