DENVER -
Sexual predators trying to lure young girls on Spanish speaking websites have flown under the radar, until now.
The Jefferson County Child Sex Offender Internet Investigations unit is turning its attention to Spanish speaking chat rooms and has arrested more than a dozen men in recent months, accused of trying to lure young girls into a meeting, with the intent of sexually assaulting them.
Investigators say they see a lot of activity on the Univision TV website. Univision is the largest Spanish speaking TVnetwork in the United States.
In a recent case, within minutes, within minutes of logging on, an invesitigator posing as a young girl had numerous would be sexual predators hitting on her.
She was in a Univision TV Spanish speaking Denver chat room. The conversations started casually, but soon became sexual, with the men asking her if she had had sex, what kind of sex she liked and describing sex acts they wanted to perform on her. One man had her call him on his cell phone to try to arrange a meeting. He also sent pictures of his genitals to her cell phone.
Investigator Mike Harris says they have arrested 12 men so far, after the suspects contacted them through the Univision shat room. The arrest affidavits say the men knew the person they were chatting with was under the age of 15 and still set up meetings with her, in order to have sex.
Police arrested the men when they showed up for the meet.
There is similar activity on English speaking sites and Harris cautions parents, be aware of what your children are doing on line and make sure they know to never give out personal information of meet someone in person.
We contacted Univision, which released the following official response:
"Univision takes the security of it's users very seriously. We promininently display the rules of the chatroom participation and FAQs and post user advisories of the do's and dont's of online forums and chatrooms. We also maintain a designated email for complaints and respond accordingly. Univision remains committed to working closely with law enforcement on this industry-wide issue."
The Jefferson County Child Sex Offender Internet Investigations unit is turning its attention to Spanish speaking chat rooms and has arrested more than a dozen men in recent months, accused of trying to lure young girls into a meeting, with the intent of sexually assaulting them.
Investigators say they see a lot of activity on the Univision TV website. Univision is the largest Spanish speaking TVnetwork in the United States.
In a recent case, within minutes, within minutes of logging on, an invesitigator posing as a young girl had numerous would be sexual predators hitting on her.
She was in a Univision TV Spanish speaking Denver chat room. The conversations started casually, but soon became sexual, with the men asking her if she had had sex, what kind of sex she liked and describing sex acts they wanted to perform on her. One man had her call him on his cell phone to try to arrange a meeting. He also sent pictures of his genitals to her cell phone.
Investigator Mike Harris says they have arrested 12 men so far, after the suspects contacted them through the Univision shat room. The arrest affidavits say the men knew the person they were chatting with was under the age of 15 and still set up meetings with her, in order to have sex.
Police arrested the men when they showed up for the meet.
There is similar activity on English speaking sites and Harris cautions parents, be aware of what your children are doing on line and make sure they know to never give out personal information of meet someone in person.
We contacted Univision, which released the following official response:
"Univision takes the security of it's users very seriously. We promininently display the rules of the chatroom participation and FAQs and post user advisories of the do's and dont's of online forums and chatrooms. We also maintain a designated email for complaints and respond accordingly. Univision remains committed to working closely with law enforcement on this industry-wide issue."
