Apr 25, 2008 10:38 pm US/Mountain
Program Lets Parents Monitor Teen Text Messaging
DENVER (CBS4) ―
It is a problem that is becoming far too common -- pedophiles trying to reach teens through their cell phones.
CBS4 used a picture of a teenage girl to illustrate how pedophiles are now turning to cell phones to meet up with their young prey.
Parents just don't know. The person on the other end of a text message could be a teen's best friend, or maybe a predator.
One teenage girl said she had received a contact.
"It was some guy and he said, 'Hey babe, do you want to have sex later?' And I was like, "I don't know you, so I don't think so.'"
So did a teenage boy at the same high school.
"I've had dirty text messages to me from people trying to harass me and stuff," he said.
How do predators get in touch with teens on cell phones? CBS4's Rick Sallinger went to a Web site called Mocospace.com, where teens and others can meet up to text.
There, he posted a picture of a CBS4 staffer from her younger days, age 16, and a message: "New 2 Denver want 2 hit up for a chat?"
What he got back was a picture of a very muscular man claiming to be 15.
"If you think I'm hot," he wrote.
There were others. Phone numbers were exchanged and the conversation moved to text.
"send sexy pics" one message stated.
It's not always just harmless play. A woman's 13-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by someone she arranged to meet through text messaging.
In a silhouette interview, she said her daughter, "ended up getting in his car and he pretty much sexually raped her. I couldn't believe that all of that could happen (from) a cell phone."
Now there is a way parents can monitor the texts their children receive. CBS4 News was given a phone to demonstrate a program called My Mobile Watchdog from the company RADAR.
On the company's Web site, a parent can keep track of unapproved calls and those from suspicious numbers. It allowed Sallinger to channel the information from the female texter onto his own cell phone. It spelled out the message the person has received.
Jefferson County District Attorney investigator Mike Harris is now using the RADAR software to nab pedophiles.
"All incoming and outgoing text messages are preserved," Harris said. "All pictures; it's basically a safety net for the parent to keep track of what is going on with their kids."
Edward Mora is using it to make keep an eye on his daughters' texts.
"This was part of the deal of them keeping the phone," he said.
CBS4 asked a group of teens at Green Mountain High School how they would feel about their parents monitoring their text messages.
"I would hate that, horrible, bad idea," the group said.
RADAR costs about $10 a month. For those teens that object to it, one response is to simply remind them who is paying for the phone.
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