Telephone Chat Lines Could Be Dangerous For Some

BOSTON -- Several girls have reported being raped by men they met on phone chat lines.

NewsCenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported Tuesday that if you open up the Boston Phoenix or the entertainment weekly publication called Dig you'll see dozens of ads for telephone chat rooms. Numbers that people can dial up to chat -- first with multiple parties and then paired off to more private conversations.

The problem is, officials say, teenage girls looking for some innocent talk are giving out way too much information and are putting themselves in danger.

"We've seen a number of cases, almost all of them involving young women between the ages of 12 and 16, meeting up with older men on the telephone chat line and rendezvousing with them and then serious incidents occurring as a result of those connections," Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said.

Philip Longeway, 34, of Maple Street in Manchester, N.H., is now serving a 17-year prison sentence in Massachusetts after pleading guilty to raping a teenage girl he met on a telephone chat room.

Authorities said the situation is just as dangerous as the popular Web site MySpace, where teenagers post photos and person information that has been a target for sexual predators.

"What we've seen in the telephone chat rooms, and even on the Internet, are clever predators who first win the confidence and the trust of these young kids who are searching for something," Conley said. "Oftentimes, I'm afraid they find trouble."

Officials have added telephone chat room safety to their presentation when they talk to kids in schools about the dangers of divulging too much information over the Internet.

They said that parents should talk to their kids and instruct them to never give any personal information out to a stranger over the telephone.