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More girls linked to sex abuse suspect
March 16, 2007
A Klamath Falls man accused of meeting two girls online and sexually abusing them also set up on-line accounts on a site called Tagged.com and communicated with about 30 teen girls, according to court records.
Detectives are still investigating Joseph Polk, 36, and believe he may have more victims based on his online contact with underage girls.
“There's obviously that potential there,” said Oregon State Police Detective Dennis Yaws.
Investigators found that before Polk was arrested Jan. 5 on charges of sexually abusing a girl he met on the site MySpace.com, he set up other accounts, posing as a teenage boy on MySpace and Tagged.com.
Tagged.com is similar to MySpace.com in that it allows users to create free Web pages and chat with others. Teens say, though, that it's not as well known and popular as MySpace.
Polk was arrested again March 6 after investigators say he met with a 14-year-old girl and her friend Nov. 1 at Linkville Cemetery in Klamath Falls. He is charged with using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and third-degree sex abuse. Court records say he lifted the 14-year-old's shirt and inappropriately touched her with a Tootsie roll pop.
Polk denies he had any sexual contact with minors and claims he set up the accounts to research Internet stalkers, said his attorney, Phil Studenberg.
Held on $60,000 bail
He is being held in the Klamath County Jail on $60,000 bail.
Investigators say Polk met the girl's friend on MySpace.com, and he began communicating with her while posing as a teenage snowboarder with the username “I-A-G.” He apparently found her profile page and asked to be her online friend, Yaws said.
Investigators think he set up several accounts under other names, such as “All Juice,” and used the same photos for various accounts, court documents show. Polk had about 30 on-line friends listed on his Tagged.com profile page, and they were all girls between the ages of 13 and 15, court records say.
January investigation
The investigation began in early January after another 14-year-old girl told a counselor at Klamath Youth Development Center about the sexual abuse. She met Polk on Myspace.com while he was posing as a teenage football player under the name “Boomalicious,” investigators say.
She met him in person last year, noticed he was older, but reluctantly had sexual relations with him, court documents say.
Anyone with further information about Polk should call Detective Yaws at 883-5713 ext. 321.
- By Laura McVicker
A Klamath Falls man accused of meeting two girls online and sexually abusing them also set up on-line accounts on a site called Tagged.com and communicated with about 30 teen girls, according to court records.
Detectives are still investigating Joseph Polk, 36, and believe he may have more victims based on his online contact with underage girls.
“There's obviously that potential there,” said Oregon State Police Detective Dennis Yaws.
Investigators found that before Polk was arrested Jan. 5 on charges of sexually abusing a girl he met on the site MySpace.com, he set up other accounts, posing as a teenage boy on MySpace and Tagged.com.
Tagged.com is similar to MySpace.com in that it allows users to create free Web pages and chat with others. Teens say, though, that it's not as well known and popular as MySpace.
Polk was arrested again March 6 after investigators say he met with a 14-year-old girl and her friend Nov. 1 at Linkville Cemetery in Klamath Falls. He is charged with using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct and third-degree sex abuse. Court records say he lifted the 14-year-old's shirt and inappropriately touched her with a Tootsie roll pop.
Polk denies he had any sexual contact with minors and claims he set up the accounts to research Internet stalkers, said his attorney, Phil Studenberg.
Held on $60,000 bail
He is being held in the Klamath County Jail on $60,000 bail.
Investigators say Polk met the girl's friend on MySpace.com, and he began communicating with her while posing as a teenage snowboarder with the username “I-A-G.” He apparently found her profile page and asked to be her online friend, Yaws said.
Investigators think he set up several accounts under other names, such as “All Juice,” and used the same photos for various accounts, court documents show. Polk had about 30 on-line friends listed on his Tagged.com profile page, and they were all girls between the ages of 13 and 15, court records say.
January investigation
The investigation began in early January after another 14-year-old girl told a counselor at Klamath Youth Development Center about the sexual abuse. She met Polk on Myspace.com while he was posing as a teenage football player under the name “Boomalicious,” investigators say.
She met him in person last year, noticed he was older, but reluctantly had sexual relations with him, court documents say.
Anyone with further information about Polk should call Detective Yaws at 883-5713 ext. 321.
- By Laura McVicker
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Reader Comments
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leesa wrote on Jan 23, 2009 12:37 PM:
" these things should never happened in this world. the world should be safe. "
samantha r. wrote on Sep 23, 2008 12:12 PM:
" this article is So true when your a teen girl and your pregnant It seems to feel like your life is over and there is no way you can fix it but that's not true if your young and your going to have a child then stay focused in school your child wants you to succeed in life so he/she can succeed in life my name is Samantha R. I'm 14 years old i live in Klamath falls and i might be pregnant :] If so I'm determined to make sure my child has a better life then i did :] "
Babe wrote on Jan 23, 2008 6:54 PM:
" I think that chiloquin people do need help and not just the teens but i have also seen places that are alot worse i moved from L.A to chiloquin and ive been back there since and trust me chiloquin is nothing. I also think that crime and drugs etc. are noticed more because it is so small compared to other places and there is no form of disaplin at all "
Tony P. wrote on Jan 19, 2008 7:55 PM:
" I remember the night the plane went down.. My mother crying and my dad in tears.. his dad searched for him for years...
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Jane D. wrote on Apr 10, 2009 12:00 AM:
I Love You Bobby
May your soul Rest In Peace
-Deems "