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By TERRIE MORGAN-BESECKER tmorgan@leader.net
Sunday, February 06, 2000 Page: 1A
She knew him as Steve, a sweet-talking teenager from Texas who showered her
with attention.
But police in Brown County, Texas, knew him as Shawn Freeman, a 34-year-old
man charged with having consensual sex with a 15-year-old foster child in his
parents’ home.
The 13-year-old McAdoo girl didn’t know of Freeman’s past when she began
communicating with him through an Internet chat room in January 1999.
The “real” Shawn Freeman did not emerge until eight months later when,
police said, he travelled to Pennsylvania and began stalking the teenager.
Hers is among three recent incidents in which area teenagers have placed
themselves in danger by having clandestine meetings with men they met online.
In May, a 19-year-old mentally disabled Avoca woman was raped after she
traveled to Ohio on a bus to meet her Internet suitor. Three months later,
Justin Haines of Massachusetts was arrested on charges of luring a 14-year-old
Kingston Township girl to a Plains Township hotel.
Child-safety experts say such cases exemplify the quandary parents face as
they try to balance the benefits the Internet offers children against the
dangers.
Children have long been warned to avoid the stranger lurking at the
playground. But how do parents protect their child from the secretive predator
who sneaks into their room through a computer line? False sense of security
An estimated 20 million children nationwide are online. Most child
advocates agree the Internet is a tremendous educational tool, providing a
wide variety of information and services for children.
State and federal officials, as well as individual Internet service
providers, have taken substantial steps to increase online safety, advocates
say. But experts agree parental involvement is the key to ensuring a child has
a safe trip on the information superhighway.
Parents must recognize that, just like the real world, the online world is
home to pedophiles and other sexual predators, said Ruben Rodriquez, an
official with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in
Arlington, Va.
“Kids will always be kids. They’re curious. They want to push the
envelope,” Rodriguez said. “It’s the responsibility of parents to instill in
them a sense of responsibility and warn them that there are bad people out
there.”
The Internet is “ready made” for child predators because of the anonymity
it offers, Rodriguez said.
The biggest mistake parents make is blindly believing their children are
secure because they are at home, said Rodriguez and other Internet safety
experts.
“Where’s little Johnny? He’s safe. He’s upstairs playing on his computer.
Unfortunately little Johnny is talking with a 50-year-old pedophile three
states away,” Rodriguez said.
Nationwide statistics on Internet-related sexual assaults of children are
difficult to obtain. Neither Rodriguez nor several other child safety
advocates know of any group that tracks information on such crimes.
But Rodriguez said the extent of the problem is reflected in reports to a
tip line run by the missing children’s center that accepts reports of improper
contact made to children through the Internet.
Since its inception in 1998, the “cybertip line” has received nearly
16,000 reports of improper online solicitation of children, Rodriguez said.
The reports include allegations of juvenile prostitution, solicitation of
children for sexual acts and incidents of unauthorized downloading of
pornography to a child’s computer, he said. All tips are immediately forwarded
to state or federal law enforcement for investigation.
Parents also err by believing their children won’t become victims because
they live in a “nice neighborhood,” said Parry Aftab, an Internet lawyer and
author of “The Parents Guide to Protecting Your Children In Cyberspace.”
Sexual enticement via the computer is one of the few crimes that targets
kids who are not typically viewed as “at risk,” Aftab said.
“This is happening to suburban, protected kids who are not used to being
victims. They live in houses with burglar alarms. It is not happening to
inner-city kids, who already know not to trust,” Aftab said. Help turns into
nightmare
In the case of the mentally disabled Avoca woman, Ohio police arrested her
attacker, 39-year-old Leslie Hall, after the woman’s parents tricked him into
responding to an e-mail message they sent.
An Ohio jury convicted Hall in October on 10 counts of rape and one count
of kidnapping. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In the other Luzerne County cases, Freeman’s trial on an Internet-related
stalking charge ended Jan. 24 in a mistrial, and Haines is awaiting trial on a
charge of corruption of a minor.
In a recent interview, the Avoca victim’s mother said she had no idea her
daughter’s fondness for an Internet chat room geared toward handicapped people
would turn into a “nightmare.”
