Sexual Predators Hunt Online

Tremain Hutchinson

On December 20th of 2013  Tremain Hutchinson, 28 of Cobb County Georgia was sentenced to life in prison for producing child pornography. A just sentence for a sexual predator but it is how he did it that black parents need to pay attention to.

Hutchinson used social media to connect to teenage girls. He gained their trust by pretending to be a 16 year old boy. He then talked them into sending him nude pictures of themselves. Two of the girls were raped by him.

Hutchinson used the website Tagged.com and threatened to put the girls pictures on Facebook and in some cases threatened their families. Hutchinson even forced one teenage girl to molest her own brother.

In another case a California computer science student by the name of Jared James Abrahams, 20 was sentenced to 18 months in prison for hacking into the computer of teenage girls, turning on their webcams and watching them undress. One of the computers he hacked was that of  Cassidy Wolf, Miss Teen USA.

Abrahams threatened to post the images online if the women did not send him more pictures or “perform” on Skype.

In another case Richard Finkbiner of Brazil, Indiana pleaded guilty to child exploitation, extortion and possession of child pornography. Finkbiner used as a video chat website, omegle.com. There he convinced teens to perform sex acts or appear nude. He would later extort them by threatening to post the images on porn websites if the did not continue to make videos. His victims were ages 12-16 years old and Finkbiner admitted to coercing at least 100 young people into making explicit videos.

Sexting is not new but it is a problem. What is it? Its the sending of sexually explicit photographs or message via mobile phone, according to Google. Statistics show that almost 25% of teenagers are actively sexting or have sexted in the past. Sexting, even among minors is illegal and when it is exposed it can very damaging to the teen.

There have been cases where teen girls have been embarrassed and bullied when the images of their naked or near naked body starts circulating on campuses. Even junior high school students have been caught sexting. In some cases  teens have even committed suicide after being exposed for sexting. Kids have even developed their own language for sexting. So if you are a parent you better learn it. NoSlang.com has a complete dictionary of sexting terms you should know to keep your child under control.

Breaking It Down

Do you know what your child is doing online? Black parents need to become more aware of what is happening behind your child’s closed door. The Internet is crawling with predators and black teens and children are just as likely to be victims as white kids.

As a parent its your job to know what your child is doing at all times. So having a teenager who goes into his or her bedroom alone with their computer or smartphone is a serious situation. I have just shown you what can happen when you don’t know exactly what your child is doing online.

Websites like Facebook, Tagged and others are where these perverts hangout. They can also be found on your child’s school’s Facebook page. Anywhere children go on the web you should believe that predators are there and working to do something really nasty even deadly to them.

Make sure you know what your child is doing online. Know what websites they visit and who they are talking to. Teach them how dangerous the web can be and don’t be gentle about it. You might want to consider if your child should have their own computer in the first place. Perhaps a family computer in an open location is better.

Black parents need to step up and get involved in what your child is doing online. There is no excuse for not knowing. Get on it!