Snapchat – If there is something

Snapchat teachers arrested

Morgan County, Indiana public school teacher Brittany Fortinberry faces up to 10 counts of child molestation, 9 counts of dissemination of matter harmful to a minor, 6 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and 4 counts of sexual misconduct with a minor following accusations that she forced multiple teenage boys, some as young as 13, into group sex with her.

According to 13WTHR, court documents allege, “one of the victims, a middle school boy, accused Fortinberry of drugging him repeatedly and having sex with him when he was 13. He said Fortinberry would have him bring his friends to her house, where she would allegedly give the teens drugs and then have sex with them…Fortinberry was paying teen boys between $100 and $800 for photos of their genitals…All of the teens said Fortinberry would send them nude and explicit photos and videos on Snapchat and an app called Session.”

FOX59 reports, “Detectives interviewed a woman who claimed to be friends with Fortinberry since 2022, court documents said.

“The woman went on to state that Fortinberry supported her as she went through a divorce by helping with her children. The woman reportedly told detectives that she noticed Fortinberry would allegedly act differently around one of her children.

“Some of Fortinberry’s alleged actions included purchasing expensive gifts for the teen, according to court documents. After observing this behavior change, the mother decided to prevent her child from interacting with Fortinberry any longer. However, she later learned that Fortinberry had reportedly added the minor on Snapchat and the two had continued communicating on that app.

“The woman went on to state her child said Fortinberry had allegedly sent him videos of her using vibrators and engaging in sexual activities with other men.

“The minor added that Fortinberry allegedly drugged him with ‘shrooms, weed, and that she would make him drink a bottle,’ when they were together.

“The victim said it tasted like alcohol and that he had difficulty remembering anything after consuming it. The victim said Fortinberry would purchase vapes and marijuana for several other victims.

“The victim added that Fortinberry allegedly forced other victims to watch her engage in intercourse if they refused to participate, court documents show.

“Detectives spoke with another victim who informed them that he was in 7th grade when he met Fortinberry.

“This victim recounted Fortinberry ‘snapping’ him all of the time after meeting her. Fortinberry is also alleged to have purchased vapes, marijuana and THC cartridges.

“Court documents show that the victim remembered Fortinberry supplying capsules containing shrooms and that it would make him feel ‘funny.’ The victim reported there were four other people there during this particular interaction.

“The victim said Fortinberry would then begin to touch him and the others inappropriately. The victim recounted another experience where Fortinberry allegedly made him watch as she had sex with another underage victim.

“In another instance, one of the victims reported that Fortinberry invited a group of teens to her home and had sex with all of them while making one wear the mask from the horror film ‘Scream.’”

Once again the Snapchat app appears to have been instrumental in enabling a predator to groom and abuse multiple victims, all of whom lived in her community.

“All of the teens said Fortinberry would send them nude and explicit photos and videos on Snapchat” and a “victim recounted Fortinberry ‘snapping’ him all of the time after meeting her.”

If the allegations are true, a single individual was able to devastate multiple children and families and an entire community by utilizing a smartphone and a social media app. We’re not talking about Jeffrey Epstein or a coordinated child sex ring, we’re talking about a lone public school teacher.

The scale of the damage is incredible, but if you think this is an isolated incident, representing one bad apple in the classroom, think again.

The Miami Herald reported on January 30, 2024, “Miami-Dade teacher posts inappropriate video on Snapchat…Wesly Alvarez, 45, was charged with computer pornography…The video shows him exposing himself in front of a school bathroom mirror.”

Northern News Now reported on January 2, 2025, “Former Duluth teacher charged for messaging minor over Snapchat …. Scott Johanik, 32, of Duluth was charged with messaging a minor that related or described sexual conduct.”

Valley News Live reported on January 16, 2025, “Snapchat data reveals communications between former Fargo teacher and minor in court…. Investigators took the stand on day three of a criminal trial against a former Fargo school teacher.

“Ashley Peterson is charged with promoting a sexual performance by a minor and contributing to the deprivation of a minor. Snapchat data was at the center of the courtroom Thursday.”

The Valley News Live site featured another pair of child predators, one of whom was employed by the local public schools, and, of course, Snapchat featured in the story.

On March 24, 2025, Valley News reported, “Former Lake of the Woods school employee and husband accused of having sex with teen…. A couple from Williams, Minnesota, is accused of engaging in a sexual relationship with a teen girl.

“Kraig and Jennifer Stokke are each charged with one count of 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct in Lake of the Woods County. According to court records, Jennifer Stokke is an employee at Lake of the Woods Public Schools…. The victim told investigators that Jennifer has gone to great lengths to hide their previous communications to include, changing phone numbers and phones and by deleting her Snapchat account.”

