BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Sergio Estrada, 20, charged with child abduction after allegedly meeting a 14-year-old girl on Fortnite.
- The girl was reported missing by her mother, who believed Estrada took her to Santa Ana.
- Estrada pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges, including child stealing and contacting a minor for sexual offenses.
- Cybersecurity expert Robert Miles emphasizes the importance of monitoring children's online activities.
- Parents are urged to have discussions about online safety and to actively engage with their children's digital life.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Another unfortunate case of a child allegedly being abducted through video games in Kern County. Luckily, she's reunited with her parents.
Judge Samantha K. G. Allen states, "Sergio Estrada, there are 5 felony counts filed against you. I will request a public defender on your behalf."
Sergio Estrada of Santa Ana is the man in orange making a court appearance on Friday.
A public defender entered a plea of not guilty to all felonies on his behalf, including child stealing, exhibiting harmful material to a minor, and contacting a minor to commit a sexual offense. Wednesday morning on the 2400 block of Kentucky Street, sheriff's deputies responded to a disturbing phone call from a mother of a 14-year-old girl.
In police reports, the mother claimed her 14-year-old daughter met 20-year-old Sergio Estrada on the gaming platform Fortnite.
Where you pick a creator in a open world simulation of a fighting world.
The mother believed Estrada fled with her daughter to Santa Ana in Orange County.
Detectives later found out the minor and Estrada had been communicating via social media and through the gaming platform for two years.
During the investigation, it was determined Estrada was at a residence in east Bakersfield with the young girl.
Robert Miles is CEO of Grapevine MSP, a cybersecurity company. He's also a father of three and tells me raising a child in the digital world isn't easy.
Miles says, "Every device I get, Dad gets it first. I go through it. I go through all the parental controls. I read through and turn them all off, and I play the games with my kids. They don't get a game until Dad gets it."
Miles has these tips to keep kids from becoming easy prey: monitoring your child's screen time on video games and social media, if your child meets an online friend, meet them with them, install software that monitors your child's online activity, have them use devices in rooms you can monitor them, and have the tough conversation of online safety.
Miles explains, "It's a hard thing to explain. When we were kids, we would talk about puppies and candy and picking kids up. That's what we were taught.
The difference is it's not a guy in a van down by the road that you meet one time.
This is someone who's coming into your home every day and talking to your child, and you just have to let your kids know the ground rules and this is what is acceptable.
You need to be the paranoid one, not the child.
Here's more information on the last case in the state of California 23 ABC reported on.
Sergio Estrada is being held on one hundred thousand dollars bail at the Kern County Jail.
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