Bensalem Police Recap 17 Arrests For People Trying to Prey On Children
Alex Lloyd Gross FILE PHOTO DELAWARE VALLEY NEWS.COM District Attorney Jen Schorn speaks at a previous media event in Bensalem.
by Alex Lloyd Gross
It happen too often. A teenager or even a young child will be on social media and start talking with an adult. At times, these conversations turn sexual in nature after first gaining the confidence of the child. Before long, a predator will ask for naked photos or perhaps they will send naked photos of themselves. Fortunately, many times when they do this, it’s not a child on the other end of the chat, it’s an undercover detective.
“Once they send a photo that’s not appropriate, that’s all we need”, Bill McVey, Director Of Public Safety said at a different event, when asked about this. On occasion, the predator on the other end of the computer will arrange a visit to meet the child in Bensalem. Usually at a shopping center or public place. When they arrive, the predator finds there never was a child. They get arrested and charged.
17 times this year, Yesterday, authorities showed off the predators they caught. Six were arrested for possession or distribution of child pornography, five were arrested for online solicitation of sex with a minor, and six took the addition step of traveling to Bensalem to meet a minor for sex in Bensalem. Those six went to the location with condoms or candy, McVey said.
District Attorney Jen Schorn said that the police have been unrelenting in their pursuit of child predators and her office will be unrelenting in the prosecution of them. “There is no more worthy of a cause than protecting our children,” Schorn said.
Posting the arrests has not been a deterrent to individuals seeking to have illicit contact with children, according to McVey. Two of those arrested were previous Megan’s Law offenders, according to police. .