Law enforcement agencies across Ohio continue to work diligently against sexual predators of all kinds — from human trafficking to online crimes against children. It is a fight that never ends.
But late last week, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, on behalf of several authorities in the region, announced the arrest of 14 people for online sex crimes in Northeast Ohio, according to a report by WOIO.
The accused men were allegedly interacting with children through popular social media in a sexual manner, WOIO reports. Well, they thought they were, anyway. The victims were undercover officers posing as children.
Horrifyingly, one of the accused is an elementary school teacher in Mentor. He has been placed on administrative leave.
“I am incredibly proud of the great work our Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force does and thankful to all of our law enforcement agency partners that assisted us with this operation,” said Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley “The success of our operations over the past six years demonstrates the collaboration and dedication of law enforcement in bringing child exploitation offenders to justice.”
Notice the part about operations over the past six years? There are always new predators filling in the gaps by those left when such stings are successful. And most of them are not talking to cops pretending to be children. They are interacting with real kids.
It is a sobering reminder of the importance of talking to your kids and monitoring their online activity (if you allow them to go online at all). Know the technology and apps they are using. Know with whom they are interacting. Set and enforce limits. And, again, communicate with your children about the dangers.
Law enforcement task forces are doing their best, but they can’t be everywhere. They can’t stop every predator.
Be the support your children need to ensure that together, you can.