Yukon Mom Warns Parents After Son Talks Online To Accused Sexual Predator

A Yukon mother is warning other parents about online sexual predators.

Wednesday, July 2nd 2014, 7:18 pm

By: News 9


A Yukon mother is warning other parents about online sexual predators.

Tammy Smith found her 14-year-old son talking to a grown man who investigators said was posing as a teenage girl online.

Mike Goddard is now in the Canadian County Jail on three child sex charges, and investigators presented eight more charges to the Canadian County District Attorney for consideration.

"Seeing that a grown man was so aggressively pursuing my son and trying to get him to meet was just shocking to me," Tammy Smith said.

Smith said she wants to expose the dangers of social media and the predators lurking online.

"For me, it was shock, because we are really the kind of parents that stay on top of their media use," explained Smith. "They're not allowed to have social media, no Twitter or Facebook or Snapchat or any of that kind of stuff."

Smith said she was checking out her 14-year-old son's social media activity and found messages with a 14-year-old girl.

Lt. Adam Flowers with the Canadian County Sheriff's Office said the girl is not real, and the teen boy was actually talking to Goddard.

7/1/2014 Related Story: 3 Arrested In Separate Child Pornography Stings Around OKC Metro

"This is the new, ‘I've got candy, get in my van' type of crime, because just like bad guys, they evolve and they use technology," Lt. Flowers said.

Lt. Flowers said Goddard was posing as a teenage girl on several social media sites and apps to have sexual conversations with boys 13 to 15 years old.

Lt. Flowers said Goddard convinced Smith's son to send nude pictures and talked about meeting up for sex.

Authorities said when they arrested Goddard, he admitted to contacting more than 100 young boys.

"Every day this week, I've had at least a parent call that we've confirmed Mr. Goddard has had communication with their child," Lt. Flowers said.

Smith said parents need to be nosy when it comes to their children.

She said she thought she watched her son like a hawk, and he was still able to hide his social media activity by using his friends' cell phones and mobile devices to chat online.

"The biggest thing for me was fear, because this man lives so close to our home and he was so aggressive that I know if my son had had the opportunity to meet, he might have," Smith told News 9.

Goddard is currently in jail on $100,000 bond.

The Canadian County Sheriff's Office has asked parents to check their children's Facebook accounts to see if they are friends with the fake profile Goddard set up.

If so, Lt. Flowers said Goddard may have sent sexually explicit messages to the child.

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