Recent Internet Predator Nightmares In The News

Police catch man with 12-year-old High Springs girl in car - High Springs police became suspicious when they found a 24-year-old Gainesville man with a 12-year-old High Springs girl in a car on Sunday night.
Very quickly, police learned that the man had met the girl on the Internet, then drove to her High Springs home around 10 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 15. The girl then got into the car without telling her guardian.
Using parental controls or blocking software can be helpful but should not be relied on exclusively. Online predators usually meet victims in chat rooms, so any time your child spends in a chat room should be heavily monitored. Read More>>

Nebraska man arrested by Pleasanton police for alleged child molestation - Todd Tackwell was arrested July 24 in Pleasanton and has been in custody at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin since then, Pleasanton Police Lt. Mark Senkle said. An officer pulled over Tackwell in a pickup truck during an earlier traffic stop near Valley Avenue and became suspicious of a 13-year-old girl in the front passenger seat. Tackwell said the girl was his friend.
Based on interviews, the officers believed there was inappropriate sexual behavior occurring between the 35-year-old Tackwell and the 13-year-old girl.
Pleasanton police learned that Tackwell had met the girl online in October when he was living in Hastings, Neb., and first contacted her through an Internet chat room and then by phone.
"It's one of those situations where she was lured into this relationship with him," Senkle said.
Police say that in January Tackwell drove to California to meet her in person and then allegedly engaged in sexual activity with her during the next seven months.
The girl lived with her parents Senkle said. They were both unaware of Tackwell's existence.  Read More>>

Online 'Sextortion' of Teens Rising--Sexual Extortion--What is it and How to Prevent it? -  Online 'Sextortion' of teens is on the rise, according to Federal Authorities.
The name was derived from cases involving teenagers who take nude photos of themselves, in what appears to be fun and games or a consenting, harmless act.
They then send them via cell phone in a text message (sexting) or post them on video chat rooms in the act of having fun.
However, the nightmare ensues as the photos, that are literally impossible to remove off the internet, become a tool of exploitation or extortion.
Federal cases are popping up all over the country where a young teen sends a nude photo to a boyfriend or girlfriend meant to be "for your eyes only".  However, after "mad day" or a break up takes place, the sender is pressured into sending more explicit photos, or risk total exposure.
Faced with the embarrassment and pressure to comply, they fall victim to exploitation or Sexual exploitation, aka 'Sextortion'.  Read More>>

Feds: Teen 'sextortion' rising - The government reports a surge in web cam blackmail of underage girls.
The nightmare began with a party: three teenage girls with a webcam, visiting an Internet chatroom and yielding to requests to flash their breasts. A week later, one of the girls, a 17-year-old from Indiana, started getting threatening e-mails.
A stranger said he had captured her image on the webcam and would post the pictures to her MySpace friends unless she posed for more explicit pictures and videos for him. On at least two occasions, the teen did what her blackmailer demanded.
Federal prosecutors and child safety advocates say they're seeing an upswing in such cases of online sexual extortion. They say teens who text nude cell phone photos of themselves or show off their bodies on the Internet are being contacted by pornographers who threaten to expose their behavior to friends and family unless they pose for more explicit porn, creating a vicious cycle of exploitation.
One federal affidavit includes a special term for the crime: "sextortion." Read More>>

Man jailed after 'grooming' Acle girl - A 54-year-old man has been jailed for three years after he admitted 'grooming' an Acle teenager over the internet.
Keith Reynolds, of Pelham Court, Horsham, West Sussex, was sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on Tuesday, after pleading guilty to inciting a child under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity.
The charge related to incident when Reynolds made contact with two teenage girls from Acle over the internet.
Posing as a 17-year-old boy Reynolds made contact with the girls in an internet chat room, where he was able to obtain the mobile phone number of one of the girls.
Reynolds began sending the girl sexually explicit text messages and invited her to stay with him - despite the girl making it clear she was under the age of 16. Read More>>

Forest High teacher accused of sexual activity with student online - On Thomas Michael Brown’s Facebook page, where he has 417 friends, it list his favorite quote as “choices have consequences.”
For the 59-year-old teacher at Forest High School known as “Coach,” his choice, according to sheriff’s detectives, was chatting to a juvenile in a sexual manner online and even exposing and fondling himself.
The consequences for his actions: Brown has been slapped with three charges, solicitation of a child via Internet, transmission of material harmful to a minor, and battery. Read More>>

