MySpace Predator Found Guilty

An Orange County man who used MySpace to meet young girls -- including at least one from Winchester -- and photograph them nude was convicted Wednesday of 79 felony charges, including kidnapping to commit lewd acts on a minor.

Joshua David Threlkeld, 34, could face life in prison when he's sentenced by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Edward Webster on April 11.

He remains in custody in lieu of $1 million bail.

A Riverside Superior Court jury spent roughly two days deliberating before finding Threlkeld guilty of kidnapping and other charges, including multiple counts of lewd acts on a child, distributing material with the intent to seduce a child, communicating with a minor with criminal intent and a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure.

Threlkeld was originally facing more than 100 felony and misdemeanor counts, but toward the end of trial, the District Attorney's Office filed an amended complaint deleting or modifying some charges based on the testimony of witnesses.

The complaint names 50 victims, though prosecutors believe the actual number is in excess of 100.

According to court documents, Threlkeld targeted girls between 11 and 17 years old, contacting most of them between August 2007 and the winter of 2009.

Prosecutors said Threlkeld posed as a 13-year-old girl, "Sara Miller,'' to initiate communication with the girls, most of whom he met via MySpace and Facebook, some from as far away as London, England. He would purport that "Sara'' was sometimes paid to pose nude for a photographer named "Josh'' at "Model 508 Studios,'' according to Deputy District Attorney Melissa Moore.

After establishing a rapport with the girls, Threlkeld would attempt to talk them into modeling nude for him or sending him nude photographs of themselves, according to a trial brief prepared by Moore.

The prosecutor said some girls turned him down flat, while others expressed an interest, leading to face-to-face encounters between the defendant and his victims. Most of the girls who met him were from Corona, Hemet, Moreno Valley, Palm Springs, Romoland and Winchester, according to the prosecution.

Threlkeld set up photography sessions at his Orange home, in San Jacinto and in Palm Springs, she said. On some occasions, he would arrange for two girls to meet him, according to the brief.   

The defendant would have the victims disrobe and then interact with one another in sexually suggestive ways while he snapped pictures, Moore said.

A 13-year-old girl identified in court documents as Vanessa met with Threlkeld in the summer of 2008 for a photo shoot at a Palm Springs hotel, where she alleged the defendant sexually assaulted her and paid her $120 afterward.