a) What state's sex offender registry does he appear on?
Harold Naparst
- INDEPENDENCE INVESTMENT ADVISORS LLC
- 3030 Sw 12th Ave
- Portland, OR 97239
- Phone 503-922-2264
I am 54 and have been involved in the financial world for almost 30 years. After getting degrees in Math and Physics and teaching at M.I.T., I earned a Ph.D. and taught Applied Math at the University of California, Berkeley. My first job was proprietary trading for a futures broker in the Chicago Board of Trade Building in 1988. Subsequently, I was at Fidelity Investments for 11 years, serving as a Quantitative Analyst in the group that ran the Fixed Income mutual funds and institutional accounts, totaling more than $250 billion. The last two years at Fidelity, I was the Director of Quantitative Analysis for the Fixed Income Group.
I lived in Europe for about 10 years, running several companies, including an investment banking operation, raising capital for small companies and advising on strategy.
I have personally been a client of many Private Banking and Wealth Management firms. My experience is that these firms are mostly interested in their own profits, not yours. Mediocre results and high fees are not a recipe for success, and they benefit no one. This is why I started this company.
I have advised individuals and companies informally for four years. I find that most people benefit from a bit of guidance from someone with experience. It is very gratifying to me to be able to stabilize a client\'s situation and hear the sigh of relief.
I enjoy hiking in the Cascades with my dog to stay fit.
I think Harold forgot to include a few facts about himself in that glowing testimonial:
Nashua man arrested on federal sex charge New Hampshire Sunday News [Manchester NH] January 16, 2000 Author: Nancy West
Federal authorities have arrested a Nashua man in Arizona, charging him
with traveling interstate intending to have sexual intercourse with two
underage Mexican girls.
Harold L. Naparst, 37, of 5 Apple Tree Green, was arrested Friday night in Arizona before the alleged sexual encounter plan could be carried out, according to David A. Vicinanzo, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire.
Naparst was arrested after he met with undercover agents in Arizona, an hour or so after flying in from Manchester earlier in the day, authorities said.
Naparst is accused of paying $950 to people in Arizona to arrange for him to travel from Arizona to Sonora, Mexico, where he was supposed to meet and have sex the two girls, ages 10 and 14, according to court records.
The two charges, interstate travel for the purpose of sexual intercourse with minors, filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, carry a federal maximum penalty of up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, if convicted, Vicinanzo said.
The arrangement was allegedly conducted in a series of e-mails over the Internet, Vicinanzo said.
Naparst is employed at Fidelity Investments in Merrimack, court records show. Jessica Catino, spokesman for Fidelity Investments, said yesterday that a Harold Naparst works as a research director at the Merrimack office of Fidelity, but she couldn't confirm if he is the same person who was arrested.
"As a matter of course, we don't comment on employees," Catino said.
Vicinanzo said Naparst will be held in Arizona until next week when federal authorities will ask to have him returned to New Hampshire to face trial in Concord.
"These are allegations. Please remember that Mr. Naparst is innocent until proven guilty," Vicinanzo said.
The investigation was conducted by U.S. Customs, the Nashua police department and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
NH businessman pleads innocent in Internet sex case New Hampshire Sunday News (Manchester NH) February 6, 2000 Author: NANCY WEST
CONCORD -- A top investment analyst charged with traveling to Arizona to have sex with underage girls in Mexico has been released on an electronic bracelet to his Nashua home in an exclusive gated community to await trial.
Harold L. Naparst, 37, of 5 Apple Tree Green, Nashua, pleaded innocent in federal court Thursday to two charges of interstate travel Jan. 14 to have sex with two girls ages 10 and 14 in Mexico. He was arrested in Arizona before making the trip to Mexico, but after paying $950 for the excursion, authorities said. The well-dressed Naparst, on leave from his $195,000 a year job at Fidelity Investments in Merrimack, also pleaded innocent to two charges of receiving and possessing child pornography through the Internet.
Except for entering his innocent pleas, Naparst said little at the hearing, listening attentively to his lawyers, Steve Gordon of Concord and Martin Weinberg of Boston argue in favor of his pre-trial release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon asked U.S. Magistrate James Muirhead to order Naparst be incarcerated until trial, saying he was a flight risk.
Fitzgibbon said Naparst's computer files contain a large collection of child pornography, including depictions of unknown females that appear to be as young as 4 or 5 years old having sex with adult males.
"The defendant certainly has a very dangerous sexual interest in children," Fitzgibbon said.
Naparst's lawyers said there was no indication that anyone in New Hampshire was in danger and insisted he is no flight risk. Naparst started out as an analyst at Fidelity and after 11 years had a top job as director of research, Weinberg said.
"He wants to exonerate himself and go back to work," Weinberg said.
Muirhead ordered Naparst released on an electronic monitoring bracelet pending trial. After Fitzgibbon asked that Naparst be ordered to 24-hour a day home confinement, Muirhead said Naparst is unmarried and doesn't have family in the area.