Fox11 reported on February 12, 2025, “Former Logan County teacher charged with soliciting student through Snapchat, records say…. A former Logan County Schools teacher has been criminally charged after being accused of sending sexually explicit messages to a student on social media, court records said.

“Charles Stephen Wallace, 32, of Chapmanville has been charged with soliciting a minor using a computer, according to a criminal complaint filed in Lincoln County Magistrate Court.

“The complaint identified the victim as a 17-year-old female from Lincoln County attending classes at Chapmanville Regional High School where Wallace worked as a choir teacher and director.”

10WBIR reported on December 9, 2024, “Former KCS teacher charged with sending sexual content to boy via Snapchat…. A former Knox County Schools teacher is accused of sending sexual material to an underage boy via Snapchat.

“A Knox County grand jury indicted Kristin M. Brown, 34, earlier this month on five counts of exploitation of a minor by electronic means. She originally was due in Knox County Criminal Court on Dec. 6; the date was changed to Dec. 11, records show.

“The crimes are alleged to have occurred between December 2023 and March 5, records state. The counts specifically state the alleged victim was under age 13 and that she exposed the boy by electronic communication to ‘material containing sexual activity’ for her own gratification.”

News12 Brooklyn reported March 3, 2025, “Ex-Brooklyn math teacher pleads guilty in student Snapchat sexting case…. A Brooklyn high school math teacher pleaded guilty to convincing students to send him sexual pictures and videos.

“Winston Nguyen, a former teacher at St. Ann’s in Brooklyn Heights, accepted the charges that included one count of inducing a minor to engage in a sexual performance, as well as five additional counts of actions that were injurious to a minor.”

A simple Google search of “Snapchat teacher” without quotes opened up this horror show. This list only draws from the first two pages of results. Despite the fact that the search terms don’t include any mention of “abuse” or “sex abuse” or “sex material,” these accounts are almost exclusively all that is contained in the search results as far as the eye can see. It seems if you put “Snapchat” and “teachers” together, you’re going to get a whole lot of depraved and felonious behavior. To be fair, if you put “coach” and “Snapchat” together, or you put “pastor” and “Snapchat” together, you’re most likely going to get similar results. So one common denominator that makes all this deviance and perversion possible appears to be Snapchat. It’s the perfect DIY tool for a would-be predator, streamlining all the features a predator needs into one easy-to-use app.

Granted, no one makes the news for “snapping” images of a beautiful cake they baked, so news about Snapchat is going to skew towards its worst abuses. However, the sheer volume of instances of adults using the app to prey on minors is staggering and should cause Snapchat’s corporate leadership to take greater steps to track predators or to remove features that enable criminality to thrive on their platform. Additionally, the app represents such a public nuisance, it should be within the scope of federal authorities to force the company to put a stop to the criminal behavior on its app.

Snapchat predator roundup

Years ago, when the digital landscape consisted almost entirely of dimly lit arcades at the mall, where video game machines flashed bright colors and emitted primitive robot noises, some people suspected that the adult men who frequented those places were not to be trusted around children. Whether or not those fears were justified, nobody could have imagined that there would one day be a place in the digital world where it was absolutely certain that children utilizing that space would eventually be solicited by men for immoral purposes. One of those places is Snapchat. From time to time, this blog has sought to draw attention to the Snapchat predators arrested or convicted for crimes committed against children in one area of one state during one brief period of time. What follows is a rundown of those Snapchat predators and their offenses for the last six months.

For immediate release, February 24, 2025, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana:

Larry Goldsmith., 26, of Indianapolis, has been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to transportation of a minor with intent to engage in sexual activity.

According to court documents, in 2020, Goldsmith began messaging a 14-year-old girl living in Michigan through the social media applications Spot-a-Friend and Snapchat. Goldsmith knew of the child’s age at the time yet engaged in sexually explicit conversations with her.

At the end of August 2020, the child got into a verbal argument with her mother and expressed to Goldsmith that she wanted to run away from home. Goldsmith drove over four hours to Michigan and picked her up at a business near her home. Goldsmith was 21 years old at the time.

On the way back to Indiana, Goldsmith engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the child at a rest stop in Michigan and then transported her across state lines to a home he rented in Indianapolis. During their time living together, Goldsmith had sex with the child numerous times and impregnated her.

After committing these offenses, Goldsmith continued his sexual abuse of minors by committing essentially the same conduct with another child in Georgia – where he drugged and raped a 13-year-old. In 2022, Goldsmith pleaded guilty to those crimes in Georgia and was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison, which he is currently serving.

“Goldsmith is no longer a danger to children and families in our community,” said John E. Childress, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “He is a manipulative, child predator who used the tools of social media to abuse a vulnerable child over and over again. I commend the outstanding work of local law enforcement agencies in Indiana and Georgia, along with the FBI, to bring the victim home safely.”

