Canadian Citizen Arrested for Online Enticement of a Minor and Traveling to Meet a Minor

NASHVILLE—Hans Bartsch, 72, of Ontario, Canada, was arrested on December 3, 2010 in Goodlettsville, Tennessee on charges of attempting to use the Internet to entice a minor into engaging in illicit sexual activity, and  traveling in interstate and foreign commerce for the purpose of engaging in a sexual act with a minor, announced Jerry E. Martin, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee; Director Mark Gwyn, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI); Chief Steve Anderson, Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD); and Amy Hess, Special Agent in Charge, FBI Memphis Division. Bartsch has been ordered detained pending trial, after having waived his right to preliminary and detention hearings today before a United States Magistrate Judge in Nashville, Tennessee.

According to the affidavit of complaint, Bartsch began communicating sexually explicit messages to a 14-year-old Gallatin, Tennessee female, through the online gaming site www.Pogo.com. After being advised of the online contact, an agent of the TBI assumed the online identity of the 14-year-old and conducted further chats with Bartsch. During these online chats, Bartsch sought to arrange a personal meeting with the individual whom he believed to be 14 years old for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity.

On December 2, 2010, Bartsch traveled into the United States from Canada, at Port Huron. After arriving in the Nashville area, Bartsch was apprehended and arrested at a hotel in Goodlettsville, Tennessee on federal charges by law enforcement agents of the TBI and the Metro Nashville Police Department. The investigation and arrest resulted from the collaborative work of the Joint Cyber Crime Task Force and the London Police Services-Cybercrime Unit, from Ontario, Canada. The Joint Cyber Crime Task Forces includes the FBI, TBI, Franklin Police Department, and Metro Nashville Police Department. 

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee and the United States Department of Justice consider the prosecution of cases involving the exploitation of children to be one of the highest priorities in law enforcement. 

Charges brought against a person through a complaint or indictment are accusations only. That person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.