The mother said she purchased a computer about a year ago to help her
daughter, who has the mental age of an 8-year-old, expand her mind.
“I thought it would help out her learning, reading, looking things up,”
she said. “I thought it was safe. I never, ever thought something like this
could happen.”
She didn’t know her daughter was corresponding with Hall, who had portrayed
himself as 17-year-old disabled man.
“I would walk in there a couple times and look over her shoulder, but kids
have secret codes if a parent walks in,” the mother said. “He was really
good at it. These people on the Internet, they’re pros. Here we are, dopes.”
Parents often clueless
Child safety advocates say the mother’s lack of knowledge is typical of
many parents who have been left behind by an explosion of cyber-technology.
“The kids know the computer better than their parents,” said Charles
Balogh, crime prevention awareness specialist for the Luzerne County District
Attorney’s Office. “I’ll go into schools and ask how many of your parents are
computer illiterate. I would say 75 percent of them will raise their hand.”
Balogh and Lt. Erin Joyce of the Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department travel
to schools throughout the region teaching Internet safety as part of the
“Stranger Danger” program.
Balogh said the walls of the family home lull parents and children into a
false sense of security. That comfort often leads children to reveal far too
much personal information.
“A lot of them give their date of birth, what school they go to, what they
like to do, where they hang out,” Balogh said. “Kids won’t open the door for
a stranger or talk to a stranger on the street, but they’ll do that on a
computer.”
Children also use revealing screen names that make them a prime target for
cyber-predators, such as “Amanda16” or “Jennifer14,” Balogh said.
The online predators prey upon that ignorance, Aftab said.
“We understand the risk of sending kids to the mall alone or letting them
play in a park or busy street. The problem is most parents do not understand
the risk of being online,” Aftab said. “If a stranger called the house and
the kid answered the phone, we’d never let a kid talk to them, let alone talk
to them for two hours. On the Internet, that’s exactly what happens.”
Although all children are at risk, Internet safety experts say predators
particularly target those who have low self-esteem, have few friends and who
have family problems.
“A lot of the children who are prone to reach out to older men are kids
who are having trouble somewhere along the line. They’re looking for
attention,” said Peter Gulotta, a special agent with the Federal Bureau of
Investigation in Baltimore, Md.
“Kids who are not getting attention at home, who don’t have friends, can
be easily conned. `I’m your special friend. Don’t tell anyone you’re talking
to me cause I could get in trouble.’ ” Subtle seduction
Once a predator has the basic information, he begins the “grooming”
process, Rodriguez said.
The conversations will start out innocently: “Your parents don’t
understand you? Yeah, John, I understand. I came from that environment too,”
Rodriguez said.
“Pedophiles know how to target kids. They are experts at seduction,”
Rodriguez said. “He’ll become your best friend, your buddy, the `only one who
can understand you’ kind of thing.”
Next the predator will send an “instant message,” a feature that allows
two people to communicate privately outside of a chat room. That’s when the
predator tries to desensitize the child by transmitting pornographic photos of
children engaged in sexual activity, Rodriguez said.
“They will always be pictures of a child smiling while they are being
molested. `This can’t be too bad because the kids are smiling,’ ” Rodriguez
said.
Then comes the invitation.
“I live in Washington. Ever think about going sightseeing. I’ll send you a
ticket,” Rodriguez said.
Who are these predators?
“Look at a mirror,” Rodriguez said. “It can be anybody. Coaches. Boy
Scout leaders. Pillars of the community.”
The vast majority of Internet stalkers are male. FBI profilers say they are
usually 25 to 45 years old, better than average economic standing and
intelligent, Gulotta said.
“It’s the person who lives near you and I,” Gulotta said. “They are the
people that when they get caught, everyone is surprised. It’s not what people
think a pedophile is like, the guy in a rain coat with thick glasses.” New
crime, new laws
The FBI has pursued cyber-predators. In 1995, the agency’s Baltimore office
developed “Innocent Images,” a cyber-sting designed to catch pedophiles.
Agents posing as children log onto Internet chat rooms and wait to be
solicited by predators, Gulotta said.