"Are you going to pick up his groceries?" Muirhead asked Fitzgibbon.
"No," she answered.
Muirhead said Naparst must be home for curfew between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., must notify the security guards at his gated community to allow probation officers to enter without notifying him first, so they can make unannounced visits and have no unsupervised contact with children.
Muirhead ordered Naparst to have no access to his computer or the Internet, and to turn in his passport and cell phones.
"I'm not going to be playing games with some MIT genius on electronics," Muirhead said, referring to Naparst's degrees from MIT and Berkeley.
Naparst's travel is limited to New Hampshire and Boston for attorney visits and he must report to the probation department as directed.
Title?
Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, NH) September 4, 2000 Author: ANDREW WOLFE
Naparst, 38, of Nashua, had traveled to the hotel to meet a man who had said he could arrange for Naparst to have sex with two girls, one 10 years old and the other 14, in Mexico, the affadavits also said.
The man was a U.S. Customs Service agent, and 15 minutes into their meeting, police and Customs agents burst in from the room next door and arrested Naparst.
That same afternoon, Senior Special Customs Agent Brian Featheringham got a warrant to search Naparst's home at 5 Appletree Green, in the upscale Sky Meadow development in south Nashua, for child pornography and other evidence.
Naparst was returned to New Hampshire after his arrest and released on bail with strict conditions, including electronic monitoring, random searches and limits on his computer use.
He is scheduled to stand trial starting Sept. 19 in U.S. District Court on charges of receiving child pornography over the Internet; possessing child pornography; and two charges of traveling interstate with the intention of having sex with a minor.
Under federal sentencing rules, Naparst would face about 70 to 87 months in prison if convicted, prosecutors stated in court records.
Naparst's lawyers, Martin Weinberg of Boston and Christopher Hawkins of Concord, did not return telephone calls last week.
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon, also did not return calls.
After seizing Naparst's computer, agents found more than 100 images of child pornography, including still pictures and movies of young girls, Fitzgibbon stated in court documents. Many other files were encrypted, she stated.
"Cursory review of the defendant's computer reveals that he has an extremely large collection of graphic child pornography, including images depicting sadistic acts such as gang rape and bondage," Fitzgibbon wrote.
Featheringham's affidavit for the search warrant, unsealed July 18, details the undercover Customs sting that snared Naparst. The operation is continuing, and Customs officials asked that details be withheld so as not to jeopardize their work.
Customs agents had set up an advertisement for a phony tour business on a sex-oriented Usenet group, court documents show. The ad offered tours to Mexico, with vague allusions suggesting that they catered to the desires of the "young at heart."
"There have been multiple arrests (from the investigation) and numerous inquiries made by people who have expressed an interest in pursing sexual encounters with kids," Customs spokesman Roger Maier said Friday, adding that Naparst "is not the first (arrested in the sting) and he probably won't be the last."
Naparst responded by e-mail on Feb. 28, 1999, expressing interest and asking for information, Featheringham stated. He continued to send e-mails several times over the next several months, giving his name, address, phone numbers and sexual preference for females between the ages of 12 and 17.
The phony tour company offered price quotes and other information in response to his queries, but Naparst didn't actually book anything.
From mid-May until mid-August, Naparst had no communication with the agents, but he e-mailed them again Aug. 14, asking to set up a "tour" for Sept. 3 through Sept. 6, the affidavit states.
Naparst and the agents continued to correspond back and forth, with Naparst asking for information about the tours, and often expressing anxiety about the arrangements, the affidavit states.
"I'm a little nervous about entrapment and/or this being a police sting operation," Naparst wrote at one point. "Is there some comfort you can give me about who you are and that you aren't trying to catch me in some illegal activity?"
The agents wrote back, stressing that they also had to be wary of first-time clients for the same reasons.
"I've heard this before from many first-time clients," an agent wrote. "Trust me, you're not the first. There is really nothing I can say to ease your nervousness. . . . If you don't feel comfortable with this situation, don't do it. I will understand. Oh, and also, I'm not a cop, are you?"
At one point, Naparst suggested exchanging child pornography, but the agents said they couldn't do so, for their own protection.
Later, Naparst wrote the agents: "I think it's important for us to represent to each other that all the people you will introduce me to are of legal age. I'm not going to check IDs of course. . . ."
Naparst sent a $95 down payment on Oct. 25, 1999, for a "tour" over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the affidavit states. He later reviewed more specific arrangements with one of the agents over the phone, the affidavit states. The agent agreed to provide five to six girls, between the ages of 10 and 14, for Naparst's "tour."
Their conversation, of course, was recorded.
"So they don't have a problem with this down in Mexico, huh? The girls just do it for their families, probably," Naparst asked at one point.
"Yeah, you know, I don't know . . . most of these girls are from very small, poor little villages," the agent replied. "He takes care of them, and the families . . . from what I understand, some of them come from orphanages, too."
"That's OK," Naparst replied.
On Nov. 11, agents checked with United Airlines and found Naparst was booked on flights from Manchester to the area via Chicago and Los Angeles.