From WRTV Indianapolis, August 26, 2024:

An Indianapolis man will spend the next 44 years in federal prison after he was found guilty of exploiting a child on Snapchat, despite already being a registered sex offender and on probation.

Sonny Applegate, 27, was sentenced to 44 years in federal prison and a lifetime of supervised release to follow after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of committing a felony offense while required to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents, Applegate was convicted in 2020 of possession of child pornography. His four year prison sentence then was suspended to probation.

Despite being on probation, Applegate reoffended.

Between August 1 and Sept. 12, 2022, Applegate used Snapchat to communicate with an 11-year-old from Missouri. Applegate engaged in graphically explicit sexual chat with the child and routinely demanded that they create and send him images and videos of themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct that he directed.

During a routine probation check, the phone being used to communicate with the child was located.

“Every family should know that social media apps like Snapchat are not safe spaces for young children and are often hunting grounds for predators who seek gratification from their exploitation,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana “The federal prison sentence imposed here ensures that the public will be protected from this offender for many decades to come. Other online predators should take notice that the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, including the FBI, and our federal prosecutors, will work tirelessly to hold them accountable and make our children safer from abuse.”

From 13 WTHR, Indianapolis, October 3, 2024:

A California man has been accused raping a 12-year-old Indiana girl after they met on Snapchat.

Bernardo Revelez Tapia, 43, has been formally charged with two counts of rape, two counts of child molesting and two counts of strangulation, according to online court records.

The Greene County Sheriff’s Department said it began investigating a report of a missing 12-year-old girl on Sept. 23, 2024. The family allegedly told police the girl met an older man online and made a plan over Snapchat for him to pick her up.

Police said shortly after the report was made, the girl returned home. Investigators determined Tapia picked the girl up outside her home and took her to a Bedford, Indiana, motel.

Tapia was charged Sept. 25. The next day, he was arrested by Indiana State Police in Elkhart, Indiana, and taken to the Lawrence County Jail.

“An ongoing investigation is still underway for possible charges in Greene County,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement, adding that Tapia is a registered sex offender in California.

Tapia, who is from San Jose, California, will be back in court for a pretrial conference Dec. 18. His jury trial has been scheduled to start March 26, 2025.

Bedford is approximately 80 miles south of Indianapolis.

From Fox59 News, Indianapolis, August 13, 2024:

An Indianapolis man faces more than 10 felony charges after police were notified of child porn being uploaded and shared to young girls on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Jayden Edwards, 24, was charged last month in Marion County with child exploitation and possessing child porn after Indy police were given a digital tip that CSAM had been uploaded to his X Corp (Twitter) account. He is now being held on a $40,000 cash bond.

Detectives then requested all files and data associated with the account, which yielded an email and several IP addresses connected to Edwards. The files provided by X Corp also reportedly included media files uploaded by the account and messages sent to other users.

In these messages, IMPD discovered that Edwards was allegedly messaging underage girls and asking if they wanted to see any “rape or [child porn] videos” accompanied with a pizza emoji. The account then sent messages discussing having sex with the underage girls.

The account reportedly sent the victims child porn videos to help describe the sex acts he wanted to do and photos of a man believed to be Edwards himself were sent to one 13-year-old victim. Detectives also found conversations involving bestiality and incest.

Court documents detail how, upon investigating Edwards further, they found a Snapchat account linked to him named “yfan_jay.” After receiving full data for this account, police found even more child pornography as well as videos depicting children and dogs in a sexual manner.

IMPD officers found Edwards on July 16 sitting in a 2019 silver Impala along Meridian Street and detained him after confiscating a black iPhone he was using. Edwards reportedly told officers he lives with his parents in Indy and uses the email address yfan_jay2@outlook.com.

During an interview at the police station, court documents claim Edwards admitted he had an addiction to child porn and would regularly masturbate to it. He reportedly told police he used to distribute the videos on X before his account was shut down due to a violation.

“[Edwards] continued by saying he has seen child pornography ranging from the ages of babies to teenagers,” court docs read. “[Edwards] said he distributed child porn several times during chat conversations of X and Telegram and also had an unknown number of videos saved to his phone.”

Edwards was charged that same day in Marion Superior Court 32 with 10 counts of child exploitation – a level 4 felony – and one count of possession of child porn – a level 5 felony.

For immediate release, October 31, 2024, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana:

Shawn Riedesel, 29, of Burnsville, Minnesota, has been sentenced to 440 months in federal prison, followed by 25 years of supervised release, after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. Riedesel must also pay $69,000 in restitution to his victims. Upon his release from federal prison, he must register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school, as required by law.

According to court documents, between December 2021 and July 2022, Shawn Riedesel enticed and coerced at least three underage girls to produce and send sexually explicit images and videos. He also met at least one child in person for sex on multiple occasions. While he was committing these crimes, Riedesel began a teacher preparation program through Teach Kentucky and stayed in a dorm room on Bellarmine University’s campus, while also living at another residence in Louisville. Riedesel was not enrolled as a student at Bellarmine University.

