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On Friday, 28-year-old Austin Lee Edwards was killed in a gunfight with law enforcement officials from San Bernardino.
The Virginia sheriff’s department is being investigated for a possible case of online grooming and sexual extortion of a teenage girl in California. The suspect, a deputy, allegedly drove to the family’s home across the country, killed the mother and grandparents, and set fire to their house.
At a news conference on Wednesday, family members and police said that the 15-year-old girl from Riverside, California, was rescued and is in counselling for trauma.
Austin Lee Edwards, a North Chesterfield, Virginia resident, appears to have “catfished” a teenager by pretending to be someone else to trick her into a romantic relationship and obtain personal information.
The Riverside Police Department said that Edwards contacted the victim online and pretended to be a teenage boy. They exchanged messages, and eventually, she gave him nude photos of herself.
Edwards then threatened to send them to everyone at her school unless she sent him more sexually explicit material.
Sgt. Steve Johnson, a spokesperson for the department, said that the victim’s family became aware of the situation after she told her mom what was happening. The girl did not tell the police about this initially because she did not believe Edwards would follow through with his threats.
She eventually gave investigators access to her social media accounts, and they were able to track down Edwards.
“The family is extremely embarrassed,” Riverside Police Chief Larry V. Gonzalez said at a news conference on Wednesday. “I want to make it clear that this was not the girl’s fault because one of the things motivating us is that this poor young woman has had to live with tremendous embarrassment and shame.”
Police said they believe Edwards may have had more victims, so they are now investigating to find out if he had been involved in similar crimes.
Edwards was reportedly killed while attempting to flee after leading police on a brief car chase outside a Walmart.
With cyber criminals becoming more proficient at their craft, parents must keep a close eye on what teenagers do online.
“Teenagers’ brains are not fully developed; they don’t have the self-control that adults do,” said psychologist Dr Bill Howatt, who works with teens and adults at the Canadian Institute of Stress. “Parents need to be involved in their child’s social life.”
Howatt adds that teenagers are exposed to many negative influences online. “It can create a false reality for teenagers, who may not have the emotional maturity to understand the difference between the real world and what they see on the Internet,” he said.
“Teenagers are more likely to think about the short-term consequences of their behaviour, which can lead them to put themselves at risk for cyberbullying and exploitation.”
Parents must teach their children about the dangers of the Internet, including sexual predators and personal privacy. They can also keep tabs on their teenagers’ social media posts by following them on Twitter, Instagram, or other sites. Caution should be taken when teens start dating to ensure the other person is not manipulating them.
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