A Metairie man accused of cyber stalking a teenage girl is being held in the Nelson Coleman Correctional Facility on a $150,000 bond.
Stefan Schoellmann, 42, who resides at 153 Beverley Gardens Dr., and is owner and CEO of SIS Technologies, gave a tape recorded confession to police that he had been sending text messages, to the 15-year-old, girl after her parents repeatedly told him to stop.
“It happens all the time,” St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne said. “This guy is typical of many of these predators who try to make contact with underage kids, and it starts online and they are out there in droves.”
Champagne advises parents to do research and make sure that they are taking precautions when their children are accessing the Internet.
“There is a program on the Internet called www.netsmartz.org, and if parents log onto it they will find a wealth of information about the risk, dangers and precautions about monitoring their children when they are using or accessing the Internet,” he said.
NetSmartz has developed Internet safety presentations for use with children of all ages to educate parents and communities with slides detailing online risks, statistics, resources, and tips for keeping children safer online.
Champagne warns parents that there are plenty of online predators out there.
“This is not the only arrest we’ve made concerning this type of crime,” he said. “In this last instance, the parents contacted us, on this case and said something is wrong, and we were able to make the arrest.”
Champagne said most of the time the victims are being made to believe the person is the same age and not someone older.
“We’ve had instances where teens have met someone online and left town to go and meet the person, thinking they were the same age as them, not realizing this was an adult, who is interacting inappropriately,” he said.
Champagne says they received assistance from the attorney general’s office to make the arrest.
“We worked closely with Charles Foti’s office to make this arrest as we have on similar cases involving juveniles, and we really work well together solving these kinds of cases,” he said.
There are two other cases of juvenile cyberstalking pending against Schoellman, however Champagne says the Luling teen was the main victim involved in the case.
Schoellman has been charged with indecent behavior with a juvenile, computer aided solicitation, public intimidation, cyberstalking and a similar cyber stalking attachment.
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