We all hear of stories these days of children being lured by adults on the internet by pretending to be teenagers their age. They gain the trust of the child and that is when they make their move. This is why parents are encouraged to keep an eye on their kids when they get on the computers. It is a place where they are not always safe unless they are taught specifically not to believe everything they hear or read online. They need to be taught that everyone you talk to online are not always who they claim to be.
A good example of this would be the Megan Meier suicide case, where she talked to someone online thinking it was a guy interested in her only to find out it was an ex-friend’s mother pretending to be a boy. This devastated Megan which led to her taking her own life after.
A 13 year old girl in Toronto learned a lesson about this very thing when she met a man on a MSN chatline one night and then she agreed to meet him at a location the next day close to her home.
She told her mother she was going outside to shovel the driveway when she slipped away to meet the man. After a while her mother went looking for her and when she wasn’t out there like she said she would be, the mother followed the foot prints in the snow which led her to the car in which the man had her daughter in. When she looked inside she saw him attempting to sexually assault her daughter.
The man took off in the car with her daughter but the mother called 911 according to Toronto Police. The girl was dropped off but the man was caught by police responding to the 911 call.
Police believe this was just an isolated incident and no other victims have been involved with this same man. Salman Masood, 23 of Brampton, is now being charged with sexual interference and sexual assault.
Constable Curtis Quesnelle called the incident a cautionary tale for all families. When speaking of this press release he said, “That’s why we put out that press release to alert the public on how these things can happen so quickly, especially for the parents to keep an eye on their children and what they are doing on the internet.â€
I know a lot of people that I have met on the internet, in fact that is how I met my husband but I have been lucky to have met a lot of good people but I do know there are a lot of sick people out there looking for a cheap thrill. I have been lucky so far. Not everyone can be though so be sure to teach your children to never give out any personal information online. It could very well save their lives.
Jan Barrett
4 users commented in " Footprints in The Snow Lead Mom to Daughter Being Assaulted "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackjan good post, its funny how 1 thing can be such a usefull tool and on the other be so dangerous…my g/daughter had a myspace and it came thru my email so i was alerted when something wasnt right she had 3 older men trying to contact her…creepy she doesnt have a myspace anymore…parents should always know passwords and check now and then to trult know whats going on and prevvent any thing from happining there is no reason for your child not to give you these passwords if they dont have the account deleted! just my opinon
Interesting article. That is sad. I know the blame is on the guys for being perverted idiots, but doesn’t the blame also need to be put on these girls? They know what they are getting into by going into chatrooms & talking to someone. I seen girls that are 12 talk to guys on the internet like they are 18 & talk “sexy” as you will to these men. They go into a chatroom & put things like, “18 f ny if ur horny come get me” or something.. So shouldn’t these girls get punished as well? I mean, I know the men/women that are older & acting younger to rape/meet girls is nasty & just.. difficult to imagine, but.. most of these girls know what they are doing. I just don’t see how they can’t punish the girls/boys. I think when something like this happens, in this case, they should book the man in jail, & the police/law should be able to take away the internet for a year or something. I gurantee it, she will be back on that internet trying to meet men once her mom/dad lets her back on..
Cicatrix,
The chatroom posts that you see that say that are not from 12-year-old girls. Those are solicitations for 900 #s.
And, no, 12-year old girls have no idea what they’re getting into. They pretend to be a little older because their emotions and hormones tend to run a little older than their years. They’re lonely and lacking in self-esteem and they believe in the fairy tales, because, essentially, they’re still children. They believe that because this guy is paying them attention, it will lead to true love.
Jan what a good story. A child saved, snatched out of the jaws of the creep BEFORE he could totally violate her. With so many tragic stories in the media, it’s hard not to disheartened. It is wonderful to hear a story where the victim was the one to get away. Catching the predator was the the icing on the cake!!!
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