In late June of 2022, a witness learned of inappropriate electronic communications between Riedesel and a 15-year-old Indiana girl over a school computer. The child told Riedesel she was fifteen, and she initially believed he was a 19-year-old boy. In fact, he was a 29-year-old man who used an end-to-end encrypted email program to communicate.

The witness used the child’s email account to continue the conversation. Riedesel indicated that he and the child had previously had sex in person, and that he would help the victim run away from home so that they could meet and engage in specific sex acts. He was concerned the victim’s parents might know what he looked like, and that he would be in trouble for having sex with a child. The witness contacted the Indiana State Police to investigate.

Investigators learned that Riedesel had crossed state lines on multiple occasions to have sex with the child, including over multiple days at an Indiana hotel, her parents’ house in Indiana while they were away, and a church. Riedesel also picked the child up from her home in Indiana and transported her across state lines to his dorm room in Louisville to have sex.

On July 2, 2022, Riedesel was arrested when he arrived to meet the child at her parents’ house. Investigators seized his iPhone and conducted court-authorized searches of the device as well as his dorm room and residence. Investigators found printed sexually explicit images of the Indiana child affixed to a wall in his dorm room, arranged in the shape of a heart.

State Police collected an additional iPhone, an iPad, and multiple computers and digital storage devices during the searches. Investigators were able to access the data contained on some of Riedesel’s devices, including thousands of sexually explicit images and videos of children obtained online, and images of Riedesel engaged in sex acts with his Indiana victim. The child later informed investigators that he forced her to watch the “huge collection” of child sexual abuse material he kept hidden on his computer, including recordings of the sexual abuse of prepubescent children and infants. While staying at a hotel to have sex with the Indiana victim, Riedesel saved a “shopping list” on his iPhone that included condoms, sex toys, a pacifier, coloring books, and crayons.

Investigators found sexually explicit conversations between Riedesel and other underage girls on his iPhone, including sexually explicit video calls with another underage girl he recorded engaged in sex acts. His iPhones also showed that he coerced and enticed a 13-year-old girl to send him images and sexually explicit videos of herself. He told her he’d like to have sex with children even younger than her, and that “they should warn kids about guys like me. Cause we turn innocent underage girls into sex toy for us using their insecurities to lure them into trusting us. Then once they trust us they will do anything sexual for us…I mean that’s what grooming is.” He further stated that, “[s]ome pedos try to hide the fact that their grooming a girl, but she only feels betrayed when she finds out. I like to be open an honest with what I’m doing . . . I’m doing these things to turn you into my sex slave.”

“Pedophiles like this would-be teacher use technology to find, groom, and exploit our children—from across the river and across the country,” said Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “This time, investigators were able to access the digital evidence needed to identify additional victims and secure a serious federal prison sentence. However, many companies are designing their technology to make it impossible to conduct court-authorized searches—hampering our ability to rescue children and hold sexual predators accountable. Together with our law enforcement partners at the FBI and Indiana State Police, our office will continue to do all we can to secure necessary evidence and make our children safer by removing these heinous offenders from our communities.”

While the previous case makes no mention of the offender using Snapchat, it was included because it provides a startling glimpse of what families, the public and law enforcement are up against. The mindset, motivation and determination exhibited by this individual is truly terrifying. How does someone become so far removed from what is decent and socially acceptable and embrace a life of such utter depravity? If it were just this one man, the mind might be able to comprehend how sometimes, in rare instances, an individual can be led so pathologically astray. But here we have multiple predators working a limited geographical area during a brief snapshot of time. Expanded out across all jurisdictions and multiple social media platforms over time, the scope of the problem begins to look incredibly daunting. This is the stranger danger we were told is extremely rare. Imagine all the damage these men have done that they’re not even being held responsible for, all the SA victims and all the CSAM images. Then multiply that by thousands of jurisdictions over several years. If this is not one of the most urgent problems of our time, it’s hard to think of what is. With all due respect to the social media misinformation issue that seems to occupy so much of the media’s reporting, we’ve got a much bigger problem that deserves way more of our attention and resources than it is currently receiving.

More Snapchat predators arrested

Last July, Kegan Kline of Peru, Indiana was sentenced to 40 years in prison on 25 counts ranging from child exploitation and possession of child pornography to obstruction of justice. During the Kline investigation, it was revealed that he had communicated through social media with 14-year-old Liberty German of Delphi, Indiana in the days leading up to the murders of Liberty and her 13-year-old friend Abigail Williams in February of 2017. According to 13WTHR, “Court documents show Kline saying he would talk to girls, even if they were under the age of 16, and that he found them on Instagram and then told them to message him on Snapchat. Kline allegedly claimed to have received pictures from all of the girls he chatted with and had saved them.” The investigation revealed Snapchat was Kegan Kline’s preferred platform for soliciting sexual abuse material from underage girls.

