"How old are you?" Smokem 4564 asked. "And do you mind telling me what your body does look like?"
After 'Miss Becky' identified herself as a newspaper reporter doing a story about online communications in Colorado, Smokem 4564 told her he sometimes talked "kinky" online for fun and as a way to live out his fantasies.
Then he gave information about himself that gave him away: "33. Live in Boulder. I'm a teacher. Going to be a shrink soon."
With that, officials say, the man was identified as Michael Barta, a then 33-year-old Jefferson County middle school special education teacher. The reporter eventually published a story naming Barta and the school in a November 1994 edition of the Rocky Mountain News.
Barta was asked to leave O'Connell Middle School in Golden, but allowed to finish the 1994/1995 school year within the district and voluntarily resigned.
Records show he went on to teach in Denver Public Schools for one year before leaving to get his doctorate degree and becoming hired by Boulder Valley Schools in 2000, where he worked as a counselor at Casey Middle School in Boulder from 2001 until earlier this month.
On June 12, Boulder Police arrested Barta, now 46, after they said he solicited an undercover female detective for sex. In the police report, Barta is said to have told an escort, who in turn tipped police, that his fantasy was to have sex with a 12-year-old girl. Records show he was charged with a misdemeanor and detectives continued to investigate Barta, including the 1994 incident.
After his arrest, Boulder school officials placed Barta on paid administrative leave through the end of the school year and are now conducting their own investigation to determine whether they should re-hire him for next fall, said Briggs Gamblin, a school district spokesman. Gamblin says Barta, whose contract expired, is now considered to be on vacation.
School officials did not know about any previous allegations concerning Barta, Gamblin said, and there was nothing in his personnel records to indicate he had been in trouble at another school. While BVSD officials did check references on Barta, Gamblin said, they did not call Jefferson County as it was not a recent employment.
Barta's application to Boulder Valley Schools shows only out-of-state references, and lists his reason for leaving Jefferson County schools as "went to Denver."
He did list Margaret Barkey, a former special education department chair at O'Connell Middle School, who is now retired, in the category of "principal or supervisor."
Barkey told 9NEWS she was more of a colleague than a supervisor to Barta, who she described as "extremely bright, and good with the kids."
Barta was asked to leave O'Connell during the school year, Barkey recalled, and while she said the situation "caused conflict" within the school, she did not know the exact details of the allegations.
Now, she said, "I am appalled that he would do or say what he did, especially with his education and the fact he works with kids."
A Jefferson County Schools spokeswoman declined to comment about Barta's time in that district, citing privacy rights, and would only say that he "voluntarily resigned" at the end of the 1994/1995 school year.
Jefferson County Schools Superintendent Cindy Stevenson also declined to talk to 9NEWS for this story.
Barta could not be reached for comment. 9NEWS talked to his brother, Wink Barta, who said that after his arrest, Michael Barta checked into a treatment facility in Arizona to be treated for sexual addiction.
While Wink Barta described his brother as "very, very remorseful and very scared" about the arrest, he said the remark regarding the desire to have sex with a 12-year-old girl was "trumped up" and that Michael Barta has never shown any sexual interest in underage girls. Michael Barta has a dark sense of humor, his brother said, and he believes he made an offhand comment that was misinterpreted.
"If he can't counsel anymore, what the heck's he gonna do?" Wink Barta said. "I think he's being tried in the court of public opinion."
