Pedophile uses Playstation

Anthony Scott Oshea of Kentucky has been arrested by  police for persuading an 11-year-old girl in Houston to e-mail nude pictures of herself from her Playstation 3 to his.  Having gotten her to send him the pictures, Oshea then e-mailed them to people in at least five other states — all through his PS3. Oshea was arrested by Kentucky police near his home. Houston authorities say they will try to bring him to Texas for trial. Read more

Pedophile invades Azeroth

Wowinsider reported recently that a 23 year-old man from Ohio was arrested for having sex with a 14 year-old girl he met while playing World of Warcraft. While the Xbox Live network has been the conduit for numerous sexual crimes against minors, WoW has been, up to this point, not associated with these type of events. This recent event along with incidents involving the Xbox Live! network reported here and here point to a disturbing trend that gaming sites and their associated networks have become a weak point in allowing pedophiles and deviants access to young people.

In the recent case, the alleged molester, Joseph Czelusniak, traveled to Pennsylvania to meet up and have sexual relations with his young victim. Alarmingly, the 14 year-old at first told Mr. Czelusniak that she was only 10, only later confessing that she was really 14. In a case involving the Xbox Live network, a pedophile traveled all the way to California from North Carolina in order to meet his young victim. Distance seems to be little or no barrier when it comes to sex crimes of this nature as perpetrators have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to travel hundreds, even thousands miles.

As Wowinsider pointed out, World of Warcraft is rated T for Teen, which means that parental supervision is required for children under 13 years old. However, parents often underestimate the potential danger because WoW is a game. MMOs  have all the capabilities and dangers associated with a chat room, and the activity of children should be monitored.

Another Xbox sex crime

In yet another piece of alarming news, Fresno police arrested Edward Stout, a 27 year old Missouri man, for having sex with a 15 year old girl he met through the Xbox Live network. Edward Stout faces federal charges of coercion of a minor over the Internet and traveling across state lines to engage in sex with a minor.

Unfortunately, this is not the first known report where sexual predators have used innocuous gaming networks to prey on underaged victims. Japanese police have noticed an alarming trend where pedophiles would seek to engage young gamers through gaming sites. Further, two previous and well publicized arrests for sexual crimes in the US are linked with the Xbox Live network. Read more

Sex predators go after gamers

Sexual predators in Japan and elsewhere are increasingly turning their eyes on underage gamers. According to the Asahi Shimbun, sex crimes against girls using apparently harmless gaming and social networking websites more than doubled in 2008 from a year earlier. Last year in Japan, 82 underage girls fell victim to child prostitution and other sex crimes after meeting people through such sites.  By contrast, only 48 girls met and were assaulted by sexual predators after meeting them on dating sites.

A law was passed last year requiring that all dating sites to register with the government to prevent anyone under the age of 18 from using their services. Japanese dating sites were known hotbeds of child prostitutions where underage girls either willingly sold or were coerced into sexual services.  This year, the police have noted a marked decline of sexual crimes instigated by meetings arranged from such sites. Sexual predators have unfortunately moved onto more innocuous sites, which are under less scrutiny and do not have age restrictions.

Lest you think this phenonemon is purely a Japanese phenomenon, recently Ohio police arrested a man who is accused of raping a young boy who he met through the Xbox Live gaming network. Another man from Virginia has just been extradicted to Arkansas where he solicited a young boy for nude pictures over the Xbox network. That man has been charged with a felony and held on a $20,000 bond.

It appears that underage gamers and their guardians must be vigilant even when playing games.