As this blog has previously pointed out, Snapchat comes up time and again as the platform of choice among Indiana predators apprehended by state and federal law enforcement. Undoubtedly, a little research would likely reveal that the Snapchat platform is quite popular among child predators outside the Hoosier state as well. With that in mind, a reasonable person might assume that if a company’s product is routinely utilized for victimizing children, and if that company’s name keeps appearing in news item after news item as the go to platform for perverted criminal low-lifes, then that company might seek to eliminate the problem, if for no other reason than to quash the endless stream of bad publicity. However, it’s hard to see where Snapchat is doing anything of the sort.

On November 11, Westfield, Indiana police arrested 20-year-old Benjamin Owen Rollo of Westfield and charged him with seven felony counts, including child molestation, sexual misconduct with a minor and possession of child pornography. According to 13WTHR, Rollo “is accused of using a Snapchat account to pressure young girls into meeting up with him, or into sending explicit photos.”

If you thought Snapchat alerted authorities to Rollo’s predatory behavior on its platform, you would be wrong. The mother of a 12-year-old victim discovered the messages on her daughter’s phone and contacted Westfield police.

As 13WTHR reports, “The victim’s mother learned of the attack by confiscating her daughter’s cellphone, where she found messages between her daughter and friends about the attack. The victim told friends she snuck out with a friend to meet Rollo on July 22, 2022. Rollo allegedly drove to the friend’s home, then drove the victim and the friend to Grand Park.

“When the victim asked where they were going, Rollo would not say.

“Rollo allegedly forced the 12-year-old in the back of a car during the attack. The victim deleted Rollo’s contact from her Snapchat in the hours after.

“Through her Snapchat account, investigators found Rollo had dozens more victims throughout the area, and that he used his Snapchat account, ‘johnny.backer,’ to target young girls.

“Police served a search warrant to his home in West Lafayette on Nov. 11, and he consented to a police interview.

“When asked about photos and images sent and received, specifically on Snapchat, Rollo advised he has asked young girls and teens for explicit images and has sent his own images, ‘15-20 times.’ Rollo also confirmed to police 12- and 13-year-old females are who he is attracted to. When asked further, he advised that he did not know, it is just ‘what he’s into.’

“His Snapchat account also revealed he raped a 14-year-old girl who he picked up in Carmel in December 2022. Multiple messages reportedly showed Rollo telling the girl what happened was not rape, and to please delete their interactions.

“Rollo confirmed the “johnny.backer” account was his secondary account, because he was not comfortable using his real name. While en route to the Hamilton County Jail, detectives asked Rollo how many images were on his phone of younger girls — he said well over 1,000 images.”

While it may be the case that Snapchat has no way of identifying the individual behind an anonymous account, and maybe they’re unable to determine in what area of the country the messages originate, surely the content of these messages should be cause for alarm and referral to federal authorities. It seems likely that some of the victims probably used their real names and locations, would it not be possible for Snapchat to notify local police that there is a predator in their midst? Rollo was able to determine that the girls he was messaging were local. Why can’t Snapchat identify potentially criminal and predatory behavior and notify the appropriate law enforcement agencies?

It would be nice if Rollo was the only serial Snapchat predator terrorizing tweens and teens in the Hoosier state. Then everyone could breathe a sigh of relief that finally the Snapchat rapist was behind bars and everyone could feel safe again.

For immediate release, November 14, 2023, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana:

“Jacob Glenn, 26, of Cicero, Indiana, has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of a child.

“According to court documents, Jacob Glenn used Snapchat to communicate with girls between 13- and 15-years-old, falsely claiming to be a teen boy and offering to purchase nicotine or vape pens in exchange for sex. Glenn’s Snapchat username, ‘theplugfogshyde’ was intended to indicate that he could obtain vape pens for others he met online.

“On two occasions in 2021, Glenn coerced and enticed a girl between 12- and 15-years-old, to sneak out of her home after midnight to get vapes from him, including on Christmas Eve. Glenn picked the child up and drove her to a nearby truck stop where he told her that he would not accept cash for the vapes. Instead, Glenn stated that they could work out a “deal” where she could pay him with sex. Glenn picked up the same child again on January 17, 2022, and coerced and enticed her to engage in sex acts in exchange for vape pens. He used his phone to record the sexual conduct he engaged in with the child and instructed her to not tell anyone about his abuse. Glenn later used Snapchat to send a copy of the child sexual abuse video to two other minor girls.