In further e-mails, however, Naparst expressed unease as the agents pressed for details about his sexual preferences, purportedly so they could better arrange to fulfill them.
"I'm not looking for anything specific," Naparst wrote. "I enjoy young, developed girls as I'm sure most guys do. I'd also like girls with a positive, happy attitude. I'm sure some of these girls can be pretty unhappy coming from such a poor background."
At some point during a phone conversation with one of the agents, Naparst discussed previous trips to Cambodia and Thailand, court records show. Court documents cite a partial transcript of the conversation, but don't state exactly when it took place.
When the agent asked if Naparst had ever "done this before," Naparst said he'd been to Thailand and Cambodia, but not Mexico. Naparst's passport indicated that he had in fact traveled to both Thailand and Cambodia, according to court records.
"It (Cambodia) is better than Thailand. It's cheaper and there's a lot more tolerance for this kind of stuff," Naparst told the agent in a phone conversation.
After meeting the agent at the hotel, before his arrest, Naparst asked, "It's legal in Mexico, isn't it?"
"I don't think so," the agent said.
"But people do it?" Naparst asked.
"Yeah, it's like what you said about Cambodia," the agent said.
"Cambodia, it's like that? Because, I mean, it's really flagrant in Cambodia," Naparst said, adding:
"You know how you can walk into a massage parlor and there will be girls waiting for you, in the states. You know, legal age. . . . Well down there, they're all like 7 years up to 14, 15 years, 16 years, and they're all just sitting there. . .. If you ask how old they are, they'll always say 17, but you know what I mean."
On Nov. 23, the day before he was scheduled to leave for his "tour," Naparst e-mailed the agents, asking them to explain a Christian Science Monitor article he'd found. One of the Customs agents was using an undercover name which was shared by a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol, who was quoted in the article.
"I assure you I ain't with 'la migra.' (The surname) is a very common name down here," the agent wrote back.
Naparst didn't board his plane, however, and wrote back that he remained uncomfortable with the arrangements. The agents wrote back to express their disappointment, and said they would shred his down-payment check.
"If you don't trust us, so be it. I would love your business but only if you came . . . intending to have a good time, and not full of apprehension. . . . If you have a change of heart, you know how to get a hold of me," the agent wrote.
Naparst contacted the agents again Jan. 5, asking to schedule a tour later that month "with the same sights as last time." He again booked a flight, and mailed a check for the full $950 price.
He boarded a United Airlines flight from Manchester to Chicago at 7 a.m. on Jan. 14, and flew from Chicago to Los Angeles and then back to the city where the sting was based, arriving at about 2:50 p.m., local time. An hour later, he was under arrest.
Memo:
Laid out on the floor of a hotel room in a small, southwestern city, with federal agents cuffing his wrists and patting him down, Harold Naparst saw into his future. "Wow, I guess I'm in trouble," he said, according to police affidavits.
Man strikes plea bargain for 2½ years in prison
Nashua Telegraph November 2, 2000 Author: ANDREW WOLFE
CONCORD -- A former Nashua man pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he possessed child pornography and booked a "sex tour" through what turned out to be a U.S. Customs Service sting.
Harold Naparst, 38, formerly of 5 Appletree Green, Nashua, was taken into custody immediately after pleading guilty to the charges at U.S. District Court.
His plea bargain calls for him to serve 30 months in prison, pay a $60,000 fine and spend three years on supervised probation after his release. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 12.
"You have a very forceful, rigorous and effective U.S. Attorney's office here, and we negotiated a disposition that all parties considered to be a fair resolution of the charges against him," Naparst's lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said afterward.
Naparst was arrested Jan. 14 after flying to a small city in the southwestern United States to meet with a man he believed would arrange travel to Mexico for him to have sex with girls ranging in age from 10 to 14 years old, according to court records.
The man was an undercover U.S. Customs agent, however, and 15 minutes into their meeting, police and Customs agents burst in from the room next door and arrested Naparst.
Customs officials have asked that some details of the sting operation be withheld, as it remains open and ongoing.
Naparst responded to an advertisement for the phony sex tour business on a sex-oriented Usenet group in February 1999, court documents show.
He expressed interest in the tours and asked for further information, corresponding with the agents by e-mail numerous times. In the process, Naparst gave his name, address, phone numbers and sexual preference for females between the ages of 12 and 17. He also indicated that he'd gone on similar "sex tours" before in Thailand and Cambodia.
Naparst repeatedly expressed anxiety in his correspondence about whether the tour might be a sting operation, and he backed out of planned trips twice before flying out to meet the "tour guide."
After Naparst's arrest, Customs agents got a warrant to search his home, and seized his computer and peripherals to search for child pornography and other evidence.
Agents found more than 100 images of child pornography, including still pictures and movies of young girls, prosecutors stated in court documents.
"Cursory review of the defendant's computer reveals that he has an extremely large collection of graphic child pornography, including images depicting sadistic acts such as gang rape and bondage," Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon wrote.
