Va. man traveled to Littleton to have sex with minor, police say

In custody, O’Brien admitted that he planned to have sex with the minor, post nude pictures of her on the Web, and marry her, according to Middlesex County District Attorney Gerry Leone’s Office.

“This is a stark reminder of the type of predatory behavior aimed at vulnerable children that can occur on the Internet,” Leone said in a statement. “I commend the victim’s alert parents who took the proper steps in informing and involving law enforcement officials.”

Littleton police Lieutenant Matthew King, who trailed the suspect on his journey to Littleton, said: “We really averted a tragedy here… It would’ve been a much different weekend had she met him and went off with him.”

O'Brien pleaded not guilty today in Ayer District Court. He was held on $50,000 bond.

After the girl posted plans on a website to leave home, O’Brien reached out to help her and the two began conversing regularly via e-mail, police said. He said he was 25; she told him she was 14.

“He told her he would come up and help her run away,” King said. “In October, he e-mailed her and said he had bought a bus ticket to come up.” O’Brien also purchased a return ticket with the girl’s first name and his last name, police said.

On Friday, the girl’s parents noticed a change in her behavior and discovered clothes and money in her backpack, police said. Worried, they checked her e-mail history while she was at school and then contacted police after discovering the e-mail messages.

“They were shocked that this gentleman was actually following through,” King said.

Police contacted Greyhound bus security to confirm O’Brien’s arrival at South Station and then estimated his probable arrival in Littleton, about 30 miles northwest of Boston, with a train schedule.

King said he boarded the 1:20 p.m. outbound commuter train in Concord, three stops before Littleton. Using a picture of O’Brien from his Facebook page, King identified the suspect and sat two seats behind him.

“He was fairly stoic just sitting there on the way, but he sort of perked up when Littleton was announced,” King said. “While he may have said on-line that he was just trying to help her run away, in our interviews with him he had other intentions in mind.”

Richmond police said they had no record or history with O’Brien.

O’Brien found the girl on 43things.com, a website where users post goals and others comment on how to achieve them, police said. Today, more than 1,000 entries centered on running away from home, including many young girls requesting help in doing so.

Josh Petersen, chief executive of the company that runs the site, said today he was unaware of the problem. Minutes later, the website replaced the run-away entries with a list of suggestions and resources to discourage users from leaving home rashly.

“Sometimes the goal can be inappropriate,” he said. "What I saw on those pages definitely needed to come down right away."