Jarrod Thigpen (Manor Police Department)
MANOR, Texas - An Austin man has been arrested for soliciting sex from a 14-year-old girl in Manor.
The Manor Police Department says officers and detectives arrested Jarrod Thigpen after he drove to a location in Manor to meet with the girl whom he met online. He also sent sexually explicit images to her.
Thigpen was also found to be in possession of a firearm.
Thigpen has been charged with third-degree felony online solicitation of a minor and Class A misdemeanor unlawful carrying of a weapon.
Manor police are urging parents to speak with their children about the potential dangers they could encounter online.
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The FBI says it often sees crimes against children begin when an adult forges a relationship with a child online, then later arranges to meet and abuse them and/or coerces the child into producing sexually explicit images or videos through manipulation, gifts or threats, also known as sextortion.
The FBI also offers the following advice to parents to help protect their kids:
- Educate yourself about the websites, software, games, and apps that your children use
- Check their social media and gaming profiles and posts. Have conversations about what is appropriate to say or share
- Explain to your kids that once images or comments are posted online they can be shared with anyone and never truly disappear
- Make sure your kids use privacy settings to restrict access to their online profiles
- Tell your children to be extremely wary when communicating with anyone online who they do not know in real life
- Encourage kids to choose appropriate screen names and create strong passwords
- Make it a rule with your kids that they can't arrange to meet up with someone they met online without your knowledge and supervision.
- Stress to your children that making any kind of threat online—even if they think it's a joke—is a crime
- Report any inappropriate contact between an adult and your child to law enforcement immediately. Notify the site they were using, too
For more information from the FBI, click here.