WESTLAND, Mich. – Westland's police chief sat down with Local 4 to provide some advice for parents to protect their children from online sex predators.
A Utah sex offender was busted last month on suspicion of threatening to post nude pictures of a 14-year-old Westland girl if she didn't talk to him, officials said.
The girl told police she met James Robert Monson, 28, of Ogden, Utah, on Kik through a random chat and exchanged usernames. He admitted to pretending to be 20 years old when they first chatted.
Eventually, the girl's parents realized what was going on and called police, which resulted in Monson's arrest.
Westland police Chief Jeff Jedrusik said the girl's mother did everything right, but unfortunately, Monson wasn't caught until explicit photos were shared.
"In this particular case, the parents did the right thing," Jedrusik said.
Without good parenting, Jedrusik said the girl could still be talking to a predator.
"What it boils down to is parents being involved," Jedrusik said. "Parents need to review their children's social media conversations. They need to know their children's passwords and they need to have conversations with their children about the risks."
Jedrusik admitted it can be difficult trying to trust children while looking over them, but protection is more important.
"I think as parents, we all want to trust our children, but what's important is we have to protect our children," Jedrsik said. "Children may not see the red flags like we do, so I think that, at the end of the day, when you're dealing with strangers, it's important that you're reviewing their social media conversations.
"We were all 14 at some point in time, and as we know, your judgment might not be the best," Jedrusik said. "In some cases, some of these perpetrators will disguise their age and they'll try to make the younger person appear that they're close to their age or just slightly over their age, too. A lot of times, the kids don't realize that they're actually talking to an adult. They think they're talking to somebody within their age group."
In this case, multiple programs were used, including Skype, Kik and Snapchat. Jedrusik said part of the problem is that there are so many ways for predators to access children, and there's a new app at every turn.
"These change daily," Jedrusik said. "As adults, we don't find ourselves involved with a lot of these social media platforms that the kids know about, and it just boils down to being an involved parent and making sure that you're reviewing your children's social media conversations.
"Unfortunately, a lot our children know it much better than we do as adults, so the best thing we can do is to try to be involved."
Monson faces possible charges of production of child pornography and coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct, officials said.
You can watch Nick Monacelli's full story in the video posted above.