Sex sting case on to jury
Prosecutor says man, 23, aimed to have intercourse with 13-year-old girl
An Albany County jury is deciding the fate of a former college student charged in an undercover police sting with trying to arrange sex with a 13-year-old girl and her “stepfather” in 2016 in a Colonie hotel room.
Dante Camacho, 23, of Albany, is charged with attempted second-degree rape and attempted second-degree criminal sex act, the legal term for sodomy.
The jury of nine women and three men began deliberations about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday following jury instructions from Albany County Judge Peter Lynch.
Camacho’s family occupied the front seat of a courtroom bench during closing arguments. Officers from the State Police investigation, which included Colonie police, were also in court.
Police arrested Camacho, a New Jersey native and at the time a student at the College of Saint Rose, on Nov. 11, 2016, at the Radisson hotel on Wolf Road.
Camacho, who was carrying condoms, drove to the hotel to
meet the would-be girl and her supposed stepfather — an undercover cop.
After he entered the hotel room, Camacho sat on the bed, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Mccanney said in her summation.
She said the man in the room told Camacho the girl was in the shower, to which Camacho replied, “Oh, great!” Camacho was arrested. “He was going there to have sex with a 13-yearold child,” Mccanney told the jury.
On Monday and Tuesday, Camacho testified in his own defense, saying he nearly left the hotel room but knocked and went inside.
Had there been an actual 13-year-old inside being abused and he did not stop it, he testified, he would not be able to live with himself.
Camacho said he believed he was engaged in “role playing” and that he never intended to have sex with a 13-year-old. He said he believed the man was offering a “threesome” with himself and an adult girlfriend.
In one text message, Camacho told the undercover officer, “You’re into role-playing. I’m in,” his attorney, Cheryl Coleman, told the jury in her closing argument.
The undercover officer never mentioned roleplaying to Camacho. The officer also mentioned to Camacho twice that the girl was 13.
Coleman told jurors her client was young and naive and confused.
“Kings and governors, senators and presidents have been stupid, foolish, for sex. They have been gullible. They have thought not with their brain,” Coleman said. “On what planet does the DA get to infer that Dante is smarter?”
Coleman said: “Maybe you think that (Camacho) should have realized what’s going on. Maybe you think anybody would know. But is it shocking ... is it inconceivable that a college kid would be stupid and naive and not use good judgment in seeing things that other people might think are obvious?”
Testimony showed that the sequence of events that led to Camacho’s arrest began Oct. 24, 2016, when Camacho said he wanted to get revenge on his live-in girlfriend, whom he believed had cheated on him.
Camacho logged onto craigslist.com and went
into the casual encounters section. He spotted an ad that said: “Older and younger looking for fun in Albany area. Stepfather here and we’re into some strange things so please do not judge. Contact me only if you are real.”
Camacho wrote back: “Hey there. The stranger the better. I don’t judge. I love everything taboo. What things you have in mind? I’m Dante by the way.”
The undercover cop, in turn, told Camacho: “Me and my 13-year-old stepdaughter are looking for a third to join our party. Must be (drug and disease) free. No judgment here. Hit me back if interested.”
Camacho and the undercover cop, who went by the name “Chad,” moved their conversation to text messages where their language turned profane.
Camacho testified the language was “locker room talk.”
They eventually agreed to meet Nov. 11, 2016, at the hotel.
The judge sent the jury home at 4:30 p.m. and deliberations will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday.