Loading...
|| News ||
Page 1 of 1

Focus on the Family Employee Snared in Online Sex Sting


Authorities in Colorado say they have apprehended a Focus on the Family employee suspected of arranging to have sex with an underage girl he met online.

The suspect, Juan Alberto Ovalle, 42, began chatting online Thursday with someone who told him she was a girl younger than 15. The contact was actually an undercover female police officer.

Ovalle, a resident of Colorado Springs, works for a Spanish-speaking arm of Focus on the Family and narrates Scripture for CDs, according to the Denver Post .

During the first online exchange, according to an affidavit filed with the Jefferson Country District Attorney's Office, Ovalle asked the contact, "Do you like older guys?" and "Would you like to meet me?"

The next day, says the affidavit, Ovalle logged on to find the officer portraying the child and told her he was home and "horny." He confirmed that her mother was working, and after asking for her phone number and address, he asked her to tell him what she liked when having sex. He described his preferences in graphic detail.

Ovalle was arrested on Friday when he appeared for the rendezvous. He is scheduled to be formally charged on Thursday with two felony counts of criminal attempt of sexual assault on a minor and Internet luring of a child. He is being held in the Jefferson County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond.

"We're shocked," said Gary Schneeberger, a spokesman for Focus on the Family.

Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter. Page 1 of 1
Reader Comments
  • Name: John T Coffey-Howe III
    Date posted: 4/8/2009 2:48:00 PM
    Hometown: Dublin also

    Comment:

    We all make mistakes and maybe we shouldn't judge OTHERS, FOF needs to look within and STOP going after us and STOP showing up at our Equality Rallies and Marriage Equality rallies and marches and look what happens if their child has sinned and been born with it, hopefully that child will get away if they are denounced by their Christian Family as I was and not attempt or complete suicide. What they need to FOCUS on is love. That person needs to go to Prison and then TRANSLATE back to english to seek SEVERE and important THERAPY and Counseling in the Mental Health community, not THEIR way. It is good that this person was caught to stop his behavior. HE NEEDS assistance and now will be given time for focusing on this thoughts and actions as if their were a real minor involv.

  • Name: anto
    Date posted: 4/8/2009 6:54:00 AM
    Hometown: dublin

    Comment:

    focus on the family has a strangley new twist to its meaning now, focus on the kids in the family for sex they can rename it now, am I surprised/shocked nope given these people's obsessions with sex, can we get this Org shut down now, where do they get funding from, who runs them, anto

  • Name: mugg
    Date posted: 4/8/2009 2:46:00 AM
    Hometown: the, "other" washington..below canada

    Comment:

    focusing on the family...i must say heterosexuals and their radical right cousins, tend to justify this sort of action as misdirected and in "need" of counseling and repentance in some fashion or another. WE refer to it as denial. but hey, when zealots continue to blame the gay community for all the ills of humankind, and when society itself is focused forward "watching" the communities every move...get the picture of diverting attention? so, i'll take a leap of faith on this and say the heterosexual that was busted in the sting is perpetrating every know statistic published. knowing the majority of sex crimes against minors are committed by herrosexuals, i say, "splaine that one to "your" god, pervert. am i angry? YES I AM!!! i am sick and tired of daily reading of a child that has been kidnapped mere inches from their home or another child's body has been found...i know this article pertained to a sting operation, but it is the point of contention that i am angry with.

  • Name: Steve
    Date posted: 4/8/2009 12:33:00 AM
    Hometown: Vancouver

    Comment:

    Sure, the anti-religion bias and even hatred we Advocate readers seem ready to exhibit here is understandable, especially given the way many (but not all) religious groups continue to discriminate against and marginalize us. But have we still not learned Dr. King's lesson, that the only remedy for bad religion isn't no religion but good religion? . Before casting the first stone, let's take a look in the mirror -- bigotry and hypocrisy doesn't look so good on us either.

  • Name: Susan
    Date posted: 4/7/2009 8:38:00 PM
    Hometown: Stockton,CA

    Comment:

    I'd bet they'd downplay it because he was propositioning a girl rather than a boy. Let's remember how Francis Cardinal George of Chicago said that priests preying on girls were bad,but priests preying on boys were evil. Heterosexuality seems to make it all A-OK. Focus on the Family won't put him through EXODUS like it did Ted Haggard.

  • Name: PJ
    Date posted: 4/7/2009 7:44:00 PM
    Hometown: Vancouver

    Comment:

    Until religion dies completely, the world will continue to war, judge and misuse power in the name of "God". I wish that "Focus on the Family", or as I like to call them "Focus on my fanny", would actually read the statistics which conclude that heterosexual males are more likely to be pedophiles than gay/bi men.

