Wacky Internet Predator Wednesday #59
Another weekly round-up… is actually fairly quiet. I have two stories to share with you, both unique in their own way:
- Four men in Salt Lake City were arrested for possession of child pornography by the state’s ICAC team. While I don’t usually report on stories where only possession of child porn is involved (meaning no manufacturing), it’s a slow enough week to report this AND it should be a reminder that these guys are everywhere – even in a city considered to be heavily religious.
- 12 men so far have been arrested in Colorado for soliciting kids in Spanish chatrooms!! Spanish-speaking predators have flown under the radar until now – and they are aggressive! Here’s the shocking part though: much of the activity that resulted in arrests was conducted in a Univision (TV station) chatroom.
Clearly, both of these cases illustrate the need to know who your child is talking to online. Kids don’t have the same mental filters in place that you (adults) have… But how do you know who your kids are talking to? Easy… Monitoring software!
September 12, 2009
Four suspected sexual predators arrestedSALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) – The Utah Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force arrested four men last Thursday, September 3, on child sex abuse charges.
Matt Messner, 39, Shane Lopez,40, Dallen Ashton, 20, were arrested for having child pornography, and a 19-year-old suspect was arrested for possibly possessing child pornography.
Despite budget cuts, the Utah ICAC Task Force has handled 89.5% more arrests during the first six months of the year compared to the same period last year.
“We actually see a spike in children being victimized on the Internet and through text messaging once school starts,” says Capt. Rhett McQuiston, Utah ICAC Task Force Commander. “Sometimes the predators are other children but most of the time they are adults who are pretending to be children or teenagers.”
“The start of the school season is a good time for parents to take a refresher course on how to protect their children from online predators,” says Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. “Parents need to know what is coming in and out of their children’s computers and cell phones.”
More information can be found at http://www.attorneygeneral.utah.gov/internet_safety.html
September 14, 2009
Investigators turn attention to sex predators lurking on Spanish websites
By Julie Hayden KDVR DenverDENVER – Sexual predators trying to lure young girls on Spanish speaking websites have flown under the radar, until now.
The Jefferson County Child Sex Offender Internet Investigations unit is turning its attention to Spanish speaking chat rooms and has arrested more than a dozen men in recent months, accused of trying to lure young girls into a meeting, with the intent of sexually assaulting them.
Investigators say they see a lot of activity on the Univision TV website. Univision is the largest Spanish speaking TVnetwork in the United States.
In a recent case, within minutes, within minutes of logging on, an invesitigator posing as a young girl had numerous would be sexual predators hitting on her.
She was in a Univision TV Spanish speaking Denver chat room. The conversations started casually, but soon became sexual, with the men asking her if she had had sex, what kind of sex she liked and describing sex acts they wanted to perform on her. One man had her call him on his cell phone to try to arrange a meeting. He also sent pictures of his genitals to her cell phone.
Investigator Mike Harris says they have arrested 12 men so far, after the suspects contacted them through the Univision shat room. The arrest affidavits say the men knew the person they were chatting with was under the age of 15 and still set up meetings with her, in order to have sex.
Police arrested the men when they showed up for the meet.
There is similar activity on English speaking sites and Harris cautions parents, be aware of what your children are doing on line and make sure they know to never give out personal information of meet someone in person.
We contacted Univision, which released the following official response:
“Univision takes the security of it’s users very seriously. We promininently display the rules of the chatroom participation and FAQs and post user advisories of the do’s and dont’s of online forums and chatrooms. We also maintain a designated email for complaints and respond accordingly. Univision remains committed to working closely with law enforcement on this industry-wide issue.”
