Online predator convicted

There have been many such convictions - this is just a recent example so parents can be on the alert for danger signs. A 32-year-old man in Texas was convicted for criminal solicitation of a minor, the Texas attorney general's office reports. In this case, the minor was a 12-year-old girl in Missouri. She went to her mother distraught because the man, "who has sent her more than 200 sexually explicit emails had attempted to commit suicide," according to the press release. They had been exchanging emails for nearly two months. "During their email communications, the suspect told the child that he loved her and that he was going to kill himself if they could not meet. The child ultimately received an email stating that the suspect was in the hospital, possibly for trying to commit suicide." The mother called the CyberTipline (1-800-843-5678 or CyberTipline.com) at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which immediately contacted the Beaumont, Texas, police. The investigation led to the man's arrest in February and conviction in June. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to three years in prison. Very few cases like this involve children over 15, according to research at the University of New Hampshire's Crimes Against Children Research Center (see "Net-related crimes against children: Reality check"). On police work in this area, see "Pedophiles better at using Internet to prey on kids" from the Associated Press and "I was groomed online" at the BBC.