Usually, they claim ignorance.

They're men of various ages and occupations who chatted on the Internet with investigators posing as teenage girls. The men eventually set up meetings to have sex. But instead of the girls, they're met by law enforcement officials and get arrested.

"The initial reaction is denial," said one of the investigators who works for a special unit of the attorney general's office that tracks down sexual predators.

But once confronted with the verbatim transcripts of their sexually explicit chats, they either plead guilty or decide not to challenge the felonies by pleading no contest.

Of the 14 men prosecuted by the Hawai'i Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, none has gone to trial.

Eleven pleaded out and the other three, including a 19-year-old Pearl City man recently arrested, are awaiting trial, although they also have the option of pleading guilty or no contest.

The task force's record shows that the state prosecution has been successful in obtaining convictions in court. But it also shows that predators who once might have visited playgrounds, video arcades and other places to meet youths have turned to the anonymity of the Internet to lure youngsters into having sex.

"We think there's a big problem out there nationally and in Hawai'i," said Attorney General Mark Bennett, who is active in a campaign to catch the predators and raise public awareness about the problem.

Albert Cook, a deputy attorney general who prosecutes the cases, cited a nationwide study last year by the Crimes Against Children Research Center that indicates nearly one in seven youths between ages 10 and 17 who regularly use the Internet received unwanted sexual solicitations during the previous year.

Of the 1,500 minors surveyed in telephone interviews, 4 percent or about 60 received "aggressive sexual solicitations" in which the solicitor asked to meet the youth, called them on the phone or sent them mail, money or gifts, Cook said.

Bennett said based on the work of the task force and discussions with experts, the Internet predators in Hawai'i pose a "significant problem" as indicated by the national study.

"We see no reason to believe the problem is going away anytime soon," he said.

MANDATORY JAIL TIME

The task force unit was established in 2001 and prosecutes cases based on a 2002 state law that created the offense of first-degree Electronic Enticement of a Child. The offense carries a prison term of up to 10 years for predators using the Internet to try to lure minors into having sex.

In 2004, state lawmakers passed a law requiring defendants convicted of the crime to register as sex offenders. And last year, the state Legislature required that those convicted of the crime serve at least a year in jail.

Prior to the passage of the mandatory one-year jail law, the task force prosecuted 10 cases that ended with guilty or no-contest pleas, but none received a 10-year prison term. Only one defendant received a one-year jail term and the others either were not sent behind bars or received jail terms of up to 90 days, according to the unit.

Since the passage of the law, four have been prosecuted, including the 19-year-old Pearl City man arrested this month.

Three are awaiting trial and one, Brian Uejo, received a one-year jail sentence in April, the first under the new law.

Uejo's court case included excerpts from what prosecutors say were 23 separate online chats with an investigator posing as a sexually inexperienced 15-year-old girl.

The excerpts are laced with graphic sexual remarks by Uejo, a divorced 43-year-old accountant, according to the court file.

After Uejo chatted explicitly about sex at one point, the investigator wrote, "I hear my Moms car, talk tomorrow?"

"k," Uejo replied.

The conversations later resumed.

Uejo was arrested last Nov. 15 at the McCully-Mo'ili'ili Library where he was supposed to meet the "girl" for sex, prosecutors said.

Bennett, as his office has done in all the cases, asked for the maximum 10-year term. Circuit Judge Richard Pollack gave Uejo the one-year term and placed him on five years' probation on condition that he complete sex offender treatment as approved by the probation officer.

State Public Defender Jack Tonaki said he believes the use of the undercover officers is necessary as long as it doesn't entrap those chatting on the Internet.

But he said his understanding is that the task force keeps records that show the suspects are the ones who initiate the sexual conversations.

Bennett noted that none of the defendants even raised the entrapment defense.

"It is so clear what it is they are seeking to do," he said.

NO TYPICAL PROFILE

The task force's two investigators are both retired police officers who asked that their names or photos not be used because their identities might jeopardize their investigations.

They said they use multiple "personas" on the Internet including MySpace and chat rooms, posing as boys and girls ages 12 to 15, although the prosecutions have all involved men trying to lure girls.

One of the biggest challenges, said one investigator who is a 54-year-old woman, is to keep track of their various personas and act like a youngster to avoid tipping off the potential predator.

"It's mentally exhausting to stay in character," said the investigator, the one who typed to Uejo that she heard her mother's car.

Kristin Izumi-Nitao, the deputy attorney general who heads the task force, said the men who are prosecuted do not fit a single profile, other than they are adept with the Internet. Some are married and have children. Others are single. Their occupations and ages vary, she said.

"You don't have a typical profile of an offender," she said.

Izumi-Nitao said in addition to the two state investigators, federal customs agents and Honolulu police also have investigators posing as youths and Maui police are about to launch their own program. She said her unit also trains others on investigative techniques.

Bennett said the task force unit will likely expand, and his office is considering seeking stronger penalties for crimes committed against children.

He said he wishes there weren't any cases to prosecute and said he believes the unit is "just scratching the surface" of the problem because investigators can't be everywhere on the Internet.

But he said the task force has been effective, and he repeated the message to predators:

"We're looking for you. We're going to find you. And if we do, we're going to prosecute you and put you in jail."

Reach Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.