One Saturday afternoon in October, Vesteen Taylor of Poplar Bluff arrived at Kerr’s Express on Westwood Boulevard expecting to meet a 13-year-old girl he’s accused of sending sexually explicit messages and photos to on Facebook.
Instead, he was greeted by Poplar Bluff Police Detective Danny Hicks, who arrested Taylor on a charge of enticing a child.
Taylor, 49, is accused of sending an image of himself, and soliciting nude images from a Dexter girl named “LeAnn Taylor.” But the girl wasn’t real; she was a caricature in a profile created by a cyber vigilante seeking to entrap online predators of children.
“He’s currently charged with an unclassified felony which means he can get between 10 years and life in prison,’’ said Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Kacey Proctor.
To help protect children from online predators and bullies, Poplar Bluff police forensic examiner Detective Hicks and Proctor will lead a Zoom cyber safety presentation Friday morning for parents, guardians and educators.
Twenty-five slots remain available for the Zoom webinar, scheduled from 10-11:30 a.m., according to Rebeca Pacheco, executive director of the Butler County Community Resource Council, which organized the event. The Council’s mission is improving the lives of children and families, Pacheco said.
Interested parties can register at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f2skR8FJSYqbanLhNEThhw
“Children and youth are spending a lot more time online,’’ Pacheco said. “So we thought it might be a good time to talk to parents about what are some of the dangers ... and what are the tools that they can help employ to keep their kids safe as they navigate online spaces.’’
Hicks will introduce products that enable caregivers to surveil the online activities and communications of children in real-time, while Proctor will talk about Missouri laws that can be used to protect juveniles from online abuses.
“Some of the things (we’ll discuss) will be monitoring software for parents to put on their children’s mobile devices, and onto their own devices, so they can monitor websites visited,’’ Hicks said.
Many of the software programs have free trials, he said. He will also give general tips on cyber safety and behavioral changes — such as a sudden slump in grades or social withdrawal — that can indicate a child is being bullied.
Hicks says children face risks on virtually every social media platform.
“One way or another I’ve gotten cases from all of them,’’ he said.
Facebook and Snapchat are two of the primary platforms because of the number of users the platforms boast.
Suspected online predators like Taylor are often found after sting operations by the police, or by referrals from members of the community.
“A lot of it comes from leads from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,’’ Hicks said.
And there’s no one particular scam or script that predators use, he said, explaining, “Over time I’ve seen a lot of different attempts. They get more and more creative.’’
Both Hicks and Proctor say that bullying falls more in the purview of school officials who are mandated by state law to have programs to combat it. While there is no state law that specifically addresses bullying, other ancillary statutes, such as those for peace disturbances, assault, harassment or distributing child pornography, may be used to combat bullying, Proctor said.
The end-goal is protecting children from online abuses such as those Taylor is accused.
Taylor was arrested Oct. 6 inside Kerr’s Express.
According to a probable cause statement, he admitted to communicating with the fictional LeAnn about having sex, sending her pornographic photos and directing her to pornographic websites.
He remains in Butler County jail awaiting trial.
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