Gwynedd man caught in online decoy sting gets suspended term

A Caernarfon man who thought he was chatting to teenage girls online has been given suspended sentences after falling for decoy operations. 📱⚖️

Ionut Badea, 40, of Market Street, Caernarfon, admitted five child sex offences at Caernarfon Crown Court on Thursday. The Romanian national was caught after members of the public in Criccieth gathered evidence and alerted North Wales Police in April last year.

The court heard Badea had been communicating with three decoys posing as 14-year-old girls since January 2024. When one “girl” asked if it bothered him that she was 14, he replied “not really” on WhatsApp. He called photos of the supposed teenager “hot and sexy” and sent messages about giving her “a massage and lots of kisses”.

Prosecutor Elen Owen told the court Badea sent intimate photos of himself to the decoys, requesting they “show me yours” and asking to see their “privates”. In another exchange, when sent a picture, he replied the girl had “too many clothes on” and added “too bad you’re underage” – before still sending a photo of himself in underwear.

Defence barrister John Wyn Williams said: “Why on earth was a 40-year-old contacting potentially young girls over the internet? He was in a sad place. He had broken up with his partner. He was drinking far too much.”

Her Honour Judge Nicola Jones noted it “had not been an organised police investigation but from work done by members of the public”. She told Badea: “You were a sad and lonely individual seeking company, albeit wholly illegally.”

Badea received eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, for each of the five charges – two counts of arranging or facilitating sexual activity with a child, and three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

He must complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity and comply with sex offender notification requirements for ten years and a sexual harm prevention order for five years.