A non-first-responder volunteer with the Mtn. View Fire Department has been charged with felony attempted enticement of a child after allegedly arranging to meet who he believed was an 11-year-old girl at the Mtn. View Fire Department for sex.
A warrant with a $100,000 bond was issued Feb. 20 for Peeter A. Lindma, 27, Mtn. View, and served the same day, according to court records.
On Feb. 17, according to a probable cause statement submitted to prosecutors by Mtn. View Assistant Police Chief Stetson Schwien, the department received a call from a representative of civilian group Bikers Against Predators (BAP), who was reportedly at the Mtn. View Fire Department with Lindma after an exchange of online messages had allegedly culminated in a request for nude photos of the fictional victim and the arrangement of a meeting with Lindma at the fire department for sex.
BAP is a nonprofit group that describes its mission as exposing potential online sexual predators with child victims.
Members of the group pose as minors on social media in order to engage with potential predators, sometimes leading to incriminating interactions with adults who are then reported to local law enforcement agencies, usually after an in-person meeting is arranged.
Schwien and Mtn. View Police Lt. Trenton Roberts were dispatched to the fire department, and Schwien spoke with the BAP representative, self-described as a decoy, while Roberts was directed to speak with Lindma.
The decoy reported he had exchanged messages with Lindma in which he had described himself as an 11-year-old girl before providing identification and a cell phone he used to communicate with the suspect to the officer. Schwien said his initial impression when examining the phone conversations was that there were hundreds of messages, and he quickly noticed many were sexual in nature on the part of Lindma, some describing sexual acts. Schwien also noted the decoy identified himself as an 11-year-old multiple times during the exchange of texts and did not initiate sexual solicitation messages.
Later in the investigation, during a law enforcement interview conducted by Schwien and Roberts after the suspect had been informed of his legal rights, Lindma reportedly admitted to sending a sexually explicit photo of his penis to the decoy, asking the decoy to send nudes and offering money to the decoy.
Schwien noted in his statement there had been at least a thousand messages exchanged between Lindma and the decoy.
Lindma allegedly admitted to law enforcement he also made a request for the girl to meet him at his house for sex, and said he knew his actions were wrong because the girl was a minor, but also stated to law enforcement he did so as a "lesson" to the girl, and would have called the police had she shown up either time.
Mtn. View Mayor John Krasuski told the Quill Lindma was a volunteer, but had not been a responder to emergency calls and was only providing support services like custodial work at the station. When it was known the investigation was underway, Lindma was banned from being on city property, Krasuski added.
The case is being prosecuted by Howell County Prosecutor Mike Hutchings and Assistant Prosecutor Rizwan Ahad. As of Tuesday afternoon Lindma has not secured legal representation, though he applied for a public defender on Thursday; he was arraigned in the courtroom of Associate 37th Circuit Judge R. David Ray and pleaded not guilty, court records show. He is next docketed to appear in court March 25 for a counsel status hearing.
