In the week before his arrest, Cline was distributing files containing visual depictions of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct with other people through Whisper messenger.
When Cline arrived, however, he was placed under arrest.įacts in the plea agreement detail a description of the sexual activity Cline wanted to engage in with the girl, as well as sexual acts he planned to perform with a 10-year-old girl in Washington state, noted Talbert.Ĭline brought a tube of lubricant and three wrapped condoms in his car when he arrived to meet with what he believed to be the father and his 7-year-old daughter.
Cline then drove from Fairfield to Pleasant Hill to meet up with what he believed to be a 7‑year-old girl. Cline planned a meeting with the “dad” and “daughter” in order to sexually molest her. The undercover agent, posing as a dad, engaged in a two-day conversation on Whisper with Cline, and Cline sent the agent two images of child pornography. 1, 2019, an undercover agent observed Kevin Blaine Cline post on the social media platform Whisper that said he was “Looking for dad’s (sic) who love their daughters near me I … Have a question.” The notation at the bottom of Cline’s post read, “Freaky Sexual Desires.” attorney for the Department of Justice’s Eastern District of California, said court documents indicate that on Nov. He also suggests you check their privacy settings to make sure your child isn’t giving out their location and phone number by default.Bay Area man gets 14 years for attempted online coercion of a child – East Bay Times Close MenuĪ 47-year-old Fairfield man was sentenced in federal court Friday to 14 years in prison to be followed by 10 years of supervised release for attempted online coercion of a child, a federal official said. You want to build trust and a pipeline of communication not scare them off. You can also join the same apps as your kids to keep an eye on them. “It doesn’t have to be about the birds and the bees but it still has to be about the dangers of who they are meeting out there," said Craven.
Large events like the Super Bowl can attract the underbelly of crime like human trafficking.Ĭraven says there are few changes parents can make right now to improve cyber safety in their homes.įirst, dispel the taboo by talking to your children about what can happen when talking to strangers online. With Super Bowl LV just over a year away in Tampa, McKinnon says its more important than ever to target child sex offenders. “It goes to show an old dog never changes their habits," said McKinnon. It turns out one of them, Timothy Matthews, is a registered sex offender convicted of sexual abuse of a child in Dallas, Texas. In all cases, the men allegedly drove to a location for a meet-up. Now, they are on the cyber playgrounds of the internet.” "No longer are we out here solely in playgrounds. “They’re going where these criminals typically hunt their victims," said Larry McKinnon, a 40-year law enforcement veteran. HCSO would not comment on this investigation or tell ABC Action News if anyone else has been arrested, citing an active investigation. The two apps they used were Grindr and Whisper. The purpose of the operation was to find “offenders who use the internet and social media to sexually exploit children," according to the documents.
Hillsborough County deputies arrested at least three other men in the months-long operation. “We were taught stranger danger by our parents but that was typically a man in a trench coat and a really bad van around the corner. He's the director of the non-profit Center for Cyber Safety and Education. “It’s very disturbing because I have both a son and a daughter," said Patrick Craven. What Siam doesn’t know is he's actually texting an undercover Hillsborough County deputy. HILLSBOROUGH NEWS | The latest headlines from Hillsborough County But the conversation quickly turns explicit. Turns out, the men were texting undercover deputies posing as teenagers.Ĭourt documents show 40-year-old Rudy Siam made a 14-year-old friend on the Grindr app. Four Tampa Bay area men are accused of driving to meet-up with teenagers after sexually explicit conversations on social media.