Parents crucial in protecting children against online predators

A 14-year-old Shallowater girl found herself trapped by an Alabama man’s control within six months of meeting him online through Snapchat in 2019.Court records show Bo Jack Kelley, of Cullman, Alabama, first posed as a 19-year-old man and befriended the girl in June of 2019. As he gained her trust, he convinced her to send him a video of her performing a sexual act. By November of that year, Kelley began demanding more images and materials from the girl and threatened to send the ones she’d already sent to her family, and showed her screenshots of their social media accounts to reinforce his threat.It worked. The girl sent him at least four more videos before authorities learned about the abuse in February 2020, when Kelley sent videos of the girl to her mother after she stopped responding to him. In January, Kelley was sentenced 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a count of production of child pornography. The case is part of a national growing trend of child exploitation. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, incidents of online enticement increased by 97.5% in 2020.April is child abuse awareness month and experts are encouraging parents to teach…
Read More