  • Name: Art M.
    Date posted: 4/7/2009 3:54:00 PM
    Hometown: SF>CA>USA

    Comment:

    This is news? That a Christian is a sexual molestor? SAY it isn't so!

  • Name: Shelli
    Date posted: 4/7/2009 2:52:00 PM
    Hometown: Denver

    Comment:

    I would say that he "Focused on the Family" alright! Lets see, he made sure mommy was off at work so he could "focus" on what he thought was the young teenage daughter. Yep seems very "Family" oriented to me. Now the ole church folks will say they are shocked and that they will pray for him and give him forgiveness....what a crock! I say let's ask the mother or father of any young girl that has been sexually molested what this guy deserves.

  • Name: Justin
    Date posted: 4/7/2009 2:17:00 PM
    Hometown: Dallas

    Comment:

    Wonder how long it'll take them to figure out how to blame it on the godless homosexuals and pinko democrats.

  • Name: Chris Sullivan
    Date posted: 4/7/2009 1:40:00 PM
    Hometown: Chicago, IL

    Comment:

    Funny, WE'RE not "shocked"!



More Online Only
  • Film Teen Spirit

    While Native American cultures have long honored people of integrated genders, a new documentary looks at a shocking hate crime against a two-gendered Colorado teenager.

  • Politicians L.A. Confidential

    What's it like to be 33, gay, and one of the most powerful people in America's second-largest city? Stressful, says Matt Szabo, the new deputy chief of staff to Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

  • Commentary Love Bites for Twilight's Gay Fans

     

    Gay fanpires are sure to flock to New Moon, but with questions lingering about author Stephanie Meyer and the cash she gives to the Mormon Church, Mike Albo wonders if we'd be better off tying a clove of garlic around our necks.


  • Youth Church Opens Doors for Homeless Gay Teens

    A church-turned-shelter for homeless youth in Queens, New York is a far cry from sleeping on the streets after a $200,000 renovation and a partnership with the Ali Forney Center for LGBT youth.

  • Music France's Latest Export

    He's opened for Britney and Katy Perry, kept Dita Von Teese company in the front row at Paris Fashion Week, and gets name-checked on Twitter by Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and Sarah Silverman. So who the hell is Sliimy, anyway?

  • Marriage Equality Triumph in the Tar Heel State

    The loss of marriage equality in Maine was a major blow on Election Night, but down the coast in North Carolina there was an LGBT victory. Pam Spaulding talks to Chapel Hill's mayor-elect, Mark Kleinschmidt.

  • Theater Video Content Flag Puppet Masters

    When performance-art drag diva Joey Arias combines forces with master puppeteer Basil Twist, anything — no, seriously, anything — can happen.

  • News Softball With Oprah and Palin

     

    Dave White recaps as Oprah plays nice with Palin in her exclusive, personality-rehabbing interview. Topics include Katie Couric ("badgering"), Levi Johnston ("Ricky Hollywood"), and step class ("gee, it's fun").

  • News View From Washington: Frank Tells

    This week Congressman Barney Frank laid out a plan and a timetable for repealing "don't ask, don't tell..." and a reminder that he's been saying it would happen in 2010 from the beginning.

  • News Features Where's Mitrice?

     

    Mitrice Richardson is a 4.0 student, a former beauty pageant contestant, and a lesbian. She’s also been missing since September, and her family and girlfriend want answers. 


     

  • Theater Seat Filler

    The Advocate’s queen on the New York theater scene meets bisexual conjoined twins, pits Sienna Miller against Jude Law, tastes Cheyenne Jackson’s Rainbow, and saves up for a rainy day with Hugh Jackman.

  • Art Fairey Good 


    Controversial artist Shepard Fairey spends his creative capital to bring marriage equality back to California.

  • Film Crazy Like a Fox

    Hipster actor Jason Schwartzman gets schooled on his gay fans and the Hollywood closet and reveals why he’s never played a gay role.

  • Television Viki Victorious?

     

    Soap icon and six-time Emmy Award winner Erika Slezak talks about the trials and tribulation of playing Victoria Lord and her run for mayor, gay rights, and the sudden death that rocks Llanview.

  • Commentary Called to Serve

    The military continues to operate under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which even the Pentagon says is unsubstantiated. As General McChrystal asks for more troops in Afghanistan, one gay Navy vet offers his service to his country in spite of the policy that would deny him.

  • News Features Marriage Foe Tied to Pro-Gay Companies

    Ford Motor Co. and Reynolds American, two companies that receive consistently high marks from the HRC, have ties with Schubert Flint Public Affairs, the firm that was instrumental in defeating marriage equality in California and Maine.

     

  • News Features A Few Good Men

    In honor of Veteran's Day, two of the most famous gay vets -- Frank Kameny and Dan Choi -- share their letters from Uncle Sam.

Most Popular Stories