A Newberry man, who thought he was romancing children online, was really talking to a Spartanburg police officer.

Joey Edward Nelson, 53, of 711 Green Meadow Drive, Newberry, was arrested and charged by Spartanburg deputies last week with three counts of criminal solicitation of a minor.

On March 31, April 22 and June 30, Nelson went into a chat room and thought he was chatting with 12 and 13-year-old girls. During the conversation, Nelson allegedly masturbated in front of a webcam for his alleged young victim.

Instead of two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old on the receiving end of the Internet chat, a Spartanburg deputy, working as part of the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force witnessed the act.

If convicted, Nelson could face up to 10 years in prison on each charge.

At press time, Nelson is being held in the Spartanburg Detention Center on $25,000 bond.

The ICAC Task Force Program was created to help state and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative response to offenders who use the Internet, online communication systems, or other computer technology to sexually exploit children. The program is currently composed of 59 regional Task Force agencies, and is funded by the United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The Training and Technical Assistance Program was established to assist these agencies with training and technical assistance in support of their Internet Crimes Against Children initiatives.

Newberry Police Chief Jackie Swindler suggests that parents keep computers in public parts of the home and not behind closed doors or in bedrooms. This allows parents to monitor what Web sites their children are looking at.

Parents can get software to help with this process.

Swindler also warns children to be careful about what they put on MySpace and Facebook. Predators can easily identify children by the information on these sites.

Swindler also suggests that children only talk online to people they know.