Two Arrested On Internet Sex Charges

In the fifth and sixth in a series of arrests involving alleged Internet predators, town police this week arrested a Stratford man and a Cromwell man in separate criminal cases, charging each with using a computer in seeking to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity.

Police said they arrested Ivan Butts, 29, of Stratford on February 27, and arrested Joseph Marino, 59, of Cromwell on February 28.

Police charged each of the two men with use of a computer to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and also with criminal attempt to commit risk of injury or impair the morals of a minor.

In each of the two separate cases, police said that their investigations involved communications through the use of computers.

Police released Butts on $25,000 bail for a March 13 court appearance. They released Marino on $50,000 bail for a March 15 court appearance.

Besides the charges against Butts and Marino, police have arrested four other out-of-town men since last August on similar charges. Those men were from Weston, Southbury, Woodbury and Bloomfield.

The six criminal cases reportedly involve men who unknowingly had Internet communications with a Newtown police officer who was posing as a nonexistent minor.