Syracuse (WSYR-TV) - Solvay Police are crediting a mother in the arrests of two men accused of preying on her nine-year-old daughter.
They say Brian Salisbury, 27, from First North Street in Syracuse, found the little girl's profile on MySpace Thursday night. Investigators say Salisbury sent his first MySpace message to the girl around 5:15 p.m. Thursday. A few hours later, they say he and 56-year-old Richard Melfi, a Level 3 sex offender, drove to Solvay to meet the child.
Chief Richard Cox says that first message read: "Let's get trashed and have wild sex tonight?" Later messages got increasingly vulgar.
So the girl’s mom continued the conversation, pretending to be her daughter and arranging to meet Salisbury at the corner of Gertrude and First Streets in Solvay. He said he'd be in a gray van.
The girl's mother called police to let them know about the planned meeting. Her aunt posed as the little girl.
The aunt, who is small and petite, went out in the girl’s coat to stand on the corner. Sure enough, the van pulled up -- and officers moved in.
Police say Salisbury was the passenger and his driver was Melfi, who is on the sex offender registry for having sex with a 16-year-old boy.
Chief Cox’s message for all of us is a strong one.
“It happens here, not someplace else. It happens in good communities and you have to be on guard,” he said.
Cox says he applauds the little girl for having the common sense to tell her mom, and the mom for handling it the way she did.
“God knows what they were going to do when they were done with her,” said Cox.
