Three years after her son suicide, Pauline Stewart said she now has a better perspective about who her real friends are.
Stewart’s son, Ryan, was 17 years old and high school student in a coherent family when he took his private life in 2022. He did so shortly after he would become a “criminal” plot.
The image presented by the Ryan Lage family
Four men were Charged Last week regarding a plan to target and Ibn Stewart. But there is another malicious problem that Stewart is trying to fight: a public alert to recognize and talk about the American sex crisis.
“It seems as if people feel that they will get” Cotis “if they simply talk about it,” Stewart told CBS News in an interview from her home in Oregon. “People who thought they now seem to be my friends are uncomfortable when I walk. They seem to feel talking about this tragedy” meaning “and it does not seem to be dealing with talking to me.”
Another suicide of Ryan is just one in a flood of sexual exploitation of children since 2022, including a distinctive and disturbing increase in cases of so -called Sextinter, where children are lured in sharing and subsequently blackmailing images.
The CBS news review of the FBI data and reports of the National Center for missing and exploiters have been reported, and more than 20 million advice has been reported regarding the exploitation of the potential sex of children for safety officials every two years of the past two years. FBI data showed that the number of Sextinter cases has been clarified since 2019.
The National Center for missing children and exploiters also told CBS News, “We have seen a worrying increase in the most urgent and serious threats: a 192 % increase in the seduction of the Internet, by 1325 % Artificial intelligence abuse materials An increasing number of reports related to violent groups online targeting children. “
But Stewart, the safety experts and federal investigators who spoke with CBS News said that the silence and scarcity of news coverage of the sexual assault crisis on children may hinder their efforts to warn families, combat the problem and arrest criminals.
“Parents do not believe that this could happen to their children, so they closed talks on this topic,” Stewart said.
“This is a topic that makes people very solid, but we must be direct and tilted to discomfort,” said Adam Rosenberg, Executive Director of the Al -Amal Center in Baltimore, who helps prevent child treatment and help victims.
“If we cannot talk about it, how can we expect our children to do this,” said Rosenberg.
The Ministry of Justice, including Public Prosecutor Bam Bondi, FBI director Cash Pateel and Deputy Director of the FBI And bongino I made efforts to upload the crisis file.
In a general campaign bearing the “Justice Recovery Operation” brand, the Ministry of Justice carried out a general campaign at the country level by federal agents and local law enforcement to track criminals, implement arrests and a criminal charge.
At least 200 detention operations have been announced, including an Illinois man accused of producing illegal pictures of an 8 -year -old, and a West Michigan teacher claims that he has illegal photos of a student and prisoner in Florida prison accused of pictures of sexual assault on children on a smuggled phone.
The Ministry of Justice has sought to publish the campaign and its impact through the local newsletters targeted by FBI Field offices and public notes earlier this month from its headquarters in Washington, DC, by Bondi and Patel.
Bondi said in her speech: “With the television cameras on the network focused on her speech, Bondi said:” Parents, you have to know: Your child is not entitled to privacy on the Internet. “
“These corrupt people, if convicted, will face the maximum sentence in prison, some of them for life,” Bondi said. “If you are on the Internet targeting a child, you will not get away with us.”
FBI field offices and 93 US lawyers, which have reached local community media, highlighted topical detention operations from the “process of restoring operations”, including an advertisement from the United States lawyer in New Jersey, who published the arrests of four men in New Jersey Women against children on April 28. The issue is amplified.
Bongino, who was an accident and social media giant with a millions of millions when he took office at the FBI, used his digital platforms to pressure this case. In a post on social media on May 7, he wrote: “The process of restoring justice is a strong message: If you harm children in America, no haven will be granted.
In production frankly FBI video About the initiative, the agency presents the agents working in this field in New York, Busimore, Cleveland, Atlanta and Chicago, as part of the operation.
“Crimes against children, especially the crimes targeted in the process of restoring justice, are among the most sudden and difficult cases we face.”
“Parents, careers and societies often do not realize the nature of the threat, and how they can help combat this, or they should demand safer environments online for their children,” Justice spokeswoman Christina Master Master CBS News told CBS News.
Rosenberg, whose organization in the state of Maryland has also helped to defend stricter laws to combat child abuse, said it is extremely important to remove a shame about conversations about sexual intercourse for children.
“We need to speak directly,” Rosenberg said. ” “We need to reduce the stigma in the discussion, as we did in the past with the topic of AIDS and cancer.”
Rosenberg said that government agencies are wise to use their platforms and communication tools to raise the case and encourage talks on sexual assault on children.
The FBI official told CBS News that the agency is seeing an upward trend in danger to children, partly due to Phone apps And criminal organizations targeting children for blackmail.
Stewart, who was notified last week in a series of Arrests Regarding the blackmail of her son, parents must be more assertive and trick to discuss the risks with each other and with children.
“Parents believe that it cannot happen at all for their children,” Stewart said. “They were wrong. We had parental controls on the Ryan phone. We had borders on the sites he could continue. He could not download applications without our approval. It is a difficult topic to cover, but there were many children who lost their lives to this.”
The image presented by the Ryan Lage family 
Mastropsico said that the Ministry of Justice is working closely with other laws and law enforcement experts to exchange prevention tools. She said, “The basic responsibility of the Ministry is always for the victims.”
Last week, the Ministry of Justice announced its arrest regarding Ibn Stewart’s blackmail. Among them is the Cote d’Ivoire citizen, Alfred Cassi, who was accused of arranging against Ryan Stewart and arrested by the Ivorian authorities on April 29.
The investigators said: “At the time of his arrest, it was claimed that Kassi still had Sextorting messages he sent to the 17 -year -old victim in February 2022 on his phone,” said investigators.
If you or anyone you know may be at risk of suicide, there is help. In the United States, he called or sent a text message to the lifeline of suicide and crises in 988 or a visit 988Lifeline.org. In the United Kingdom, call Samaritans In 116123.
