Bearded man AVOIDS jail despite arranging to meet up with a 14-year-old boy in a park after being caught in a ‘Grindr predator trap’
- Russ Alan Portelli was handed an 18-month suspended sentence in Perth court
- Portelli had arranged to meet a 14-year-old boy on Grindr in October last year
- But the teenage boy was actually two vigilantes who had created a fake profile
A man who admitted to arranging to meet a 14-year-boy on gay hookup app Grindr has escaped a stint in jail.
Russ Alan Portelli faced Perth District Court on Thursday following his arrest in October after two vigilantes created a fake profile and posed as the teenager before later meeting him in a Kelmscott park, Nine News reported.
The court heard the vigilantes, using the name ‘4teen’, had asked on Grindr: ‘You don’t mind I’m 14’, to which Portelli, under the name ‘Daddy 13’, replied: ‘I’m kool (sic). I love young’.
Russ Alan Portelli (pictured) was handed an 18-month suspended sentence after he was charged with with using electronic communication with intent to procure a person, under the age of 16 years, to engage in sexual activity
Perth District Court heard Portelli had replied ‘I love young’ after being asked ‘You don’t mind I’m 14’ (mock-up of conversation pictured)
Portelli had also asked ‘wanna play now’ and said ‘show me wot u got babe (sic)’, the court heard.
The 61-year-old was confronted in the park by the vigilantes, who alerted police.
Portelli was charged with using electronic communication with intent to procure a person, under the age of 16 years, to engage in sexual activity.
In court, he admitted he tried to meet up with a 14-year-old. The court heard Portelli was a victim of child sexual abuse, suffers post traumatic stress disorder and is cognitively impaired.
The judge ruled Portelli’s offending was ‘out of character’ and most likely a ‘one-off’, adding he would receive better help in the community where his risk of reoffending could be managed.
Portelli was handed an 18-month suspended sentence, subject to supervision orders and him undergoing treatment.
Portelli was arrested in a Kelmscott park, Perth’s southeast, in October last year. Police are pictured talking to Portelli
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