“Glenn engaged in a similar course of criminal conduct with another minor girl he met on Snapchat between December 2021 and January 2022. The second victim was less than 14-years-old. On January 9, 2022, after a conversation via Snapchat, Glenn picked the second victim up near her home, drove her to a nearby truck stop, and engaged in sexual conduct in exchange for vape pens. Glenn also attempted to convince a child who was a friend of the second victim to engage in sex in exchange for vapes, but they did not meet in person.

“A law enforcement review of Glenn’s Snapchat account found conversations between Glenn and multiple other girls between thirteen and fifteen years old. In some of these conversations, Glenn offered nicotine or alcohol in exchange for sex or nude images.”

Two serial Snapchat predators, who were practically neighbors, locked up within days of one another. Surely now the children of Hamilton and Marion counties in Indiana can use Snapchat without being solicited for sex.

For immediate release, October 19, 2023, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Indiana:

“Isaiah Austin, 21, of Indianapolis, Indiana, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to coercion and enticement of two minors while required to register as a sex offender, and illegally possessing a firearm.

“In February 2021, Marion County probation officers conducted a compliance visit on Austin at his home. During their search, officers located a cell phone which contained multiple images and videos of child sexual abuse, as well as images of Austin holding firearms. Officers also uncovered text and Snapchat messages between Austin and a 14-year-old girl, beginning in early January 2021, less than a month after he was released from custody. In these text and Snapchat messages, Austin detailed sexual acts he wanted to engage in with the child and instructed her to send him sexually explicit images of herself.”

So in one small geographic area of central Indiana, during a time span of just a few weeks in the fall of 2023, three men were either arrested or convicted of child sexual abuse and/or child exploitation, and they all utilized the social media platform Snapchat as a tool to facilitate their depraved, criminal deeds. That’s without even mentioning another Westfield man who got 38 years for similar offenses made possible by the social media platform Kik. Maybe central Indiana is just a hotbed of child predators, but it’s probably more likely that this is happening in hundreds, if not thousands, of communities around the country. Setting aside the disturbing question of how there can be so many sexual deviants preying on American children, why is eliminating this threat not priority number one with Snapchat and other social media companies?

In testimony Tuesday before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on social media and the teen mental health crisis, Arturo Bejar, formerly of Facebook and Instagram testified that a survey of 13-15-year-olds on Instagram revealed that 13% of respondents had received unwanted sexual advances in the last seven days. The number is astounding. In any seven day period, a teenager has about a one in eight chance of being approached by a predator on Instagram. Given enough seven day cycles, it is a near certainty that a young person will receive unwanted sexual advances about every two months or so. It should be clear to anyone that social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Kik are cesspools of child exploitation and predatory grooming. Making these platforms safer for young people should be the top goal of executives at these companies above all other considerations. If a skate park or an arcade or a coffee bar existed where every week kids had a one in eight chance of receiving unwanted sexual advances, that place would be shut down. Social media companies should face the same threat.

Snapchat attacks continue unabated

Anyone who has followed the Delphi murder case and is familiar with the Kegan Kline police interview transcript might understandably wonder what the hell is going on with these social media messaging apps. According to media outlets, Snapchat and Kik were the preferred avenues for Kegan Kline to connect with underage victims and solicit illegal images. Well, it turns out Kline is not the only predator who has had success utilizing these platforms to victimize children. In fact, the modus operandi is so common in the State of Indiana alone, that one wonders if there isn’t a playbook these criminal deviants follow.

A June press release from the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana offers up two such graduates of the Snapchat and Kik school of child exploitation and victimization. The June 17, 2022 release titled Two Predators Sentenced to Federal Prison for Sexually Exploiting Four Children They met on Social Media Platforms reads in part:

“INDIANAPOLIS – Thomas James Israel, 46, of Ft. Wayne, and Max Schafer, 31, of Brownsburg, were each sentenced to federal prison for their role in exploiting four children between October 2019 and August 2020. One of the victims was exploited by both Israel and Schafer during separate incidents. Israel previously pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of child sexual abuse material. On November 15, 2021, Chief Judge Tanya Walton Pratt sentenced Israel to twenty-five years in federal prison. Late yesterday, Schafer pleaded guilty to receipt of visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct and possession of child sexual abuse material. District Judge James R. Sweeney II sentenced Schafer to over fourteen years (175 months) in federal prison.

“According to court documents, between April 2020 and June 2020, Israel met his first minor victim, who was 14, using online applications such as Omegle and Meetme. Using Snapchat and Kik, Israel persuaded this victim to meet with him in person, then forced the victim into sadomasochistic sexual abuse, including forceful oral sex and assault. Israel recorded the sexual abuse on his mobile phone and later sent the video to the victim.

“Israel met a second minor victim using Snapchat and persuaded the victim to send him explicit videos and photos of herself. When this victim was between 14 and 16 years old, she sent her minor boyfriend sexually explicit images and videos of herself. Without her consent, the boyfriend disseminated the images and videos over the internet. Israel downloaded those images and videos onto his online storage account and viewed them for a sexual purpose.

