A Goodyear man was sentenced to 21 years in prison for grooming and coercing children online to send him child abuse material, the Maricopa County attorney’s office said Monday
Last August, Goodyear police got a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a user who had uploaded child abuse material to the social app Discord. Police identified Richard Billingsley, 21, as the user.
Investigators found that Billingsley had groomed three children living out-of-state over several months and coerced them to send him child sexual abuse material, the attorney’s office said. The victims were ages 12 and 13.
He used the gaming platform <a href="https://comicvibe.com/roblox-corp-stock-rblx-closed-up-by-7-12-on-aug-31-what-signal-does-it-send/” title=”Roblox Corp Stock (RBLX) Closed Up by 7.12% on Aug 31: What Signal Does It Send?”>Roblox, popular with children and teens, to reach out to his victims, then persuaded them to move their conversations over to Discord.
Police also discovered more than 3,400 files of child sexual abuse material on his devices.
Billingsley pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of attempted sexual exploitation of a minor. He also was sentenced to lifetime supervised probation.
“Online predators are master manipulators and relentless in their search of a victim to exploit,” Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. “Grooming can happen on any app where you can send messages. To protect their kids, parents need to talk often about online dangers and regularly check the devices their child uses.”
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