WOMAN WHO POSED AS BOY PLEADS GUILTY

(10/11/2012)
A Massachusetts woman accused of posing as a teenage boy to prey on a Gilmer/Lewis County girl pleaded guilty to one federal charge Wednesday in Clarksburg and could face up to 30 years in prison.

Carissa Hads, 25, of Quincy, also could be fined as much as $250,000 when sentenced on the single count of traveling across state lines with the intention of having sex with a minor.

Police said Hads pretended to be an 18-year-old named James Puryear Wilson on MySpace and started a relationship with the Lewis County victim in 2010.

Police said the two communicated for more than a year before their first in-person meeting.

A State Police investigator said Hads wore colored contact lenses and a back brace to cover her chest, and that she visited the 15-year-old girl at least three times, including at least once at a Pittsburgh motel in December 2011.

The minors mother was complicit with the dating arrangement, according to reports.

The victim also took naked photos of herself and texted them to Hads on a cellphone that Hads provided, said authorities.

The criminal complaint said Hads then flew to West Virginia in February, and had a sexual encounter with the girl at her Lewis County home.

Authorities said another West Virginia teen became suspicious of Hads' true identity and alerted authorities in March after Hads threatened her.

Hads was arrested in May at the Pittsburgh International Airport.

Under the plea agreement, she also agreed to surrender her computer and other electronic equipment seized from her home.