Press Release
Man posing as woman guilty of grooming boys on Internet for sex acts.
According to an article in the NZ Herald today a sexual predator who posed online as a pretty 18-year-old woman to lure
young boys has pleaded guilty today to a number of charges.
Cameron Hore, 28, surfed internet chatrooms looking to exploit youngsters - some as young as 11 - and get them to
perform sex acts for him. Posing as Sarah Ruddenklau, he even promised to pay some teenagers as much as $6000 to meet up
and have sexual relations with him. After receiving sexual favours, he would refuse to pay the money.
Alan Bell of ECPAT Child ALERT, a child protection agency says ”This is a timely warning for parents and the public. The
offender here was a man (pretending to be a woman) seeking out boys to provide him with images of themselves carrying
out sex acts. The common perception is that girls are the victims of child sex offenders but it is concerning that there
appears to be a trend for boys to be more often targeted than previously. This means the same precautions should be
taken regarding the protection of boys as with girls.”
When his victims came looking for their money, Hore threatened to expose them by telling their friends and neighbours
what they had done for money. One victim was 13, and he attempted to exploit another boy who was aged just 11. Officers
received around 20 complaints from people who claimed to have been deceived by Hore, including complaints form his own
"close family, cousins, friends and associates,'' police said.
Today Hore, who is profoundly deaf, appeared at Christchurch District Court and through an interpreter admitted 11
charges, including blackmail and sexual exploitation between September 2009 and September, last year.
“ The potential damage and suffering caused by this sort of offence where young children are not only abused sexually
but are then faced with threats and blackmail is not hard to imagine.” says Bell. The message here for parents and
caregivers is to maintain an interest in what sites children are visiting and ensure as much as possible that they only
use the internet where they can be monitored. Unfortunately this is difficult to achieve especially with portable
devices so education and guidance is essential so that young people make the right choices when surfing the net.”
Judge Jane Farish remanded Hore, a data entry operator from Belfast, in custody until he is sentenced at the High Court
on July 4.
ends