New Hampshire sees spike in online predators targeting children: 'Flooded with cases'

Yahoo

11-03-2025

Law enforcement officials say prosecutions of internet crimes against children are ramping up in response to an increase in online predators.
Just last week, Seabrook police officer John Giarrusso III, 48, was charged by the Haverhill, Massachusetts Police Department with possession of child sex abuse images. Police allege uploaded graphic videos on the social media chat app Kik and had explicit conversations with underage girls.
Last month, the Rockingham County Attorney's office indicted 25-year-old Shaun Beckwith of Higganum, Connecticut, on 12 charges alleging he used Snapchat to communicate with a 16-year-old girl in Seabrook. They said he coerced the girl into sharing sexual images and committing sex acts.
The charges allege he sent a picture of his genitals to the girl, as well as asked her to send photos of her breasts. Police allege he asked the girl to 'engage in sexual activity for the purpose of creating a visual representation,' according to indictments. That included performing 'oral sex' and engaging in 'sexual penetration,' they state.
Rockingham County Attorney Patricia Conway said technology has long been available to predators looking to meet and abuse children online. Still, she and others in law enforcement say there has been an uptick in those crimes recently.
Just last year, 57-year-old Todd Burnim, a former Kensington EMT, was jailed for 50 years for possession of child sexual abuse images. Prosecutors heard testimony from one alleged victim he met them on a Chatroulette-style website and led her to a chat on the app Kik.
'Unfortunately, we are seeing this type of criminal behavior more and more,' Conway said.
More: Seabrook police officer allegedly shared child sex abuse images on Kik, solicted minors
New Hampshire law enforcement officials from around the state say they are seeing an increase in internet crimes against children.
Portsmouth Police Lt. Eric Kinsman, who leads New Hampshire's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, said ICAC received just above 1,900 cyber tips reporting those crimes in 2023. Last year, the task force received more than 2,400.
The tips come from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which collects tips from around the country and forwards them to ICACs in each of the 50 states, depending on the location where they occur, according to Kinsman. He said the center for works with close to 2,000 electronic service providers, including popular social media networks like Facebook and Instagram.
Service providers are bound by law to report any traffic related to child sexual abuse images, Kinsman said. That includes monitoring keywords in chats, which allows authorities to determine if a predator is trying to set up an in-person meeting with a child.
Kinsman said the uptick in cyber crimes against children is in part due to the increased ability to report such crimes through what he called a 'massive collaborative effort' to identify them. He also said that technology in recent years has also improved to allow for increased anonymity online that did not exist in past years.
'You can have many different levels of anonymity online than you ever could before,' Kinsman said.
Kinsman also said authorities observed a rise in cyber tips after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when more people stayed inside and spent more time online. Last year, he said in an interview with Seacoastonline that ICAC received an average of 35 to 50 cyber tips a month reporting acts of child exploitation. That rose to 150 to 200 per month after the pandemic began.
'We're so flooded with cases that as soon as we finish one, we have to immediately move on to the next,' Kinsman said. 'There are hundreds more.'
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Authorities recommend parents talk to their children about the dangers of the internet and the threat of predators. Kinsman said parents sometimes underestimate the dangers of social media. He said he is sympathetic to parents who may not know what age to allow access to social media or use of a cellphone.
'I think parents just simply aren't aware of all the dangers that are out there for our kids,' Kinsman said.
In York, Police Lt. Luke Ernenwein said internet crimes are up involving not only children but also scams against elderly people. While he did not want to comment on how parents should raise their children, he suggested that parents monitor their children's social media activity.
'I think you would find, because of the knowledge and seeing it, most police officers' children probably get social media accounts at a later date,' Ernenwein said.
NH State Police Lt. Tamara Hester said parents should be aware that most apps contain a messenger feature that lets users communicate across the platform. She said they should check the privacy settings on apps that their children use and limit the information available to people viewing their profile.
'They definitely don't want to advertise where their location is,' Hester said.
Hampton Police Chief Alex Reno said parents need to realize strangers are not the only people who could be using the internet to communicate with their children.
'Sometimes these sorts of events can occur with known people,' Reno said. 'It's making sure you know what's going on with your children and having regular conversations about safety, not only with computers.'
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: NH sees spike in online predators targeting children