Featured Image Credit: Roblox Corporation, Andrea Ferrario via Unsplash
Topics: PC, Mobile Games, no article matching
Topics: PC, Mobile Games, no article matching
Content Warning: this article contains references to sensitive topics, including sexual assault, which some readers may find upsetting - discretion is advised.
A 33-year-old man from Georgia has been arrested after allegedly kidnapping and raping a 13-year-old girl he met on Roblox.
After speaking to her on the game for two days, Howard Graham reportedly convinced the girl to leave her home in Kansas, before picking her up and driving her around 900 miles away to his home in Clayton County. Police believe that the victim, who has been found alive, was sexually assaulted “many times” during the days she was held captive. Graham was arrested at his job on 1 March, and has been charged with sex trafficking, kidnapping, and rape.
As reported by the Miami Herald, Captain John Ivey of the Clayton County Police Department told a press conference that Graham met the victim on 18 February, and took her from her home on 20 February. She reportedly became uneasy after a couple of days, and was able to send a message to her mother through Roblox on 24 February, and shared the address of a Dollar General store she’d been taken to.
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“We’re truly lucky we found this young girl and she was alive,” Ivey said. “I wish people would pay more attention to what their kids are doing… Predators will go on and prey on little kids.”
Speaking to the BBC, Roblox spokesman James Kay said he was “deeply saddened” to hear about the case, and that he would cooperate with the investigation. He said: “We have stringent safety systems and a team of thousands of moderators who enforce a strict set of community standards on Roblox, including zero tolerance for sexual content of any kind... Safety on Roblox is at the core of everything we do.”
Police are reportedly currently searching Graham’s belongings for evidence to determine whether or not he may have targeted any other children. The 13-year-old victim has been returned safely to her home.