A man from Indiana traveled to Montgomery County to be with his teenage victim, prosecutors said. NBC10’s Deanna Durante has the story and ways to keep your children safe.
A 20-year-old man from Indiana is facing charges after he traveled to Montgomery County to engage in sex acts with a teen he met on Roblox, an online gaming platform, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Ian Anderson was living in Indiana when he first began chatting with his then-13-year-old victim. At some point, Anderson traveled to Montgomery County and rented an apartment in the area to be close to his victim and be with her in person, prosecutors said.
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Chats obtained by authorities show that Anderson knew his victim was underage and told her he loved her and planned to take her away from her family when she was a legal adult, prosecutors said.
The chats also showed that the teen protested Anderson’s move to Montgomery County, prosecutors said.
In one incident, Anderson snuck into the teen’s home while her parents were sleeping, prosecutors said.
According to court documents, Anderson faces 24 felonies, including statutory sexual assault, child sexual abuse material and disseminating photo/film of child sex acts or child sexual material.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Anderson remained in custody unable to post his $1,000,000 bail, according to court documents.
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Anderson requested a reduction in his bail at a court hearing on Wednesday, but the judge denied the request.
Anderson’s lawyer declined to comment for this article and Roblox has not provided comment as of this article’s publishing.
Protecting children from online predators
Leslie Slingsby, CEO of Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center, said that crimes against children are rising, particularly online.
“So, actually, the NICMIC, the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children, saw a 158% increase on child solicitation and enticement cases in 2025 versus 2024,” she said.
In the in-person world, child victims know their abusers as members of their community 90% of the time, Slingsby said. But online, victims are less likely to know their abusers, she said.
To protect children, parents need to do more than set parental control settings on phones and devices, Slingsby said. In order to ensure children are safe, parents should check apps and text messages and talk with their child more than once about the dangers of being online.
“Even though sometimes kids think that they are in a mature relationship, this is something in person or online that we need to educate children about,” Slingsby said. “Kind of the power dynamics and the age dynamics regarding relationships, and what healthy and unhealthy relationships look like.”
