Suffolk News-Herald

Keith David Goodman, charged with luring young girls over the Internet to have sex with him, listened Tuesday as four teen girls told a Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court judge about their encounters with him.

After listening to hours of testimony in the day-long preliminary hearing, Judge William R. Moore Jr. sent to a grand jury the charges made by three of the girls, ages 13 to 15. Another charge was dropped because the fourth girl could not remember the exact date she had sex with 29-year-old Goodman.

While Goodman must still face trial in the sex charges, he was found guilty of a misdemeanor; contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Judge Moore sentenced him to 12 months in jail on that charge.

The girls testified in court that they had met Goodman, 29, in chat rooms. His identity on the Internet was Darkhat3 or Suffguy1, and up until July he was a computer network engineer for the city of Norfolk. He has been suspended without pay.

The girls also told the court they’d gone to Goodman’s Burbage Grant residence in the 100 block of Greystone Trace.

After meeting the girls in the chat rooms, Goodman convinced them to talk with him on the phone. He then would allegedly convince them to come to house, where he would give them alcohol and tape sexual encounters with them.

One girl told the judge that she accepted $65 from Goodman as a &uot;gift&uot; to pay for a pair of shoes.

Suffolk’s Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney T. Marie Walls objected to a defense attorney’s allegation that the young girls were prostitutes. Wall said she told the judge that it was a case &uot;involving crimes against children.&uot;

Thus far, Goodman has been charged with 13 felonies and two misdemeanors including carnal knowledge of a child 13 to 15 years old, taking indecent liberties with minors, possession of child pornography, crimes against nature and using a computer to commit a crime against a minor.

In Norfolk, Goodman is also charged with using a computer to commit a crime against a minor.

Goodman could receive additional charges when he goes before the grand jury, Walls said. He may also be charged based on an encounter with a fourth girl, she said.