Naparst was returned to New Hampshire after his arrest and released on bail with strict conditions, including electronic monitoring, random searches and limits on his computer use.
He was charged with receiving child pornography over the Internet; possessing child pornography; and with two counts of traveling interstate with the intent of having sex with a minor. Naparst would have faced about 70 to 87 months in prison if convicted at trial, prosecutors stated in court records.
Naparst originally had negotiated a deal that allowed him to appeal Judge Steven McAuliffe's anticipated ruling to admit evidence which he argued was seized illegally.
His first plea deal called for him to be sentenced to 45 months in prison for one charge, which he would then appeal. If he won the appeal, he would have served only 18 months -- the sentence for the other charge. If he lost, he would have served the full 45 months.
There was one problem.
"It's an illegal sentence," McAuliffe told lawyers for both sides Wednesday morning.
Under federal sentencing rules, he explained, a defendant gets one sentence that covers every conviction (state courts take the opposite tack and dole out a sentence for each conviction).
McAuliffe's rejection of the proposed plea sent lawyers back to the negotiations, and about five hours later, they returned with the new deal -- a standard plea bargain with no appeal to follow.
Nashua 'Sex tourist' sentenced
New Hampshire Union Leader/New Hampshire Sunday News (Manchester, NH) February 14, 2001
CONCORD (AP) -- A Nashua man was sentenced to 30 months in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to booking a trip to Mexico to have sex with underage girls. He also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Harold Naparst, 38, was arrested last year in Arizona. He met with a travel agent there who had promised to arrange for him to go to Mexico and have sex with two girls, ages 10 and 14. The travel agent was an undercover U.S. Customs Service agent.
Soon after they arrested him, Customs agents got a warrant to search his Nashua home and found more than 100 images of child pornography, prosecutors said in court documents.
"I regret my behavior deeply," Naparst told U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe. McAuliffe accepted a plea agreement that includes the prison time, a $60,000 fine and post-release restrictions.
After he is released from prison, Naparst will have to register as a sex offender and give his probation officer monthly reports on his computer files and online activities.
The sentence also bars Naparst from contact with anyone under 18 and from living near or visiting schools or other gathering spots for children.
Naparst would have faced more than seven years in prison if convicted at trial.
Naparst, fired from his job at a financial services company after he was arrested, has been in therapy since the arrest, his lawyer, Martin Weinberg said. "He may have thought he was just looking at pictures in his living room, but now he understands the criminal aspect to what he was doing," Weinberg told McAuliffe.
Naparst responded to an advertisement for the phony sex tour business on a sex-oriented Internet news group in February 1999.
Transcripts of recorded conversations, telephone calls and e-mail messages that Naparst had with the phony travel agents are part of the court file.
When an undercover agent asked if Naparst had ever "done this before," Naparst said he'd been to Thailand and Cambodia.
"It (Cambodia) is better than Thailand. It's cheaper and there's a lot more tolerance for this kind of stuff," Naparst told the agent in a phone conversation.
"So they don't have a problem with this down in Mexico, huh? The girls just do it for their families, probably," Naparst asked at one point.
"Yeah, you know, I don't know most of these girls are from very small, poor little villages," the agent replied. "He takes care of them, and the families from what I understand, some of them come from orphanages, too."
"That's OK," Naparst replied.
In an e-mail before Naparst booked the Mexico trip, he said he was worried about being arrested.
United States of America v. Harold Naparst United States District Court, D. New Hampshire August 2, 2005 The opinion of the court was delivered by: STEVEN McAULIFFE, District Judge
ORDER
The United States Attorney opposes defendant's motion for early termination (by approximately four months) of his three-year period of supervised release, in part on grounds that the supervising probation office in Boston "objects to the early termination of supervised release in all cases." That is hard to believe, but if it is so, then the probation office has effectively disclaimed the influence it should rightly have in resolving close early termination petitions. Blanket inflexible policies may be the easiest to administer, but a recommendation based upon the exercise of informed and discrete professional judgment is far more likely to facilitate the administration of justice than is an automatic opposition dictated by policy. This is a close case. Defendant's crimes were serious and his convictions stand as a sharp warning of future risk to the public. On the other hand, he has completed his prison sentence without incident, he has faithfully complied with all of the terms of his supervised release for over two and one-half years; he has not been cited for even a minor infraction; he has been law-abiding; he has successfully completed a specialized sex offender treatment program and is voluntarily continuing with individual psychotherapy; his qualified treating psychologist reports that defendant now is properly placed in the "lower risk group" with respect to likelihood of recidivism;*fn1 he has been rated by the Massachusetts sex registration board at the lowest of three levels with respect to predictions of future dangerousness; and he has put his intellectual and practical skills to work for the community at-large during his period of supervision.