Since the task force’s inception, 478 people have been arrested. Of those,
405 have been convicted of various crimes, he said.
Gulotta said the program was expanded last year to 13 additional regional
FBI offices nationwide. That expansion helped increase the number of
investigations from 702 in fiscal year 1998, to 1,500 in fiscal year 1999, he
said.
Other action has included the creation of a federal law that makes it
illegal to cross state lines with the intent of having sex with a minor,
Gulotta said.
Pennsylvania legislators enacted a similar law in 1997 that created a
charge known as unlawful communication with a minor. The charge makes it
illegal for an adult to communicate with a minor if the communication is
designed to entice the minor to participate in certain unlawful sexual acts.
That law was the basis for the Luzerne County case involving Freeman and
the McAdoo girl. Freeman was charged with harassment and unlawful
communication after he traveled to Pennsylvania in June and began following
the girl around the Hazleton area.
Freeman never had sexual contact with the girl. At his trial, prosecutors
maintained he violated the unlawful communications law because he enticed the
girl, through the Internet, to participate in a statutory sexual assault.
But Freeman’s attorney maintained prosecutors could not prove Freeman knew
the girl was a minor when he communicated with her on the Internet – a
required element of the charge.
A jury acquitted Freeman of harassment, but deadlocked on the communication
charge. He is expected to be retried. Technology alone not enough
Aftab and other Internet safety advocates say they are satisfied with
governmental efforts to ensure children’s online safety. They also praised the
nation’s largest Internet provider, America Online, for programs it has
developed.
AOL spokesman Rich D’Amato said the service allows parents to set up their
Internet account to limit the type of Web sites their children can visit.
D’Amato said parents may choose from “kids-only,” “teens-only” or
“mature-teen” sites that control access to Web sites featuring things such
as pornography, violence or the promotion of ethnic hatred. Chat rooms within
the kids-only and teens-only areas are continuously monitored by AOL to ensure
no improper activity is occurring, he said.
Parents also can purchase software programs that filter or block access to
Web sites they find objectionable. The programs also allow parents to review
the Web sites their child has visited and advise parents who has sent e-mail
to their child. Though the controls are helpful, they are not foolproof,
experts caution.
“No amount of technology can substitute for real parental involvement,”
said D’Amato. “Know what your kid is doing online. Know who their online
friends are. Parents need to be involved in that.”
Balogh said lack of parental involvement is the major problem he sees when
he visits schools.
“They get the kid a nice computer, they order America Online, they give
them their credit card number and they just sign on,” Balogh said. “That’s
scary. If the kid establishes the account, the kid establishes the rules. Now
he has unlimited access to the Internet, and mom and dad can’t control
anything.” Although parental awareness of a child’s Internet activity is
crucial to ensure safety, experts caution there is a fine line between
monitoring activity and invading privacy.
Balogh said the question he is asked most frequently by school children is
not “How can I be safe?” but “Will my parents know where I’ve been?”
“That’s a big concern for them,” Balogh said. “Teenagers are looking for
their individuality. Some of them have been surfing places they shouldn’t have
been.”
The solution is to reach an agreement with your child about what is and is
not appropriate, Balogh said.
“Just like there are rules in the house, there have to be rules on the
Internet,” Balogh said. “Parents have to put their foot down. If the kids
don’t like it, so be it. They may not be happy, but they will be safe.”
When a child reports inappropriate Internet contact with an adult, parents
should notify proper officials, but it’s important they not overreact and ban
the child from the computer, Rodriguez said.
“Kids are reluctant to tell their parents because the big fear is they
will have a knee-jerk reaction and take away their computer privileges,”
Rodriguez said. “Kids need to feel comfortable enough that if something is
wrong, they can come and talk to you, and it won’t mean restricting their
privileges on the Internet.”
The mother of the Avoca woman said her daughter still has her computer, but
she has lost her interest in using the Internet.
Experts can assure parents all they want, but she’s convinced there are too
many perils on the information superhighway.
“When you let a kid on the Internet, you might as well put them in a car
with a drunk driver. No matter how smart the kid is, there’s always someone
out there who can get them.”
Call Morgan-Besecker at 829-7179.