In the digital age, social media can be used for a range of great things; sharing exciting news with loved ones, documenting your travels by uploading your pictures online and even being alerted to breaking news as it happens.
However, with the good inevitably comes the bad – namely how social media can have a detrimental impact on our children.
This ever-contentious topic has risen its head once again with reports of a teenage girl from Sydney’s North Shore allegedly being lured to the US by a man for sex via Snacphat.
According to News.com.au , the young girl, who suffers from anxiety disorder and cannot be named due to her age, befriended convicted killer Sean Price, 39, on the social media app last October.
And it was during their seven-month online relationship that Price, who has been convicted of a string of crimes, including negligent homicide, then sent the girl $US1600 ($A2150) to run away from home and fly to the US to be with him, court documents read.
On April 11, after failing to return to her family home in the upper North Shore suburb of Lindfield after school one afternoon, the girl’s parents filed a missing person’s reports with NSW Police.
And, as News.com.au reports, this happens to be the same day that US police assert that the teen landed in Los Angeles International Airport (she is reported to have been met there by Price in a rented car, with the pair then driving more than 12,000km to New York).
It took a joint operation between Australian and US authorities to track down Price and the Aussie teenager, and on May 12, the two were found hiding in the basement of Price’s mother’s home in New York.
“Collaboration between the Australian Federal Police and US law enforcement officials led to the girl being located in New York State in the company of a 39-year-old man on Friday, 12 May,” the Australian Federal Police told News.com.au.
“The man was arrested and charged with a number of offences relating to his conduct and interactions with the girl and will face court action in the US.”
“The girl has since returned to Australia. Officers from the AFP and NSW Police Force continue to liaise with the girl’s parents and US authorities to examine the circumstances that led to her departure.”
Price has been charged with third-degree rape and transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity (Price admitted to having sex with the girl in numerous states before arriving in Brooklyn on April 16, court papers read).
And after getting consent from Price to look through his phone, authorities also found a number of naked pictures of the underage teen dated back to February of this year.
Price’s bail plea has been denied and he faces at least 10 years if convicted of these crimes.