Defendant seeks to reestablish his career in the financial and investment field by forming a start-up venture capital firm in Canada, which prospect is made somewhat complicated by his current supervised release status. Whether the final few months of supervised release will make any significant difference in defendant's successful rehabilitation and reintegration into society, or will make a meaningful difference in protecting the public, are perhaps debatable issues (the government apparently thinks it will; the probation office offers nothing beyond "opposition in all cases"). The court is informed, however, that defendant has done all that has been demanded of him, and has gone beyond what has been demanded in pursuit of genuine personal rehabilitation. That full compliance, and the prospect that his effort to start a self-supporting business will be aided by early release, as well as the unlikelihood that an additional few months of continued supervision (which in defendant's case is essentially administrative at this point) will make a marked difference one way or the other, all combine to persuade the court that early termination of the modest degree sought has been earned and is warranted.
The motion to terminate supervised release (document no. 93) is granted. Supervised release shall be terminated, effective August 12, 2005.
SO ORDERED.
Harold L. Naparst, 37, of 5 Apple Tree Green, was arrested Friday night in Arizona before the alleged sexual encounter plan could be carried out, according to David A. Vicinanzo, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for New Hampshire.
Naparst was arrested after he met with undercover agents in Arizona, an hour or so after flying in from Manchester earlier in the day, authorities said.
Naparst is accused of paying $950 to people in Arizona to arrange for him to travel from Arizona to Sonora, Mexico, where he was supposed to meet and have sex the two girls, ages 10 and 14, according to court records.
The two charges, interstate travel for the purpose of sexual intercourse with minors, filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, carry a federal maximum penalty of up to life in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, if convicted, Vicinanzo said.
The arrangement was allegedly conducted in a series of e-mails over the Internet, Vicinanzo said.
Naparst is employed at Fidelity Investments in Merrimack, court records show. Jessica Catino, spokesman for Fidelity Investments, said yesterday that a Harold Naparst works as a research director at the Merrimack office of Fidelity, but she couldn't confirm if he is the same person who was arrested.
"As a matter of course, we don't comment on employees," Catino said.
Vicinanzo said Naparst will be held in Arizona until next week when federal authorities will ask to have him returned to New Hampshire to face trial in Concord.
"These are allegations. Please remember that Mr. Naparst is innocent until proven guilty," Vicinanzo said.
The investigation was conducted by U.S. Customs, the Nashua police department and the U.S. Attorney's Office.
NH businessman pleads innocent in Internet sex case New Hampshire Sunday News (Manchester NH) February 6, 2000 Author: NANCY WEST
CONCORD -- A top investment analyst charged with traveling to Arizona to have sex with underage girls in Mexico has been released on an electronic bracelet to his Nashua home in an exclusive gated community to await trial.
Harold L. Naparst, 37, of 5 Apple Tree Green, Nashua, pleaded innocent in federal court Thursday to two charges of interstate travel Jan. 14 to have sex with two girls ages 10 and 14 in Mexico. He was arrested in Arizona before making the trip to Mexico, but after paying $950 for the excursion, authorities said. The well-dressed Naparst, on leave from his $195,000 a year job at Fidelity Investments in Merrimack, also pleaded innocent to two charges of receiving and possessing child pornography through the Internet.
Except for entering his innocent pleas, Naparst said little at the hearing, listening attentively to his lawyers, Steve Gordon of Concord and Martin Weinberg of Boston argue in favor of his pre-trial release.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon asked U.S. Magistrate James Muirhead to order Naparst be incarcerated until trial, saying he was a flight risk.
Fitzgibbon said Naparst's computer files contain a large collection of child pornography, including depictions of unknown females that appear to be as young as 4 or 5 years old having sex with adult males.
"The defendant certainly has a very dangerous sexual interest in children," Fitzgibbon said.
Naparst's lawyers said there was no indication that anyone in New Hampshire was in danger and insisted he is no flight risk. Naparst started out as an analyst at Fidelity and after 11 years had a top job as director of research, Weinberg said.
"He wants to exonerate himself and go back to work," Weinberg said.
Muirhead ordered Naparst released on an electronic monitoring bracelet pending trial. After Fitzgibbon asked that Naparst be ordered to 24-hour a day home confinement, Muirhead said Naparst is unmarried and doesn't have family in the area.
"Are you going to pick up his groceries?" Muirhead asked Fitzgibbon.
"No," she answered.
Muirhead said Naparst must be home for curfew between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., must notify the security guards at his gated community to allow probation officers to enter without notifying him first, so they can make unannounced visits and have no unsupervised contact with children.
Muirhead ordered Naparst to have no access to his computer or the Internet, and to turn in his passport and cell phones.
"I'm not going to be playing games with some MIT genius on electronics," Muirhead said, referring to Naparst's degrees from MIT and Berkeley.
Naparst's travel is limited to New Hampshire and Boston for attorney visits and he must report to the probation department as directed.
Title?
Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, NH) September 4, 2000 Author: ANDREW WOLFE
Naparst, 38, of Nashua, had traveled to the hotel to meet a man who had said he could arrange for Naparst to have sex with two girls, one 10 years old and the other 14, in Mexico, the affadavits also said.
The man was a U.S. Customs Service agent, and 15 minutes into their meeting, police and Customs agents burst in from the room next door and arrested Naparst.
