Man arrested in Internet sex case

Jace Radke

Tuesday, April 15, 2003 | 10:06 a.m.

A 46-year-old man who has lived in Las Vegas since 1963 is facing charges that he attempted to lure a 15-year-old girl to be his sex slave.

Raymond Buehler was arrested by the FBI Monday at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Las Vegas, where police allege he had arranged to pick up a Tampa, Fla., girl he met on the Internet.

The "girl" was actually an FBI agent from Florida working undercover on the Internet.

Buehler has been charged with attempting to entice and transport a juvenile across state lines for the purpose of engaging in unlawful sexual activity, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Koppe said at a hearing in federal court Monday.

"In the course of the (online) chats, the defendant alluded to Elizabeth Smart, saying that that situation was OK because the man made her his wife," Koppe said. "The defendant said he wanted more than one sex slave and wanted to be called master."

FBI agents served a search warrant at Buehler's home Monday morning and seized two computers as well as a sampling of bondage equipment found in three rooms of the house and in a large shed in the backyard, Koppe said.

U.S. Magistrate Lawrence Leavitt said he would release Buehler from federal custody today if prosecutors in Florida did not ask Koppe to appeal the decision.

Leavitt placed Buehler under the supervision of pre-trial services, and ordered him to submit to any mental health evaluations deemed necessary. Leavitt also ordered Buehler to stay off the Internet and to report to Tampa when a date for his first appearance is set.