Internet Predator Chat Nightmares Archives

Internet Predator News Archives from 2009

Internet Predator Chat News Archives from 2008

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Sexting in the News

“Sexting”Leaves Teens With Felony Charges -  At Sesquenita High School, just 15 miles outside of Harrisburg, Pa, eight students from ages 13-17 have learned a tough lesson about “sexting”.
"Take a photograph of yourself or somebody else nude and send it to somebody else, you've committed the crime," said Perry County District Attorney Charles Chenot, who has prosecuted two sexting cases involving a total of 10 minors in the past year.
Chenot considers sexting a form of child pornography and would like for kids to understand that once those images are in someone else's hands they could end up anywhere, even the internet, possibly forever.
The teens at Susquenita High were accused of using their cell phones to take, send, or receive nude photos of each other and in one case a short video of oral sex. The result? A felony pornography charge for each minor.
"That was the only charge that really fits what they were doing," Read More>>

Three teens added to sex offenders registry for relatively minor Sexting offense - A 14-year-old boy and two 13-year-old girls will spend the rest of their lives paying for a error of judgement made in their teens.
The Chinook Middle School students were formally charged Friday in juvenile court with felonies stemming from an incident in which they allegedly used their mobile phones to pass on nude photos of a 14-year-old girl.
Each of the three students involved have been charged with a single count of dealing in depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct. It is a class C felony, and carries a maximum penalty of 30 days in juvenile detention.
However, anyone convicted of the offense is required to register as a sex offender, Read More>>

Girl, 16, Charged in Sexting Case - Police in Lebanon County have filed charges against a 16-year-old Palmyra girl accused of using her cell phone to send a nude photograph of herself.
Palmyra police said the girl was 15 years old when the photo was taken in the summer of 2009 and the boy who received it was 14 years old at the time.
The boy was charged this week after he allegedly sent the photo to several other people on Jan, 12, police said.
Both teens face counts of sexual abuse of children and criminal use of a communications facility in juvenile court. Read More>>

Middle school students suspended over sexting incident - Two Coweeman Middle School students will be suspended after sending explicit photos of themselves to each other using their cell phones, Kelso police said.
Police were called to the school Friday after a 13-year-old girl sent nude photos of herself to a boy, also 13. Police said the boy showed the photos to several of his friends.
The boy also sent text messages containing nude photos of himself to the girl, who then showed them to her friends, a police report said. Read More>>

Student To Spend 1 Year In Juvenile Detention For Sexting - 14-Year-Old Whitnall Student Blackmailed Underage Girls.
A former Whitnall High School student will spend the next year in juvenile detention for blackmailing teenage girls into sending him nude photos of themselves via text messages.
Investigators said the 14-year-old had dozens of pictures of young girls on his iPod and cell phone.
"Anyone who would take nude pictures of themselves and send them out in the airwaves has to be a moron because there is no way to protect themselves once it takes place and these young girls who are doing that are making a horrific mistake," said defense attorney Gerald Boyle. Read More>>

Sexting and bullying leads to yet another teen suicide - Donna Witsell the mother of 13 year-old Hope Witsell appeared on the Today Show talking to Meredith Vieira about Hope’s suicide.
Just 11 weeks ago, Florida teen Hope Witsell took her life because she was being bullied and called a slut after she sexted her boyfriend with a topless picture of herself.
Not only did she get attention from her school, but that of a high school nearby. Her classmates bullied her incessantly to the point that Hope could no longer bare the torment. Read More>>

Sexting Probe at Bristol Middle School - At least four teenagers are suspected for passing around a naked photo of a Bristol Middle School student.
Bristol Police say an 8th grade girl, 14, took a photo of herself topless with her cell phone and then forwarded it on to a boy, who then sent it to several other students. It quickly spread around school, and now parents say they're both shocked and disappointed.
"It's very scary because my son has a cell phone," said Candice Sorenson. "I'm very shocked actually." Read More>>

Police Investigate Stillwater Teens for 'Sexting' - Police are investigating several Stillwater Junior High students in Stillwater accused of texting each other a partially nude photo of a fellow student.
Representative Anastasia Pittman said it's possible that the young teens could be convicted of child pornography for sending a nude photo of a peer because of the way Oklahoma's laws are written.
Statistics show 20 percent of teens admit to "sexting" or sending nude photos phone to phone. At Stillwater Junior High, 3 boys, ages 13 to14, are now accused of it.
"In today's society they need to know anything they do like that can stick with them for a lifetime," said Stillwater Police Captain Randy Dickerson. Read More>>

