A 22-year-old Kansas City man was arrested in Utah County on charges related to the exploitation of minors online. Authorities booked him into the Utah County Jail, where he faces investigation for ten counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor and ten counts of distributing harmful material to a minor.
According to a police affidavit, the accused posed as a 14-year-old boy while engaging in sexually-explicit conversations with underage children online, which led law enforcement to consider him a public safety risk.
The investigation began when the accused's former girlfriend discovered numerous videos on his phone that appeared to show young children involved in sexual acts. She reported her findings to the police and, with their assistance, made a recorded call to the accused. During this call, the accused admitted to possessing child sexual abuse material on his phone, claiming it was for the purpose of scamming pedophiles online. However, further examination of his social media accounts revealed a history of sexually-charged conversations with very young teenage girls.
Police obtained a search warrant for the accused's phone and found a substantial amount of child sexual abuse material. When confronted with the evidence, the man confessed to downloading and trading child sexual abuse material and admitted to having done so for up to five years.
Source: https://www.ksl.com/article/51339455/man-arrested-for-exploiting-children-after-posing-as-teen-boy-online-police-say
Commentary
When an adult pretends to be younger than they actually are on the internet, particularly to interact with minors, this behavior is most accurately referred to as "online grooming."
Online groomers often create fake profiles or identities, sometimes called "catfishing," to gain the trust of children and teenagers. However, while catfishing can refer to any deceptive online identity, grooming specifically involves building relationships with minors for the purpose of sexual exploitation or abuse.
The prevalence of online grooming and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is a growing concern worldwide. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), there were more than 32 million reports related to online child sexual exploitation, including CSAM, in 2023 alone.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found that 62 percent of CSAM they assessed in 2021 involved children between the ages of 11 and 15, with a significant rise in self-generated content among teenagers. Alarmingly, younger children, including those under 10, are increasingly being targeted by online groomers.
INHOPE member hotlines estimated in 2023 that 83 percent of CSAM victims depicted were between the ages of three and 13, and 95 percent of the material involved female victims. There is also a disturbing trend toward more violent and extreme forms of abuse being depicted in this material.
Organizations play a crucial role in preventing online grooming and the spread of CSAM. They can provide education and awareness programs for children, parents, and caregivers about the dangers of online grooming, how to recognize warning signs, and how to report suspicious activity.
