A PAEDOPHILE who used a fake identity to meet children for sex was snared by a hunter group.
Sean Stifman posed as another man with the name "Robert Austin" on various social media profiles to speak to three people he thought were 13 and 14 year-old girls.
On each occasion the conversations became sexual in nature and, in one instance, he arranged to meet one of the people he thought was a 13 year-old girl.
In reality, the people he had been speaking to were all adults.
When he went to meet the girl at Southend Railway Station on October 13.
He was confronted at the station by the hunters and arrested.
Stifman, 29, of Norwich Avenue, Southend, was later charged with three counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, three counts of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, and one count of attempting to a meet a girl under 16 following grooming.
He admitted the charges at Southend Magistrates’ court on October 15.
At Basildon Crown Court on Thursday he was sentenced to two years, half to be spent in prison and half to be spent on licence, and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years.
PC Harriet Bowden, from Southend Criminal Investigation Department, said: "Sean Stifman is a dangerous sex offender who used an alias to start talking to people he thought were underage girls.
"On each occasion, the other person specifically told him they were 13 or 14 yet he continued the conversation and escalated it in a sexual manner.
"He knew what he was doing and his actions were calculated and planned.
"Fortunately there were no young girls on the end of these messages.
"But I have no doubt by bringing Stifman to justice we have protected children from potential abuse.”
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