Cellphones and social media have changed the way people communicate. In the blink of an eye, a user can send a message across the world and connect with others.
But who’s on the other side of the screen might be the most alarming for parents and law enforcement.
Following the arrest of former Escalante Middle School teacher Benjamin Smith, who faces 48 federal charges of coercion, enticement of minors, and possession of sexually explicit images of children, Durango School District 9-R partnered with the Durango Police Department to host an informational event on internet and social media safety.
Smith posed as a 16-year-old student on Snapchat using the name “MTNCHICK69” to engage in predatory behavior with children in the Durango area and outside of the community, according to law enforcement.
On Monday, Durango Police Department Detective Josh Newman discussed the dangers of the internet and being mindful of who children are interacting with online.
Newman is also a task force officer with Homeland Security Investigations and is currently investigating the Smith case.
Newman said reports of child sex abuse online have been increasing. According to data from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, there were 36 million reports of distributed child sexual abuse material in 2023, up from the 21.7 million reported in 2020.
A 2022 study by Stanford Medicine found the average age at which children receive their first cellphone is 11 years old.
“Kids aren’t just being exploited by people in Durango, it’s across the country,” Newman said.
Some of the more popular applications in which predators are soliciting children are on video game streaming and communication applications like Twitch and Discord.
WhatsApp is also a popular app among kids who may not have phone texting capabilities but can send messages using other devices with internet access.
It may start as innocent messages on the app but could lead to predators asking the child to add them on Snapchat or follow them on Instagram, he said.
Parents often allow their kids to have a cellphone for communication and emergency purposes. Newman said a way parents can regulate how their kids interact online is buy starting with a smartwatch that allows them to communicate through text but doesn’t allow them to access social media apps.
Additionally, if children are gaming online, it is beneficial for parents to have them set up their console or computer in a shared space, such as a living room, where they can easily monitor their activity.
Newman worries about teens and children sharing their location via their phone and on social media apps like Instagram.
For example, if children “tag” Durango High School, they may effectively be sharing their location. If a child’s Instagram account is public and is sharing their location, predators can search Durango High School and find a child’s profile if they’ve tagged the school as a location.
Snapchat can be especially concerning because if a child shares their location on the app, anyone on their friend list can view their exact whereabouts through the app's map feature.
Newman said predators often pose as high school-age kids and may strike up a conversation by saying they know one of the targeted victim’s follower who is also of high school age, creating a false sense of identity.
“Ben Smith pretended to be somebody else,” Newman said. “They thought they were talking to a 14 or 15 year old kid.”
tbrown@durangoherald.com
