POSTED: 10:50 pm EDT May 24, 2012
UPDATED: 11:27 pm EDT May 24, 2012
GOSHEN TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- Authorities warned parents Thursday night that sexual predators may be luring teenagers into trouble using popular electronic devices.One mother, who was only identified as Shirley, searched for three days for her daughter, and when she found her, she realized it was the teen's iPod that exposed her to trouble."Technology is just so accessible to children these days, and they know more about it than we do," Shirley said.The mother is healing with her family now after her 14-year-old daughter was sexually abused.It happened on the social website MyYearbook."Never heard of it before in my life," Shirley said.Shirley said she monitored her daughter's Internet and phone activity, but when the teen went missing, they learned all about the girl's iPod, which authorities said older men used to have seven sexual encounters with her."This juvenile did not have a cellphone. She had an iPod," Goshen Township Police Department Sgt. Ronald Robinson said.When the teen left home with one of the men, she left the iPod behind, and that's how detectives found her.Police said they used the iPod and the girl's social network accounts to lure in and arrest the men."We gave her the choice whether she wanted to be involved in helping further the thing, or we wouldn't have gotten as far as we did," Shirley said.Police even arrested the man they said sneaked into Shirley's home and sexually abused the teen while one of her sisters slept."They will pay. I will take it to the furthest I can in the justice system, and I will not stop. They will be labeled sexual predators. They will have to register. They will have felonies on them the rest of their lives. This isn't going to go away," Shirley said."If you're not paying attention, you're going to miss it," Goshen Police Department Officer Jaime McFarland said."We have to be cautious of all the gadgets that have Wi-Fi," Shirley said.Police and Shirley now warn all parents: from your iPod Touch to gaming systems, the wrong person may reach out to children and change their lives."She's not the little girl that we had," Shirley said.The family is recovering, and police said they expect to make more arrests in the case.
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