Every once in a while I just have to be cruel. But take a look at these toads. Do any of us want our children associating with these creeps in any way?
According to Bristowbeat.com:
A joint proactive operation between April and May 2015, targeting individuals soliciting minors for sexual acts online, concluded with the arrest of seven individuals, one from Gainesville.
This operation, conducted by members of the Northern Virginia/DC Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including detectives from the Prince William County and Manassas City Police Departments, was not in response to any specific incident and did not involve actual children.
“Undercover detectives used an undisclosed online site and posed as underage juvenile females,” police spokesperson Officer Jonathan Perok said. “As a result of the investigation, multiple men contacted the undercover detectives and, during the course of communications, solicited sexual acts.”
Perok said these conversations took place through electronic means over the course of multiple days.
“In each of the incidents, the suspect made arrangements to meet the undercover detective at a public location in Prince William County,” he said. “Once there, members of the task force arrested the individual without incident.
Kids are stupid and they want to be grown up. They also have that flaw that makes them think they are immortal. We wouldn’t drop our kids off at the mall alone for a week. Yet many parents have no idea what their children are doing online.
As the Internet becomes ubiquitous, parents need to stay vigilant and make certain they know who their kids are communicating with online. Now most kids have their own tablets and smart phones, the job for parents becomes even more challenging.
More and more resources will surely have to be poured into this crime area if our kids are to remain safe. Pervs take full advantage of advances in technology and also how un-savvy many parents are. Several local schools are having evening workshops to teach parents about basic internet safety as it relates to their children. Good for them! You can be the head of your IT team at work and still not know basic kid talk online.
How can we help cut down on some of this creepy crime?
Disclosure: I know that people are innocent until proven guilty. I must assume that these toads are not guilty.
It’s not cruel to publish these pictures and stories. Public Shaming is a long-standing tool to encourage proper civil conduct. Unfortunately, as we begin to approach “anything goes/it’s all good” as a society, the effects of shame diminish.
I name called. I said they were toads. I made fun of their appearance. I don’t even care.
I’m happier to have to deal with kids encountering sexual perversion online than dealing with kids drinking and driving and dying. It is a lot easier.
Besides, it is the perverted uncle, cousin or more likely step parent that is the real danger, not some random person many miles away getting off on a fantasy.
I’m also concerned about the creepiness of the people who go online to “catch” the creeps. There is a very thin line between pretending you are a 13 y.o. girl and going online to troll for people who want to fantasize about having sex with teens and entrapping them into taking steps to pursue that fantasy. I have problems deciding which one is the criminal but am sure both are perverts.
The solution is to tell kids in explicit terms what techniques abusers use. Kids need to know that they have personal boundaries and when others cross those boundaries that it is not OK and not their fault; they should tell someone to make it stop. It is pretty easy to spot inappropriate behavior once you’ve seen it demonstrated and kids can help each other identify the creeps. Training kids to report inappropriate behavior that happens in real life is more effective in stopping child abuse than having perverts troll the internet looking for virtual versions of perversion.
(BTW: If you hadn’t changing the aspect ratio so each photo is taller than it should be for it’s width the people would look more normal.)
I didn’t change anything.
Who is going to tell kids what technique creeps use? How will anyone know what techniques they use if law enforcement isn’t vigilant?
@Ed Myers
Ed, I have a for you: Around what star does your world orbit, and what warp-factor is required to get there?
Recognizing when someone has pushed past normal boundaries and empowering them with strategies to re-establish respectful boundaries is a universal lesson that should be taught in health/safety/sex ed. This skill is needed to recognize and safeguard oneself from adult sexual abuse but equally applies to date rape and sexual harassment and other abuse problems children will encounter as they mature.
Law enforcement can’t be vigilant. They catch the dumb ones who are online because they can never actually get close to a teen. Not helpful. The serious problems are those who groom kids from positions of trust and power…the coaches, priests, scout leaders, etc. Law enforcement is always going to be coming in after the fact and all the adults will be shocked because they didn’t suspect that person. We want the children to realize they are being groomed (inappropriate sexual banter, touching, gifts, keeping secrets, etc while the activity isn’t legally a crime) and report it before the child gets into a situation where they are alone with the abuser and can become a victim. Children need to recognize when their friends are being groomed, too, and know that never being alone will prevent almost all abuse.
Children need to be taught that sexual abuse can come from anywhere at an age appropriate level. Pervs are prevalent.
Why is this turning into an argument. Keeping a close watch on kids’ online behavior is hardly a radical suggestion. Pervs who violate space should be weeded out as much as possible. It really isn’t that hard.
@Moon, whoever created the photos you displayed above distorted the photos and the distortion makes the faces look weird.
My guess is that they looked weird to start with. Mug shots aren’t professional photos.
Frankly, I have no sympathy for child molesters and would like to see every child molester executed. These guys are headed in that direction. The cops saved them from themselves.
Sorry if that offends you. (well, not really)
In a world where you can kill a baby and call it reproductive freedom there needs to be some remaining bold lines drawn as to what is right and wrong. Child abuse is wrong. Sexual preditors are wrong, but even here there are constitutional protections – even when we disagree with the preversion – and I can think of several that, once prosecuted, are now legal. I have no – no – objection to law enforcement entraping those who knowingly, actively and in person try to hook up with a child. Now we need to be clear that it is a child and was knowingly, actively and in person. But, what is also wrong is to waive constitutional freedoms and destroy those who do not ever leave their own homes. I am not confortable with law enforcement going after computer crimes in this area. It is a very slippery slope to political oversight.
Back to that word “born”. We aren’t going to discuss killing babies here. Obviously killing babies (little people you diaper) is illegal. If you want to think of fertilized eggs as babies, that is your right. I, however, do not.
I think there are certain standards law enforcement looks for. I don’t like entrapment either and I also don’t care much for these age technicalities. I see no difference in 17 and 18.
If anyone is interested, Chris Simcox, the co-founder of the Minutemen will be going on trial soon for child molestation.
Ah, how the mighty have fallen.
Josh Duggar.