That same afternoon, Senior Special Customs Agent Brian Featheringham got a warrant to search Naparst's home at 5 Appletree Green, in the upscale Sky Meadow development in south Nashua, for child pornography and other evidence.
Naparst was returned to New Hampshire after his arrest and released on bail with strict conditions, including electronic monitoring, random searches and limits on his computer use.
He is scheduled to stand trial starting Sept. 19 in U.S. District Court on charges of receiving child pornography over the Internet; possessing child pornography; and two charges of traveling interstate with the intention of having sex with a minor.
Under federal sentencing rules, Naparst would face about 70 to 87 months in prison if convicted, prosecutors stated in court records.
Naparst's lawyers, Martin Weinberg of Boston and Christopher Hawkins of Concord, did not return telephone calls last week.
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon, also did not return calls.
After seizing Naparst's computer, agents found more than 100 images of child pornography, including still pictures and movies of young girls, Fitzgibbon stated in court documents. Many other files were encrypted, she stated.
"Cursory review of the defendant's computer reveals that he has an extremely large collection of graphic child pornography, including images depicting sadistic acts such as gang rape and bondage," Fitzgibbon wrote.
Featheringham's affidavit for the search warrant, unsealed July 18, details the undercover Customs sting that snared Naparst. The operation is continuing, and Customs officials asked that details be withheld so as not to jeopardize their work.
Customs agents had set up an advertisement for a phony tour business on a sex-oriented Usenet group, court documents show. The ad offered tours to Mexico, with vague allusions suggesting that they catered to the desires of the "young at heart."
"There have been multiple arrests (from the investigation) and numerous inquiries made by people who have expressed an interest in pursing sexual encounters with kids," Customs spokesman Roger Maier said Friday, adding that Naparst "is not the first (arrested in the sting) and he probably won't be the last."
Naparst responded by e-mail on Feb. 28, 1999, expressing interest and asking for information, Featheringham stated. He continued to send e-mails several times over the next several months, giving his name, address, phone numbers and sexual preference for females between the ages of 12 and 17.
The phony tour company offered price quotes and other information in response to his queries, but Naparst didn't actually book anything.
From mid-May until mid-August, Naparst had no communication with the agents, but he e-mailed them again Aug. 14, asking to set up a "tour" for Sept. 3 through Sept. 6, the affidavit states.
Naparst and the agents continued to correspond back and forth, with Naparst asking for information about the tours, and often expressing anxiety about the arrangements, the affidavit states.
"I'm a little nervous about entrapment and/or this being a police sting operation," Naparst wrote at one point. "Is there some comfort you can give me about who you are and that you aren't trying to catch me in some illegal activity?"
The agents wrote back, stressing that they also had to be wary of first-time clients for the same reasons.
"I've heard this before from many first-time clients," an agent wrote. "Trust me, you're not the first. There is really nothing I can say to ease your nervousness. . . . If you don't feel comfortable with this situation, don't do it. I will understand. Oh, and also, I'm not a cop, are you?"
At one point, Naparst suggested exchanging child pornography, but the agents said they couldn't do so, for their own protection.
Later, Naparst wrote the agents: "I think it's important for us to represent to each other that all the people you will introduce me to are of legal age. I'm not going to check IDs of course. . . ."
Naparst sent a $95 down payment on Oct. 25, 1999, for a "tour" over the upcoming Thanksgiving weekend, the affidavit states. He later reviewed more specific arrangements with one of the agents over the phone, the affidavit states. The agent agreed to provide five to six girls, between the ages of 10 and 14, for Naparst's "tour."
Their conversation, of course, was recorded.
"So they don't have a problem with this down in Mexico, huh? The girls just do it for their families, probably," Naparst asked at one point.
"Yeah, you know, I don't know . . . most of these girls are from very small, poor little villages," the agent replied. "He takes care of them, and the families . . . from what I understand, some of them come from orphanages, too."
"That's OK," Naparst replied.
On Nov. 11, agents checked with United Airlines and found Naparst was booked on flights from Manchester to the area via Chicago and Los Angeles.
In further e-mails, however, Naparst expressed unease as the agents pressed for details about his sexual preferences, purportedly so they could better arrange to fulfill them.
"I'm not looking for anything specific," Naparst wrote. "I enjoy young, developed girls as I'm sure most guys do. I'd also like girls with a positive, happy attitude. I'm sure some of these girls can be pretty unhappy coming from such a poor background."
At some point during a phone conversation with one of the agents, Naparst discussed previous trips to Cambodia and Thailand, court records show. Court documents cite a partial transcript of the conversation, but don't state exactly when it took place.
When the agent asked if Naparst had ever "done this before," Naparst said he'd been to Thailand and Cambodia, but not Mexico. Naparst's passport indicated that he had in fact traveled to both Thailand and Cambodia, according to court records.
"It (Cambodia) is better than Thailand. It's cheaper and there's a lot more tolerance for this kind of stuff," Naparst told the agent in a phone conversation.
