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More on the MySpace.com situation from Yahoo:

While the recent attention surrounding the arrest of several cyber-predators stalking victims on MySpace.com has prompted parents to be more vigilant in policing their children’s on-line activities, not everyone has become appropriately frightened.

Information on a new case illustrates how some parents continue to harbor the illusion that their children are smart enough or careful enough to resist the wiles of would-be predators — a mistake that could cost children their innocence or even their lives.

Sometime after 10 PM on May 26th, "Helen T." of Valdosta, GA saw the familiar sapphire glow of a computer monitor spilling through the cracked door to her daughter’s room. The 14 year old had been spending an inordinate amount of time online lately, and not all it innocent, as her email and chat history would soon indicate.

Her mother, attempting to reverse the trend, intended to admonish the child and send her to bed. The horror she felt after finding an empty room is difficult to imagine.

“My first reaction was, of course to call the police. But I was sure they’d be a long time responding and I couldn’t just do nothing and wait,” Helen explained.

In her excitement to go meet her new “friend”, Helen’s daughter had left open the browser window displaying the two-hour plus conversation she had had with what turned out to be a convicted pedophile. As Helen read through the two hours of shocking chat, she saw that the person on the other end had asked her daughter to call him and posted a cell phone number. The police later told her that although a bad move for a criminal, such actions smack of the desperation that compels these worst of society’s rogues.

As she waited for the police to arrive, Helen frantically searched the Internet for a source to identify the owner of the number. Overwhelmed with the typical search engine return of entirely too much information, it took the overwhelmed mother of two nearly 40 minutes of wading through gimmicks and assorted cons before she finally found reverse lookup source that appeared to provide actual reverse cell number lookup results.

Helen said that most of what she found were companies wanting to sell her some sort of software she could download and use to “become a detective” or “find anybody.” The market was flooded by such ads to the point that she barely found what she wanted which was simply a cell phone lookup service.

After locating the site Cellulartrace.com, Helen frantically emailed the company about the time-frame on their rush service. The expedited service that has only been available again for just over a month is advertised as returning the phone search results within several hours. Being aware of the dangerous situation Helen’s daughter was in, the company agreed to perform the search immediately.

Within 20 minutes, and still long before the police showed up, Cellulartrace called Helen with the cellular lookup information. When the police arrived, Helen told them she thought she knew where her daughter was.

Despite the incomprehensible horror she certainly felt, the most recent MySpace saga ended as well as did the cross-planet adventures of Katherine Lester who ran away to the Middle East to meet the object of her online Romeo earlier this month. Police located Helen’s daughter at the address the skip tracing investigation company provided. Authorities say the minor child was swimming with the middle-aged man in his unlit pool when they arrived. Initially, police cautiously informed the child’s family that she was “unharmed.”

Describing the quasi-abduction investigation as pending, police did not release the name of the man involved. However, an investigator close to the case stated, on condition of anonymity, that the preliminary evidence combined with his past criminal history indicated “a pattern of predatory behavior.”

It is unclear at this time who made initial contact with whom, and whether the minor child had contact with the adult on prior occasions. Evidence in the investigation will certainly include information on the cell phone number provided to the minor as well as email and messenger style communications between the two. It is also thought that the adult subject’s PC will be searched for additional incriminating information should sexual assault, attempted assault or any other related charges be filed. There appeared to be at least the probability of charges stemming “from some omissions” regarding the subject’s sexual offender registration, the source said.

Police were thrilled that the child’s mother took the initiative to order the cell phone reverse lookup information from the online vendor, stating that “Time is a commodity we simply don’t have in child abduction cases. If we didn’t have an address, this may well have ended badly. Whoever obtained this information for her likely saved a life tonight.”

The investigative cellular number research site the information was provided by specializes in cell phone number trace information for a variety of skip tracing and address-locate applications.

Cellulartrace.com spokesman Mark McAlpin responded to our email about this reverse lookup order stating his relief that the child was located.

“We are thrilled that this child is OK. We get several urgent requests a year on situations similar to this. If the info comes in during office hours, we drop everything and focus on that search.”

The industry has taken some flack the past few months on alleged privacy concerns. Perhaps recent events like the Jay Coffield and John Wentworth arrests in Naperville, IL and the Jessica Liccar case and this one will illustrate the vital role private sector investigators play in discovering the truth. In any case, we are glad to played some role in returning the girl to safety.”

The arrests McAlpin referred to were charges of child solicitation filed against two Naperville, IL men recently in connection with their alleged luring of children for probable sexual exploitation or assault using online chatting through the ever-popular MySpace.com.

While it appears there is a growing trend among cyber-stalkers, visitors to the site have only increased. MySpace.com received a staggering 50 million visitors in May.

Authorities and investigators alike warn parents to be mindful of their children’s online activities and to be less concerned about a child’s privacy expectations.

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Children First
Jennifer Caldwell