14-year-old faces kiddie porn charges for sexting nude photos of classmates - They call it sexting but police say it's serious.
There's debate in Milwaukee because a 14-year-old boy is facing child porn charges. Police say the boy threatened to spread rumors about the girls he targeted if they didn't send him nude and semi-nude pictures. They did.
 Police say they found 80 images from several girls on the 14-year-old's cell phone. One nude snapshot of a girl was found on hundreds of phones.
When you have 14-year-olds exchanging photos of sexually explicit activity involving 14-year-olds, that's child pornography Read More>>

'Sexting' teenagers face child-porn charges - After his former girlfriend taunted him, Phillip Alpert remembered the nude photos she e-mailed to him while they were dating.
He took revenge with an electronic blast — e-mailing the photos of the 16-year-old girl to more than 70 people, including her parents, grandparents and teachers.
Three days later, Alpert, then 18, was charged with transmitting child pornography. Today Alpert is serving five years of probation for the crime, and he is registered as a sex offender — a label he must carry at least until he is 43. Read More>>

View some alarming teenager Sexting Statistics Here.

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Internet Virus Nightmares

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Internet Porn Nightmares

Internet porn a growing problem with children - Researchers have found that teen exposure to Internet pornography encourages sex at a younger age.
According to the journal Cyber Psychology and Behavior, males between the age of 12 and 17 who regularly viewed porn had sexual relations at an earlier stage in their lives than those who have not regularly viewed Internet porn.
"Believe it or not, the use of blocking software is declining in America [in conjunction] with the rise of the use of pornography by children," Trueman points out. "There's sort of a disconnect there .... so blocking software is very important." Read More>>

Internet porn 'encourages teenagers to have sex early' - Exposure To Internet Porn Leads Teenagers to Lose their virginity at a "much younger" age, researchers have found. A peer reviewed study from the journal CyberPyschology and Behavior revealed that males aged between 12 and 17 who regularly viewed porn had sex at an earlier stage in their lives and were more likely to initiate oral sex, apparently imitating what they had watched.
Scottish experts warned that the rise in the viewing of pornography was implicated in a variety of sexual problems - including a rise in levels of STDs and teenage pregnancies - and called for parents to be more aware of what their children were watching. Read More>>

Teen girls copy cyber sex acts, teen psychologist says - ONE in five teenage girls deliberately accesses pornography on the internet, which is encouraging some to engage in explicit sex, according to a leading teen psychologist.
And one third admit they have bullied or harassed someone online, according to a survey on the online habits of teenage girls.
Adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said some young girls were having oral, anal and group sex after deliberately or accidentally finding porn online.
"The illusion of anonymity on the net gives those girls a virtual dutch courage," Dr Carr-Gregg said.
"I do think this (survey) should be a wake-up call. This is clearly evidence that the situation is getting worse." Read More>>

Sex acts copied from online porn sites- GIRLS only just into puberty are copying sexual acts they see in internet pornography, believing they must be normal, child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said.
Dr Carr-Gregg said large numbers of teenage girls had engaged in behaviour such as group sex or anal sex, which they wouldn't have done without seeing it online. Read More>>

1 in 3 boys heavy porn users, study shows - Boys aged 13 and 14 living in rural areas, are the most likely of their age group to access pornography, and parents need to be more aware of how to monitor their children’s viewing habits, according to a new University of Alberta study. Read more>>

A 15-year-old girl has been arrested for taking nude photographs of her self and posting them on the Internet, police said - This could be your daughter! Wouldn't you want to stop her if you could? Read More>>

Identity Theft Nightmares

Guarding against high-tech identity theft Read More>>

Who falls for e-mail scams? - A look at what happens after victims fall for ‘phish’ stories Read More>>

Internet Spam Nightmares

Unwanted emails, or spam, surged to an all-time high in May, representing as much as three-quarters of all email traffic, according to a survey released on Tuesday. Read More>>

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Why Spammers Love the CAN-SPAM Law - Antispam laws make some spamming legal and do little to quell the onslaught. Read More>>

Spammers Tap Unwitting Users' PCs Read More>>

Against the advice of all anti-spam organizations, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the CAN-SPAM Act, a bill backed overwhelmingly by spammers and dubbed the "YOU-CAN-SPAM" Act because it legalizes spamming instead of banning it. Read More>>

If you thought promising new antispam laws mean you can ditch your spam-filtering software sometime soon, think again. Read More>>