Forum exposes lures of sex traffickers
When Sgt. Jeannie Parker was in high school more than 20 years ago, there were no cellphones, no text messaging and no Internet.
If you wanted to get a message to someone, you passed them a note, she said.
On Wednesday night, Parker was one of a group of speakers at Glacier High School presenting “DECEPTIONS: Exposing the Lures of Child Sex Trafficking and Internet Dangers.” Parker, who works for the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The task force made headlines in August when seven local men were arrested for answering a Craigslist ad that advertised a 12-year-old girl who was available for a meeting. All seven of the men alluded to engaging in sexual activities with the girl.
“We simply posted an ad on Craigslist offering an opportunity to meet with a 12-year-old girl,” Parker said. “We made seven arrests within three days.”
The task force conducted similar stings in Missoula and Great Falls. The Missoula operation resulted in seven arrests in four days; Great Falls had five arrests in two days.
The startling thing about those operations is that the Craigslist ad received hundreds of responses.
“These people are out there seeking,” Parker said. “We have persons reaching out to victimize our children.”
Parker noted a conversation with a man who described how he gets children to engage with him online. He told Parker that he takes on a child’s persona and starts out by sending “kid stuff” back and forth. His chilling statement was, “I found in my experience that if I act like a kid and befriend a kid, I will get them to do more things for me than I ever could as an adult.”
Other speakers backed up Parker’s message on Wednesday night. Matt Dale, director of the Montana Department of Justice’s Office of Victim Services, provided a message from Attorney General Tim Fox.
Kalispell Police Officer Cory Clarke, who is also a school resource officer at Flathead High School, addressed the crowd of roughly 50 people, as did David Nabors, in-service facilitator at Northwest Family Services of Oregon.
Clarke not only assists in presentations on Internet and sex crimes, but also has done presentations for parents and children alike on drugs and alcohol. Clarke said he tailors his presentations based on the audience.
“There’s a presentation we do about drug use that I ask that children don’t attend,” Clarke said. “I’m not putting this presentation on to give them ideas.”
Besides the dangers lurking online, sexting — or sending and receiving nude photographs — has become all too common among teenagers.
Clarke’s mission, as well as that of the task force, is to increase awareness among parents.
“There’s the Facebook account that you know about, but then there could be the real one that they’re using for other things,” Clarke said.
Parker recently found a unique application for children to use when someone is attempting to get them to send a nude photo. The app is called Send This Instead, and it provides funny, smart-aleck comments that you can send back to the person that asked for a nude photo. The app is free and available on iPhones and Android devices.
Reporter Brittany Brevik can be reached at 758-4459 or by email at bbrevik@dailyinterlake.com.