A search warrant executed by Keene Police at The Tabard co-ed fraternity on May 13 resulted in the seizure of a 21-year-old male Dartmouth student's computer after a police officer posing as a 14-year-old boy recorded a conversation he had with the student in an Internet chat room called "boylove&chat."
According to a clerk at Keene District Court, Detective James McLaughlin requested the warrant, which was issued and executed with the aid of Hanover Police.
McLaughlin was the officer who entered the Internet chat room pretending to be a 14-year-old boy, according to the Associated Press.
The saved text of the pair's private chat room conversation, which allegedly included plans to meet in Keene on May 13, was enough for McLaughlin to secure a search warrant, according to The Keene Sentinel.
The Dartmouth student has not been charged in the case, although The Sentinel reported his computer files are still being examined by investigators.
McLaughlin declined to comment on the matter, deferring to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Concord, which is overseeing the case.
Prosecutor Arnie Huftalen of the U.S. Attorney's Office also refused to comment and would not acknowledge that his office was in any way involved with the investigation.
Earlier this month, McLaughlin, again using the identity of a 14-year-old calling himself "boylove," met a 32-year-old Canadian man in a similar encounter in a chat room, according to The Sentinel.
The man was arrested and charged with attempted felonious sexual assault when he arrived at the motel in Keene where he had allegedly arranged to meet the fictional boy for sex, according to the Associated Press.
Camera and video equipment was confiscated from the man, who has now been indicted on the charges, according to The Sentinel.
