SUFFOLK, Va. - Twenty-nine-year-old Jordan Willoughby was arrested for attempted production of child pornography, online coercion and enticement of a minor and transportation of child pornography.
The investigation started when Snapchat alerted authorities about suspected child pornography being uploaded on a device.
They said the same email allegedly uploaded other images on a Kik account in October 2019.
Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Willoughby’s home on December 8, 2021.
Court records state that he allegedly admitted that he had been chatting with underage girls online and pretending he was a 15-year-old boy.
It states he used a social media photo of a 19-year-old man to send to underage girls online.
Records indicate that law enforcement looked through his phone and allegedly found conversations with people who identified as minor girls.
As an example, it states one alleged conversation on Snapchat was with a person stating she was a 13- year-old girl on December 1, 2021. Willoughby allegedly paid the girl via Cash App for inappropriate images of herself.
Willoughby is scheduled to have a court hearing on December 15 at 2:30 p.m.
We reached out to his public defender who said he had no comment or statement at this time about the case.
In May 2020, the US Attorney’s Office in Michigan released the following tips for parents:
- Discuss Internet safety with children of all ages that are online. Many children do not realize that people may not be who they claim to be online. Similarly, many do not understand that someone who seems like a friend online could have a deviant motive.
- Set limits around who your children are allowed to communicate with. You may consider limiting young children to communicating only with people you have personally met. For older children, you may consider limiting them to communicating only with people they have met in person.
- Set limits around the kinds of devices and applications your children use. Online child sexual predators often use new technologies to avoid detection by law enforcement. If your child is using an application you have not heard of before, consider researching the application online or testing it out using your child’s account.
- Use technology to protect them. Many devices and programs allow parents to set parameters around which applications children may use and for how long. Similarly, many of these programs allow parents to see what their children are doing while using those applications.
- Pay attention to warning signs. Children who are sexually exploited are often embarrassed and hesitate to tell parents or other authority figures about their experiences. Pay attention if your child is withdrawing or changing their mood while their Internet activity increases.
- Report suspected abuse. Reporting can help minimize or stop further victimization. If you believe your child has been sexually exploited online, contact the United States Attorney’s Office, your local F.B.I. office, or report online.
