This was announced at a press conference by Captain John Ivey of the Clayton County Police Department.according to the Miami Herald) that Graham and the girl met through Roblox on February 18th. On February 20, she left her home in Topeka, Kansas. Where Graham picked her up before driving her about 900 miles to her home in Clayton County, Georgia.
Police said they believe the young girl was subsequently sexually assaulted “many times”. According to Captain Ivy, on February 24, she sent a message to her mother via Roblox, sharing the address of the Dollar General Store where she was taken.
After an investigation, police arrested Graham at work on March 1. The 33-year-old man was charged with sex trafficking, kidnapping and rape.
young girl and she was alive,” Captain Ivey said. “I would like people to pay more attention to what their children are doing. Predators will continue to prey on young children.”
Roblox
The scale of Roblox cannot be overestimated: in a recent financial report. The company estimated the number of daily active users at 54.7 million people. However, he faces constant criticism for how he defends his predominantly young audience. Various investigations have shown that up to this point the platform has been an unsafe place for children and its young users can easily find sexually explicit content, although these investigations focus on fraud, content theft and inappropriate material. It would be unfair to confuse Roblox’s moderation and content issues with something as serious as an alleged kidnapping and rape. However: this is about as bad as it gets.
child abduction rare in the US: “Less than 350 people under the age of 21 have been abducted by strangers in the United States per year since 2010.” This statistic refers to a country with a population of 329.5 million. This incident should not be downplayed. But at the same time it should be seen as extremely unusual. And not as a sign that there is an understated Roblox kidnapping pandemic.
IN statement provided by the BBC, Roblox Corporation spokesman James Kay said the company is “deeply saddened” by the incident. “For parents, including many parents working at Roblox, nothing is more important than keeping kids safe when they are learning and playing, online or offline. We work tirelessly to prevent grooming on our platform. We have strong security systems in place and a team of thousands of moderators who enforce strict community standards at Roblox. Including zero tolerance for sexual content of any kind. While we have not been contacted by the authorities regarding this case. We always cooperate with law enforcement requests and promptly report any suspicious activity to the appropriate organizations.”
