ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is sending an urgent warning to parents after deputies confirmed they’re investigating two separate cases involving a potentially dangerous social media trend.
In the trend, the sheriff’s office said teenagers reach out to sexual predators and attempt to confront them.
One incident occurred the night of July 24, the other occurred the following night.
The sheriff’s office explained in both cases, the teens used the dating app, Grindr, to try and locate suspects who would agree to meet. Detectives said the teens did this with groups of similar-age friends. They went on to say both groups of teens got the idea after following videos they had seen on social media with the intent of publicly shaming online predators.
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News4JAX Crime and Safety Analyst Tom Hackney did not mince words when he heard about the trend. His background includes working in sex crimes with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
“This is by far the singular, most stupid thing that could possibly be out there for these kids to do,” Hackney said. “It is so dangerous. If this trend continues, it’s going to take some kid’s life. Honestly.”
Hackney said these types of predators are waiting for opportunity, and they jump on it no matter how it presents itself. To highlight this, Hackney recalled the 2013 rape and murder of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle in Jacksonville.
Donald Smith, a known sex offender, kidnapped Perrywinkle after befriending the girl’s mother after seeing her in a store struggling to purchase clothes for her daughters. Smith was sentenced to death for the crime.
“If you’re approached by someone in a Dollar General store, and they’re wanting to look out for your kid and buy them some clothes, those are opportunities that presented themselves,” Hackney explained. “And here’s an opportunity that someone who is an offender or predator has somebody reach out to them, that’s just horrifying.”
This is why parents need to have conversations with their kids about these dangers and always monitor what they’re doing online.
Hackney said it’s important for children to understand this is not TV or social media — this is real life.
“Let them grow up, don’t be in their business then,” Hackney said. “But when they’re kids, and especially when they have these portals to the world and idiotic things like this that tempt them, you have to be on top of them.”
The sheriff’s office said not only is the trend very dangerous, but it can distract detectives from rescuing actual victims.
The sheriff’s office said if parents or caregivers need assistance or have information regarding child exploitation, please contact them at the SJSO non-emergency line at 904-824-8304, email at crimetips@sjso.org or call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-277-TIPS.
Click here to access more resources from Homeland Security Investigations.
Click here to read advice and tips from the FBI on how to protect children from online dangers.