“Israel met his third minor victim, who was between 14 and 16 years’ old, over Omegle. Knowing that the victim suffered from mental health issues, Israel induced her to produce child sex abuse material, and to sell the images and videos to others online. Israel took a percentage of the fees and paid the victim by sending her gift cards from Victoria’s Secret.

“According to court documents, Schafer also met Israel’s first minor victim using Omegle. Knowing that the minor victim was only fourteen years old, Schafer met and engaged in sexually explicit conduct with the victim. Schafer also persuaded the victim to send him the video that Israel produced, depicting Israel’s violent sexual abuse of the child.

“Schafer also met his second minor victim, who was 16, using Omegle and Snapchat. Schafer persuaded this girl to send him sexually explicit images and videos of herself for his sexual purpose.

“Zachary A. Myers, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana and Herbert J. Stapleton, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Indianapolis Field Office made the announcement.

“The FBI Violent Crime Task Force investigated the case. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department also provided valuable assistance. As part of Israel’s sentence, Judge Pratt ordered that he be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for life following his release from prison and pay $16,000 in restitution to the victims. As part of Schafer’s sentence, Judge Sweeney ordered that he be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office for 40 years following his release from prison and pay $6,000 in restitution to the victims. Both Israel and Schafer must also register as sex offenders wherever they live, work, or go to school, as required by law.”

Here again, we have yet another example of the social media apps Snapchat and Kik facilitating a connection between predators and their victims for the purpose of exploitation and abuse. As we saw with Kegan Kline, who quite openly and brazenly attempted to victimize children using the online profile Emily Anne 45, often the profile ruse is dropped while the predator looks for a reaction to suggestions of sexual activity between the minor and a much older adult. In one interaction, Kline solicits images and information on behalf of his middle-aged father, which eventually leads to a Skype call taking place. How is it that these messaging apps, for all their sophistication, allow these clearly illegal conversations to slip by without any red flags going up?

The cases of Israel and Schafer provide a further glimpse into the despicable world these predators inhabit and may even indicate a level of coordination between them. Israel is using the social media apps Snapchat and Kik to solicit sexual abuse material and arrange meetings to inflict violent abuse and produce CSAM. He appears to possess an extensive knowledge of ways to choose the most vulnerable and inflict his sadistic abuse on them for pleasure and profit. For his part, Schafer is abusing at least one of the same victims as Israel, and he’s aware of the video Israel produced with that victim.

It is difficult to discern with certainty from the press release, but is it the case that these predators are communicating and coordinating with one another on some level? Are they “sharing” victims? Israel targets a teen who has already been victimized by her boyfriend. Schafer targets one of Israel’s victims. It certainly appears that, at least at some level, these predators are loosely associated. It is more than just the case that they are swimming in the same waters, but that they are exchanging victims and probably even exchanging information on how to exploit the vulnerabilities of these victims. Israel produced a video that was in demand. He also coerced one of his victims to make videos to sell for his monetary benefit. Obviously, there is a market for these videos. We know these predators exchange videos, but are they also exchanging information with designs on inflicting abuse? Could Kegan Kline, as seemingly “a member in good standing” in one of these pedophile circles, have passed on information to a member with extremely violent intentions, who turned around and used that knowledge to carry out his twisted fantasies on two innocent children of Delphi. It appears increasingly likely.

Following Kegan Kline disclosures, predators continue to utilize Snapchat to claim victims

Following the release in March of a police interview transcript obtained by The Murder Sheet podcast that revealed Kegan Kline of Peru, Indiana, allegedly utilized the social media platform Snapchat to obtain sexually explicit photos of underage girls, multiple offenders in the intervening months have been convicted in Indiana of using Snapchat and Facebook to prey upon underage victims.

According to WTHR, Kegan Kline currently sits in jail facing 30 charges involving child pornography and child exploitation after admitting “to creating the social media profile ‘anthony_shots’ to meet underage girls and receive sexually explicit photos.” Kline is also alleged to have been one of the last to communicate with Liberty German prior to her murder on February 13, 2017.

Since these revelations, multiple offenders have been prosecuted and convicted in Indiana for soliciting sexual abuse material from underage victims. However, even more disturbing, some offenders have used these platforms to meet with victims for the purpose of committing acts of abuse. According to a May 5, 2022 Department of Justice, Southern District of Indiana press release:

“Gerald Hoye, 43, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison following his guilty plea to sexual exploitation of a child.

“According to court documents, agents with the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that sexually explicit images of a child had been sent from a child’s Facebook account to an adult’s Facebook account. Further information received from NCMEC showed sexually explicit conversations were taking place through Facebook Messenger between the child and the adult.

