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Predators Known To Frequent Popular Teen Site

Girl, 12, Asked Out For Drinks

POSTED: 2:06 pm EST February 14, 2006

Logging on to the Internet is a daily occurrence in the Pennick Household. Twins Kameron and Brandon like to log onto www.myspace.com, according to Education Specialist Debora Lee.

Kameron Pennick, 14, said, "I talk to my friends from school and different places -- mostly on weekend."

Brandon Pennick said, "mostly when I'm bored. I can be on for hours."

Millions of teens hang out on the Web site. They post photographs of themselves and their friends.

For many parents, www.myspace.com has quickly become a cyber nightmare.

"It's a thorn in my side," said Lorraine Pennick. "It's a thorn. It draws them like an addiction."

Parma Detective Tom Connor said parents have reason to be concerned.

He has investigated 20 to 30 cases in the past year alone in which predators made contact with kids on the site. It's easy when they post so much information about themselves on their personal profile page.

"They'll put where they go to high school -- their favorite restaurants -- things like that -- hobbies, activities," Connor said.

He added that, "They may not give the home address or the phone number, but if you give the school, as a predator, right there that puts him at the school. Now he can find you."

Officials at www.myspace.com said the teens must be at least 14 years old to join.

Wendy Clawson's daughter has been a member since she was 12.

"She actually, just this past week, got a message from a guy who said he was 33 years old. He was coming to Cleveland from Michigan and wanted to know if she wanted to meet him for some drinks -- that he was buying," Clawson said.

She added that when we expose our kids to the World Wide Web, we open them up to the world and the world isn't a cool place sometimes.

Lee reported that there are Internet safety packages parents can purchase to block Web sites like My Space. Some teens, however, can get around that. The best advice from the experts is to keep the computer out in the open and monitor what the kids do online.




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