Child Porn Charges Leads to a Parental Warning

It sounds innocent enough, a teenage girl receives an instant message from a stranger who also says they're a teenage girl and over time they become BFF'S (Best Friends Forever). But what started out as innocent, quickly turned into a nightmare.

US Homeland Security Special Agent Andrew McLees says Fredi Arbito of Hightstown won the trust of an Ecuadorian girl eventually getting her to participate in live video chats in the nude. Later, he allegedly used those images to blackmail her into complying with more depraved request and when the girl refused, threatened to share her nude images with her Facebook friends.

McLees says there's a lesson here for parents. "It's imperative that parents take control of their children's communications on the internet. Internet connections should be in a common area of the house and parents just have to be mindful of who they're communicating with."

However, he says it's also important for parents to provide an atmosphere where their teens can come to them. "Reaching into the household that child has to feel the confidence and comfortableness to talk to their parent that they feel like they're in some place that is getting darker and is bad."

Arbito is being held without bail on a Federal Child Porn Possession count after being extradited from Panama and will likely face more charges.