“Law enforcement officers determined the adult was Hoye, a then-41-year-old truck driver living in Indianapolis. The child victim lived in another state and was under 16 years old. Hoye coerced and manipulated the child by offering her money in exchange for sexually explicit photos and videos. In September of 2019, Hoye traveled to the victim’s home and transported her to another state, where he engaged in illegal sexual conduct with the child.”

For all its sophisticated algorithms, Facebook relies on the NCMEC to detect and identify the exploitation of a child over its own messaging app. These interactions escalated to the point where “Hoye traveled to the victim’s home and transported her to another state, where he engaged in illegal sexual conduct with the child.” That is extremely terrifying. How is it the case that Facebook can detect alleged misinformation on its platform and shut that down, but is apparently clueless when a felony is taking place?

Around the time the public was learning of Kegan Kline’s horrific exploits, another man was convicted in the Southern District of Indiana for committing similar offenses via Snapchat. According to a March 17, 2022 DOJ press release:

“Matthew O. Walker, 28, of Augusta, Georgia, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to the sexual exploitation of a child.

“According to court documents, Walker sexually exploited 3 Indiana children and 2 children from South Carolina. Walker first came to the attention of federal authorities in the fall of 2019, when Walker had engaged in sexually explicit Snapchat communications with two minor boys in the Southern District of Indiana. Walker misrepresented himself on Snapchat as a teenage girl, persuading minors to create and send him images and videos of themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Walker threatened the minors that he would distribute these images and videos of these minors to their respective families if they did not do as he instructed.

“Federal investigators discovered that Walker was living in Georgia. With assistance from law enforcement there, a search warrant was executed at Walker’s residence. Evidence was seized and Walker admitted to communication with multiple underage boys online. Walker also admitted to receiving child sexual abuse material through Snapchat and other social media platforms. Walker pled guilty to sexual exploitation of a child in a plea that incorporated his criminal conduct against three Indiana children and others.”

Snapchat was also the social media platform of choice for a Bartholomew County, Indiana man who pled guilty to sexually exploiting children in Indiana and California and received over 27 years in federal prison. According to a February 18, 2022 DOJ press release:

“According to court documents, Jordan Fields, 21, of Columbus, Indiana, sexually exploited children in Indiana and California, and admitted to other acts of exploitation against unknown minors. Fields first came to the attention of federal authorities in the fall of 2020, when law enforcement in California notified authorities in Indiana that Fields had engaged in sexually explicit Snapchat communications with a 13-year-old boy in California.

“The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office began an investigation and executed a search warrant at Fields’ home on Nov. 13, 2020. Fields was initially arrested on state charges of child solicitation and possession of child pornography. A team from the Indiana State Police, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI reviewed evidence seized from Fields’ home, and Fields was arrested on federal sexual exploitation charges in March of 2021.

“Fields admitted to communication with multiple underage boys online and admitted to receiving child sexual abuse material through Snapchat and Omegle. Fields pled guilty to three counts of sexual exploitation of a child for his victimization of three southern Indiana children.”

Another Indianapolis man was convicted in May after it was discovered that he had used Facebook to sexually exploit a child. Per the Department of Justice:

“Ryan Niendorf, 39, of Indianapolis, was sentenced to 30 years in federal prison following his guilty plea to sexual exploitation of a child and attempted sexual exploitation of a child.

“According to court documents, in May 2021, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that an adult’s Facebook account had been used to engage in sexually explicit communication with a child’s Facebook account. Law enforcement officers determined the adult was Niendorf, a semi-truck driver living in Indianapolis, and police were able to locate the child. Based on forensic evidence found in Niendorf’s account, police arrested Niendorf. Further investigation showed Niendorf persuaded two minors, both less than 16 years of age, to produce sexually explicit videos.”

Based on the information that has surfaced regarding the activities of Kegan Kline aka anthony-shots on the social media platform Snapchat, it is disturbing to see so many additional cases where Snapchat and Facebook were used to intimidate and exploit children, obtain child sexual abuse material, and to even facilitate meetings for the purposes of committing acts of abuse against children. The preceding cases represent just a few of the convictions obtained within the past few months and are limited to the Southern District of Indiana jurisdiction. There are other Indiana cases where the internet and/or social media was involved, but specific platforms were not named in the press releases. Obviously, if one were to expand out to a wider time frame, or to include other jurisdictions than just one in Indiana, the scope of the horror would increase significantly.

One would hope that eliminating this type of predatory behavior would be a top priority of these social media companies. But here we are, five years removed from the murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German, and Snapchat and Facebook continue to be platforms where predators go to victimize children. We may one day learn that Liberty’s Snapchat activity played no role in the Delphi homicides, but the Kegan Kline interview illustrates in disturbing clarity how vulnerable children are to abuse on these platforms. While the NCMEC is to be commended for their efforts to monitor these platforms and expose child predators, why aren’t the tech companies themselves doing more to clean up these spaces?