Courts / Dublin / Report
Man engaged in "catfishing" to lure teenage boys into sharing explicit images
Summary
A 22‑year‑old Dublin man, Ben Mooney, used the alias "Nicole Heffernon" to catfish teenage boys on Facebook, sending them explicit images and videos of themselves in underwear or naked. He admitted to contacting up to 15 boys over two years. Mooney pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to knowingly possessing child pornography, including 4,000 images and 300 videos on a Samsung phone. Garda Daniel Tracey noted that the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children had alerted authorities to two email addresses linked to child porn; one was the "Nicole Heffernon" address traced to Mooney's home. During a search, officers seized two mobile phones and a computer hard drive, finding 6,000 images, 70 % of which were child pornographic. Mooney's parents were present at the search, and he admitted his actions before forensic analysis. Judge Melanie Greally ordered a Probation Service report and adjourned sentencing to January, where a plea in mitigation will be heard.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Man engaged in "catfishing" to lure teenage boys into sharing explicit images. Charges or matters: knowingly possessing child porn and possessing 4,000 images and 300 videos of child porn on a Samsung mobile phone at his home on January 5, 2016. Procedural stage: sentence
When:
- January 5, 2016 Incident
- 2018-10-23 Publication
Why: Gda Tracey explained that Mooney had been "catfishing", which is pretending to be someone else online, to obtain images of boys in their underwear and naked. CNI source report
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: knowingly possessing child porn and possessing 4,000 images and 300 videos of child porn on a Samsung mobile phone at his home on January 5, 2016 (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Judge Melanie Greally ordered a report from The Probation Service and adjourned the sentence to January, when she will hear a plea in mitigation from Mr Guerin.; Judge Melanie Greally ordered a report from The Probation Service and adjourned the sentence to January, when she will hear a plea in mitigation from Mr Guerin.
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