After meeting the agent at the hotel, before his arrest, Naparst asked, "It's legal in Mexico, isn't it?"
"I don't think so," the agent said.
"But people do it?" Naparst asked.
"Yeah, it's like what you said about Cambodia," the agent said.
"Cambodia, it's like that? Because, I mean, it's really flagrant in Cambodia," Naparst said, adding:
"You know how you can walk into a massage parlor and there will be girls waiting for you, in the states. You know, legal age. . . . Well down there, they're all like 7 years up to 14, 15 years, 16 years, and they're all just sitting there. . .. If you ask how old they are, they'll always say 17, but you know what I mean."
On Nov. 23, the day before he was scheduled to leave for his "tour," Naparst e-mailed the agents, asking them to explain a Christian Science Monitor article he'd found. One of the Customs agents was using an undercover name which was shared by a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol, who was quoted in the article.
"I assure you I ain't with 'la migra.' (The surname) is a very common name down here," the agent wrote back.
Naparst didn't board his plane, however, and wrote back that he remained uncomfortable with the arrangements. The agents wrote back to express their disappointment, and said they would shred his down-payment check.
"If you don't trust us, so be it. I would love your business but only if you came . . . intending to have a good time, and not full of apprehension. . . . If you have a change of heart, you know how to get a hold of me," the agent wrote.
Naparst contacted the agents again Jan. 5, asking to schedule a tour later that month "with the same sights as last time." He again booked a flight, and mailed a check for the full $950 price.
He boarded a United Airlines flight from Manchester to Chicago at 7 a.m. on Jan. 14, and flew from Chicago to Los Angeles and then back to the city where the sting was based, arriving at about 2:50 p.m., local time. An hour later, he was under arrest.
Memo:
Laid out on the floor of a hotel room in a small, southwestern city, with federal agents cuffing his wrists and patting him down, Harold Naparst saw into his future. "Wow, I guess I'm in trouble," he said, according to police affidavits.
Man strikes plea bargain for 2½ years in prison
Nashua Telegraph November 2, 2000 Author: ANDREW WOLFE
CONCORD -- A former Nashua man pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges that he possessed child pornography and booked a "sex tour" through what turned out to be a U.S. Customs Service sting.
Harold Naparst, 38, formerly of 5 Appletree Green, Nashua, was taken into custody immediately after pleading guilty to the charges at U.S. District Court.
His plea bargain calls for him to serve 30 months in prison, pay a $60,000 fine and spend three years on supervised probation after his release. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 12.
"You have a very forceful, rigorous and effective U.S. Attorney's office here, and we negotiated a disposition that all parties considered to be a fair resolution of the charges against him," Naparst's lawyer, Martin Weinberg, said afterward.
Naparst was arrested Jan. 14 after flying to a small city in the southwestern United States to meet with a man he believed would arrange travel to Mexico for him to have sex with girls ranging in age from 10 to 14 years old, according to court records.
The man was an undercover U.S. Customs agent, however, and 15 minutes into their meeting, police and Customs agents burst in from the room next door and arrested Naparst.
Customs officials have asked that some details of the sting operation be withheld, as it remains open and ongoing.
Naparst responded to an advertisement for the phony sex tour business on a sex-oriented Usenet group in February 1999, court documents show.
He expressed interest in the tours and asked for further information, corresponding with the agents by e-mail numerous times. In the process, Naparst gave his name, address, phone numbers and sexual preference for females between the ages of 12 and 17. He also indicated that he'd gone on similar "sex tours" before in Thailand and Cambodia.
Naparst repeatedly expressed anxiety in his correspondence about whether the tour might be a sting operation, and he backed out of planned trips twice before flying out to meet the "tour guide."
After Naparst's arrest, Customs agents got a warrant to search his home, and seized his computer and peripherals to search for child pornography and other evidence.
Agents found more than 100 images of child pornography, including still pictures and movies of young girls, prosecutors stated in court documents.
"Cursory review of the defendant's computer reveals that he has an extremely large collection of graphic child pornography, including images depicting sadistic acts such as gang rape and bondage," Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Fitzgibbon wrote.
Naparst was returned to New Hampshire after his arrest and released on bail with strict conditions, including electronic monitoring, random searches and limits on his computer use.
He was charged with receiving child pornography over the Internet; possessing child pornography; and with two counts of traveling interstate with the intent of having sex with a minor. Naparst would have faced about 70 to 87 months in prison if convicted at trial, prosecutors stated in court records.
Naparst originally had negotiated a deal that allowed him to appeal Judge Steven McAuliffe's anticipated ruling to admit evidence which he argued was seized illegally.
His first plea deal called for him to be sentenced to 45 months in prison for one charge, which he would then appeal. If he won the appeal, he would have served only 18 months -- the sentence for the other charge. If he lost, he would have served the full 45 months.
There was one problem.
"It's an illegal sentence," McAuliffe told lawyers for both sides Wednesday morning.
