Legal Niches

Florida Man Uses Xbox Live to Victimize California Youth

By pete_gallagher

In what, unfortunately, seems to be an increasingly common occurrence, a 22-year old Florida man stands accused of using Xbox Live to manipulate a 10-year old boy into sending naked pictures of himself through the online videogame service.

Timothy Hammerstone of Polk City, Florida allegedly requested and received nude pictures from the boy and, in return, offered Xbox Live credits to his young victim, according to a story on CBS13.com. Hammerstone even went so far as to set up a new profile for his prey so that the boy's parents wouldn't notice anything when monitoring his activities.

Folsom Police Officer Jason Browning added, 'Many parents try to protect their kids when they're online so it may be a shock just how much access gaming systems provide.'

Police warned parents to set up computers or game consoles in non-private areas of the home. Parental controls could also freeze online access from consoles. Ten years old is probably a little young to be online unmonitored, no?

Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on August 30, 2010 (boomark / email).