What This Story Is About
- Ohio County Sheriff Adam Wright is warning parents about the rise of online child exploitation, explaining how predators use social media and private messaging apps to contact, groom, and extort children.
Why It Matters
- The department has worked 36 cases this year and may add an investigator to handle the volume. The case volume signals a local public safety trend with direct implications for families.
What Happens Next
- The Ohio County Sheriff’s Office is weighing whether to add a dedicated investigator to handle the growing caseload.
For Context
- Online child sexual exploitation — including sextortion, grooming, and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) — has risen sharply in recent years, driven largely by the growth of social media and private messaging platforms.
HARTFORD, Ky. (WBKO) – Child exploitation cases are putting a growing strain on investigators in Ohio County, with law enforcement saying social media is giving predators more ways to reach children.
Ohio County Sheriff Adam Wright said his department has handled 36 cases this year alone — a caseload significant enough that the department is considering adding another investigator.
How online contact can escalate
Wright said cases often begin with an online conversation that appears to involve another child. Investigators say the person on the other end may not be who they claim to be.
“As the conversation continues to go on and when this person or people feel comfortable, they’re like ‘Hey, I’m not actually a 12-year-old boy, the same as you, or a 12-year-old girl. I’m actually a middle aged man or woman,’” Wright said.
From there, Wright said the conversation can turn sexual, with offenders asking children for photos and videos. Once material is sent, he said, demands can escalate.
“They continue more and more and more. And then a lot of times we’re seeing where ‘Well if you meet me in a parking lot or if you meet me at this playground, then it’ll be over with,’” Wright said.
Victims often afraid to come forward
In one case Wright worked, a teenager spent more than $10,000 trying to stop someone from continuing their threats before finally telling their parents.
“They get so deep into it that they don’t know how to make it stop. And they’re often scared of the consequences from their parents or law enforcement personnel,” Wright said.
Wright said parents should encourage their children to speak up as early as possible if a situation arises, and to keep an open line of communication so fear of getting in trouble does not prevent a child from asking for help.
What parents can do
Wright said technology is a major reason the problem continues to grow. Apps and social media platforms change quickly, and any platform that allows private messaging can give strangers a way to contact children.
Investigators say parents need to know what is happening on their child’s devices — including which apps they are downloading, who they are talking to, how those apps work, and whether parental controls are in use.
“Make your kids mad. Get on their devices and look what they’re doing,” Wright said.
He compared unsupervised social media access to allowing strangers to approach children on a playground.
“When you take your children to a playground, and you’re letting them play, and then strangers, men start showing up and interacting with your small children, you wouldn’t be okay with that in a playground. Why are you allowing that to be okay on social media?” Wright said.
Wright added that predators can be difficult to identify.
“It’s not your kid that you need to worry about. It’s the people that they’re interacting with… some of these people are very convincing… and that’s scary,” Wright said.
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