Mariea Dotson allows her 12-year-old daughter to log on to Facebook with her supervision. Earlier this week when her daughter received inappropriate messages from an unknown man out of Corpus Christi, Texas, she immediately took action.
The man, who has not yet been identified tried to lure Dotson’s daughter into video chatting with him. He attempted to blackmail her and said he would tell her family she sent pictures if she didn’t send any.
"You in bed?" the man asks the girl on Facebook Messenger. "Go into your room."
"Pls leave me alone," she replied. "I'm only twelve."
Even after she told him she would call the police, the man continued to make the requests.
"Do one favor," he said, telling her he wouldn't show her mother "the pics."
The girl told him she had no pictures.
Worried and distraught, the 12-year-old ran to her mother to show her the text messages.
Dotson immediately contacted the Pasco County Sheriff’s Department as well as the Corpus Christi Police department and the incident is under investigation.
Dotson feels the person behind the screen knew exactly what he was doing.
“[These kids] feel alone and then these predators come in and use that against them to try and get what they want,” Dotson said.
She believes being able to communicate with your kids is important and makes children more comfortable to come to you when something like this happen.
“We have to protect these kids," she said. "This is insane,”