Under federal sentencing rules, he explained, a defendant gets one sentence that covers every conviction (state courts take the opposite tack and dole out a sentence for each conviction).
McAuliffe's rejection of the proposed plea sent lawyers back to the negotiations, and about five hours later, they returned with the new deal -- a standard plea bargain with no appeal to follow.
Nashua 'Sex tourist' sentenced
New Hampshire Union Leader/New Hampshire Sunday News (Manchester, NH) February 14, 2001
CONCORD (AP) -- A Nashua man was sentenced to 30 months in prison yesterday after pleading guilty to booking a trip to Mexico to have sex with underage girls. He also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.
Harold Naparst, 38, was arrested last year in Arizona. He met with a travel agent there who had promised to arrange for him to go to Mexico and have sex with two girls, ages 10 and 14. The travel agent was an undercover U.S. Customs Service agent.
Soon after they arrested him, Customs agents got a warrant to search his Nashua home and found more than 100 images of child pornography, prosecutors said in court documents.
"I regret my behavior deeply," Naparst told U.S. District Judge Steven McAuliffe. McAuliffe accepted a plea agreement that includes the prison time, a $60,000 fine and post-release restrictions.
After he is released from prison, Naparst will have to register as a sex offender and give his probation officer monthly reports on his computer files and online activities.
The sentence also bars Naparst from contact with anyone under 18 and from living near or visiting schools or other gathering spots for children.
Naparst would have faced more than seven years in prison if convicted at trial.
Naparst, fired from his job at a financial services company after he was arrested, has been in therapy since the arrest, his lawyer, Martin Weinberg said. "He may have thought he was just looking at pictures in his living room, but now he understands the criminal aspect to what he was doing," Weinberg told McAuliffe.
Naparst responded to an advertisement for the phony sex tour business on a sex-oriented Internet news group in February 1999.
Transcripts of recorded conversations, telephone calls and e-mail messages that Naparst had with the phony travel agents are part of the court file.
When an undercover agent asked if Naparst had ever "done this before," Naparst said he'd been to Thailand and Cambodia.
"It (Cambodia) is better than Thailand. It's cheaper and there's a lot more tolerance for this kind of stuff," Naparst told the agent in a phone conversation.
"So they don't have a problem with this down in Mexico, huh? The girls just do it for their families, probably," Naparst asked at one point.
"Yeah, you know, I don't know most of these girls are from very small, poor little villages," the agent replied. "He takes care of them, and the families from what I understand, some of them come from orphanages, too."
"That's OK," Naparst replied.
In an e-mail before Naparst booked the Mexico trip, he said he was worried about being arrested.
United States of America v. Harold Naparst United States District Court, D. New Hampshire August 2, 2005 The opinion of the court was delivered by: STEVEN McAULIFFE, District Judge
ORDER
The United States Attorney opposes defendant's motion for early termination (by approximately four months) of his three-year period of supervised release, in part on grounds that the supervising probation office in Boston "objects to the early termination of supervised release in all cases." That is hard to believe, but if it is so, then the probation office has effectively disclaimed the influence it should rightly have in resolving close early termination petitions. Blanket inflexible policies may be the easiest to administer, but a recommendation based upon the exercise of informed and discrete professional judgment is far more likely to facilitate the administration of justice than is an automatic opposition dictated by policy. This is a close case. Defendant's crimes were serious and his convictions stand as a sharp warning of future risk to the public. On the other hand, he has completed his prison sentence without incident, he has faithfully complied with all of the terms of his supervised release for over two and one-half years; he has not been cited for even a minor infraction; he has been law-abiding; he has successfully completed a specialized sex offender treatment program and is voluntarily continuing with individual psychotherapy; his qualified treating psychologist reports that defendant now is properly placed in the "lower risk group" with respect to likelihood of recidivism;*fn1 he has been rated by the Massachusetts sex registration board at the lowest of three levels with respect to predictions of future dangerousness; and he has put his intellectual and practical skills to work for the community at-large during his period of supervision.
Defendant seeks to reestablish his career in the financial and investment field by forming a start-up venture capital firm in Canada, which prospect is made somewhat complicated by his current supervised release status. Whether the final few months of supervised release will make any significant difference in defendant's successful rehabilitation and reintegration into society, or will make a meaningful difference in protecting the public, are perhaps debatable issues (the government apparently thinks it will; the probation office offers nothing beyond "opposition in all cases"). The court is informed, however, that defendant has done all that has been demanded of him, and has gone beyond what has been demanded in pursuit of genuine personal rehabilitation. That full compliance, and the prospect that his effort to start a self-supporting business will be aided by early release, as well as the unlikelihood that an additional few months of continued supervision (which in defendant's case is essentially administrative at this point) will make a marked difference one way or the other, all combine to persuade the court that early termination of the modest degree sought has been earned and is warranted.
The motion to terminate supervised release (document no. 93) is granted. Supervised release shall be terminated, effective August 12, 2005.
SO ORDERED.
Is he registered as a sex offender in Portland, Oregon?
ReplyDeleteNot that I could find.
Delete