Wife to testify in Internet sex case

Erica D. Johnson

Thursday, June 19, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.

A Henderson woman charged with using the Internet to lure a teen girl to meet for sex was placed on probation Wednesday after pleading guilty to lesser charges, but her husband still faces dozens of charges stemming from the incident.

District Judge Donald Mosley sentenced Karen Skewes to two years' probation after Skewes pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge of using the Internet to lure children, a gross misdemeanor.

She initially faced a felony charge of using the Internet to lure children, which carried a one- to 10-year penalty.

She entered an Alford plea, meaning she did not admit guilt, only that the state has enough evidence to convict her at trial.

In exchange for the reduced charges, Skewes, 33, agreed to testify at the trial of her husband, Marc, 41, Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Laurent said.

"She has to testify," he said. "It could be against him or it could exonerate him. As long as the testimony is truthful, the state doesn't care."

Karen Skewes, a circulation assistant for the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District, cried as she left the courtroom with her attorney, John Momot.

"She is crying because it's been a very traumatic experience," Momot said.

Marc Skewes faces 31 felony counts, including using the Internet to lure children and possession of child pornography.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is scheduled for September.

Authorities initially claimed the couple used the Internet to communicate with an FBI agent posing as a 14-year-old girl in a Yahoo chatroom between January and March.

They allege the pair initiated several sexual conversations with the agent and sent the agent obscene photographs of themselves via a web camera.

But further investigation proved that Karen Skewes played a less active role in the alleged crime than her husband, Laurent said.

Laurent said Marc Skewes could have even used his wife's screen name on several occasions to initiate conversations with the agent and provided e-mailed pornographic pictures without her knowledge.

"There is a chance she may have been duped into providing those photographs for her husband to distribute over the Internet," he said. "He was the actual lurer. She was a facilitator."

If Karen Skewes provides damaging testimony against her husband at trial, it would be the second time her testimony has helped prosecutors.

According to court documents obtained by the Sun, Skewes testified before a grand jury that later indicted Marc Skewes. She had waived her marital right not to testify.

Karen Skewes said she never chatted with a teen girl on the Internet and denied sending pornographic pictures of herself over the Internet.

She said she'd met her husband, who is originally from England, on the Internet. The couple have been married for three years.