(WWJ) Authorities in Oakland County are urging parents to keep a close eye on their children's online activities, after a little girl was targeted by a sexual predator.
Back on June 23, Bloomfield Township Police were called by a Bloomfield mother who'd discovered an inappropriate relationship between her 8-year-old daughter and a stranger.
The woman told police her daughter plays an online game called Roblox and had befriended a man who called himself “John," who was able to persuade the child to send him videos of her in exchange for online currency used in the game.
When the girl's iPad was brought to the Bloomfield Township Investigations Unit for examination, police said they quickly discovered over 20 videos of the girl, in various stages of undress.
With a forensic audit of the iPad and several search warrants, investigators were able to identify “John” as 48-year-old Clinton McElroy of Ellis, Kansas.
Bloomfield Police then called the Ellis County Sheriff’s Department, which revealed they had arrested McElroy — who is a registered Sex Offender in Kansas — for a similar offense in 2017.
After a search of McElroy's home last week, he was booked into the Ellis County Jail on charges of Sexual Exploitation of a Child and Aggravated Internet Trading in Child Pornography.
Bond was set at $1 million at an arraignment Friday, and McElroy remains jailed awaiting his next court date.
As the investigation continues, the Bloomfield Police Department want to encourages parents to make it a priority to talk with their children about their online activity, and to routinely monitor what their kids are doing online.