Seattle Police Department and King County Sheriff’s detectives arrested a sex offender outside of Seattle last week after he posed as a teenage girl and solicited at least a half-dozen Seattle middle school students to send him nude photographs.
Detectives from the SPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force began investigating the 20-year-old man, who is also a level two sex offender, in February after a mother of a middle school student contacted police about a series of threatening messages her child had received.
The suspect, posing as a 15-year-old girl, contacted several victims on Facebook and through text messages, offered them sex, and asked the victims to send him nude photos. The suspect also asked at least one of the victims to put him into contact with other young students.
The suspect also told several of the victims he had a family member in law enforcement, who would arrest the victims if they did not send him nude photos.
Seattle police and King County detectives arrested the suspect on March 7 and booked him into the King County Jail for investigation of communication with a minor for immoral purposes and sexual exploitation of a child.
The Seattle Police Department encourages parents to talk with their children about safety on online social networking sites.
“The key thing for parents is to have some understanding of how social networks work so that kids feel comfortable talking to their parents about how their communicating online,” says Captain James Koutsky, who oversees the department’s internet crimes against children task force.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also provides a number or resources for parents on internet safety.
