Alleged Sexual Predator Arrest In Temecula Wine Country Prompts Advice For Parents

Do you know who your kids are chatting with online?

On June 20, Temecula Wine Country resident Mark Kenneth Van Dinter, 50, was arrested on suspicion of trying to lure an underage girl into sending him nude photos of her and to having her commit sex acts via the telephone.

His ploy, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, was to gain the girl’s trust and interest by posing as a 17-year-old boy on a social media site. The DA’s office alleges that other fake underage personas were created by Van Dinter in an effort to lure additional young girls.

A glimpse at Van Dinter's background reveals he is a business owner, family man, and he has volunteered time through Temecula organizations he belongs to, such at Rotary Club and Chamber of Commerce.

Last August in its newsletter, the Rotary Club of Temecula thanked him for helping to lead some boy scouts in a project to build a shelter at the Canine Support Teams facility in Menifee, for example.

This may come as no surprise to the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement Task Force. Developed by the Riverside County DA’s Office and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, S.A.F.E. investigated the Van Dinter case and it was the agency that made the June 20 arrest of the suspect at his Wine Country home shortly before 7 a.m. in the 40900 block of Parado Del Sol Drive.

Van Dinter was released on $55,000 bail and is due in court on Aug. 15.

A call to his place of business was not immediately returned Monday morning.

According to information regularly published by S.A.F.E., there is no such thing as a typical sex offender. Most sex offenders know their victims, although it’s not clear what the alleged relationships were between Van Dinter and children he is accused of contacting.

S.A.F.E. advises that parents should make an effort to know who their kids are spending time with, and that includes online.

"The better informed you are about what to look for, the better the chance that you can know and be able to help your child," the agency states in its published documents.

Van Dinter is innocent until proven guilty, but if it’s found true that he committed the crimes he is accused of, there will be an interesting twist. His company is a collection agency that also uses the Internet to recover assets for clients.

“The internet has brought a wealth of information to each of us,” his company’s website reads. “Not all of us have the ability to harness that information and use it for our best interest. Van Dinter & Associates, Inc. has access to information not readily available to the public or our competitors.”