Police Warn Parents To Keep Track Of Teens' Smartphone Apps After Sexting Arrest
ROCKLIN (CBS13) — Police say smartphone apps allowed a man to send sexual texts to underage without their parents knowing.
In a story CBS13 first brought on Wednesday, Rocklin Police arrested Jacob Mora, 29, after a parent of an alleged victim found out about their sexual relationship.
Rocklin Police say Mora sent sexual messages to five underage girls and had at sex with at least one of them.
There are plenty of apps that can allow alleged crimes like this one to go unnoticed by parents who don't seem to know they exist.
"Using it to be able to hide things from Mom and Dad and say things that they don't really want Mom and Dad to know about," said Det. Sean Smith with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department.
And that can be a problem.
Take Snapchat for example. it allows people to send a picture or video that can only be viewed for a few seconds, then it disappears.
"That's where we see some of the problems we see with the sexting that is going on," said Smith.
He says it's important to not only scan your child's call logs and texts, but also know what applications they use regularly.
One way to do that is to have your children use a family email account to set up the app, so you can monitor any changes.
And it's not just about monitoring, but educating your kids, so they know you're not trying to invade their cyberspace.
"It's not because I don't trust you. It's because I don't trust who's on the other end," said Smith.
He said the apps shouldn't make parents nervous, but says it's up to them to determine a child's maturity and which apps they should be using.
