Top of Utah opera performer booked in Internet sex case
Police say man thought he was dealing with girl
Thr, June 10, 2004 Larger Text Smaller Text
By TIM GURRISTER
Standard-Examiner staff
tgurrister(a)standard.net
OGDEN -- A prominent local performer was arrested in an Internet sting
after allegedly arranging a sexual rendezvous with who he thought was a
13-year-old girl, but who turned out to be a police officer.
David Nyman Gustafson, 38, was booked into the Weber County Jail
Tuesday night on suspicion of second-degree felony enticing a minor over
the Internet after his arrest by the Internet Crimes Against Children
task force for Northern Utah, task force commander Rod Layton said.
Gustafson has been associated with the Logan-based Utah Festival Opera
for at least the last two seasons, according to Web sites devoted to
opera singers.
The Oregon native has appeared in operas from New York City to
Anchorage in recent years. The tenor was slated for the role of the Duke
of Mantua in the play "Rigoletto" in the upcoming festival season July
7-Aug. 7.
Gustafson had driven from Logan, where he was in rehearsal, to a
rendezvous Tuesday night in Ogden set up after conversing in a chat room
with a Davis County Sheriff's deputy, Tadd Low, posing as the
13-year-old girl, Layton said.
"He met us instead," said Box Elder Sheriff's Detective Scott Cosgrove,
another ICAC agent who assisted in Gustafson's arrest.
Agents said Gustafson allegedly exposed himself live via a digital cam
attached to his laptop computer as he conversed in the chat room.
"He showed us one-man, solo sex acts on his webcam," Cosgrove said.
"Now he's singing the blues, so to speak."
ICAC agents typically target pedophiles of either homosexual or
heterosexual orientation. The emphasis typically is on aggressive
homosexuals pursuing same-sex companions, but Layton said his agents are
more easily repulsed in dealing with the homosexual come-ons.
"You can get tired of talking to these guys pretty easily," Layton
said.
The Northern Utah ICAC is one of two operating in the state, the other
based in Salt Lake City, among more than 35 nationwide, funded chiefly
through federal grants to track Internet sexual predators.
According to the Utah ICAC Web site, a recent survey revealed that one
in five teens has received an unwanted online request to engage in
sexual activities or provide sexual information. One in four has been
exposed to online pornography.
Reporter Mark Gray contributed to this story.
