Child safety concerns arise as day care faces allegations of sex assault

 

CMPD has been informed of a sex assault allegation at Castles Daycare Academy in east Charlotte.

Author: James Brierton (WCNC), Nathaniel Puente

Published: 3:53 PM EST February 17, 2025

Updated: 6:26 AM EST February 18, 2025

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A 3-year-old boy was allegedly sexually assaulted at a day care facility in east Charlotte, according to a police report filed with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department.

Investigators are working to determine if the boy was assaulted at 4920 East W.T. Harris Boulevard, which WCNC Charlotte found to be the address for Castles Daycare Academy. Child care facilities of different names also appear to have used this address in previous years. According to the police report, CMPD was made aware of an alleged assault, which reportedly occurred between the dates of Jan. 10 and Feb. 15. The report identified the victim only as a 3-year-old boy.

WCNC Charlotte called the day care. The woman who answered the phone denied the allegations, calling them a lie. She claimed the employee accused of the assault had worked at the facility for a year. The woman on the phone declined to say whether the worker was still employed there. The child has reportedly not returned to the day care, according to the woman on the phone.

Castles Daycare Academy is an accredited day care inspected regularly by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The facility was first given a temporary license in July 2024 after moving to this location. The current first was warded in September 2024 with the last inspection coming unannounced in August 2024. The facility received 13 total violations during the August inspection.

While none of those violations are related to sexual assault, some point to the possibility of putting a child into a potentially dangerous environment. For example, the day care was found to be in violation because employees did not review a policy regarding shaken baby syndrome and abuse head trauma. Additionally, the day care was cited for not providing a safe environment -- indoor and outdoor -- for the children. The inspection also found a toxic plant accessible to children. The inspection also noted fire drills were not practiced monthly. 

State inspections of child care facilities can be viewed on the websites for the North Carolina DHHS or South Carolina Child Care.

Contact Austin Walker at awalker@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.

Inside the FBI Podcast: Endangered Child Alert Program

 

On this episode of our podcast, we’ll learn why ECAP exists, how the program works, and how tips from the public can help us rescue child victims and bring those who seek to harm children to justice.

Listen to this episode on:

  

Transcript 

According to Jurden, the best ECAP tips include as many identifiers about the individual—like name and residence—as possible so that the FBI can conduct an investigation.

The webpage at fbi.gov/ecap also includes a link to a Seeking Information poster that features images of items that may assist in identifying locations where child victims may have been abused and where unidentified suspects might still be holding them. 

Any information about where these photos may have been taken could help us bring another victim home and another offender to justice. If even a tiny detail of an item shown in a photo looks familiar or otherwise jogs your memory, we implore you to reach out to the FBI.

Oprihory: ECAP’s full-court press strategy has led to the successful identification of almost 40 unknown individuals, to date.

Jurden: One of our successes was one that we recently launched. Within 48 hours, we were able to identify that subject based on the tips that we received from the public, which helped us out immensely.

I have four agents and three analysts, and they're exceptional and passionate about the program. And I'm hoping, down the line, we get bigger so that we can evolve and even work harder at finding more victims and finding these subjects, as well.

Our sole responsibility, in the grand scheme of things, is to save and rescue victims.

Oprihory: Visit fbi.gov/vcac—that’s fbi.gov/V-C-A-C—to learn more about the FBI’s efforts to investigate violent crimes against children, and resources you can use to help keep your children safe.

This has been another production of Inside the FBI. You can follow us on your favorite podcast player, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. You can also subscribe to email alerts about new episodes at fbi.gov/podcasts. I’m Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory from the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs. Thanks for listening.

Visit tips.fbi.gov

Email RescueMe@fbi.gov

Call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or 1-800-225-5324;

Contact a Crimes Against Children Investigator at your local FBI field office; or

Reach out to your nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.

Follow Us  

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Authorities search area near where Lina Khil went missing in 2021

Updated Fri, February 16th 2024 at 1:36 PM

by SBG San Antonio Staff Reports

SAN ANTONIO - A fresh tip has led San Antonio police to launch a new search in connection with the disappearance of 3-year-old Lina Khil, who went missing in December 2021.

SAPD officers have been scouring a wooded area not far from the apartment complex off Fredericksburg Rd. where Lina was last seen alive near the complex's playground on Dec. 20, 2021.

Police received the new tip about Lina's disappearance Wednesday night, prompting investigators to focus on the greenway off Gardendale St. and Bluemel Rd, just a couple blocks away from where she vanished. Officers have been joined by CSI technicians, K9 units and FBI agents.

The area is quite familiar to Lina's family. It takes less than one minute to drive from the search site to the apartments where Lina disappeared.

"This was one of the first areas that we searched," said Khil family spokesperson Pamela Allen. "Also, I know that SAPD came back here and searched this area as well."

Police would not elaborate on the nature of the tip that brought them back here, but they did say they plan to be here for a while. They've already brought in at least one Porta Potty.

"We'll be here out until we're confident that we find something or we don't find anything," said Officer Ricardo Guzman. "We're doing our part, and this is an active investigation."

Lina's father Riaz spent much of Thursday morning and afternoon watching the search from a distance.

"I want to tell you, this father's heart is broken," Allen said. "He continues to search and look for answers."

Around mid-afternoon, Allen said she'd spoken to investigators about the status of their search and was told they were waiting on equipment. When she asked if the equipment was for digging, they said no.

"When I asked again what type of equipment, whether it was something that maybe can take an X-ray, they said yes," she explained. "They are looking for a body."

Many of the people who live in the Helix Apartments near the search site have have been following the search since Wednesday night.

"They're still here and I'm like, 'What's going on, do they have anything going on," said resident Pancho Martinez. "Did they find anything?"

An SAPD spokesperson says they understand the attention this search has garnered.

"This case affected the city of San Antonio pretty heavily two years ago," said Officer Guzman. "People still talk about this case. We still have it pinned to the top of the SAPD Facebook page."

This new search comes just one day after Lina's family met with SAPD to voice their frustrations about the case.

"They feel that the communication has not been forthcoming," said Allen. "And so in that meeting yesterday, it was to clear the air."

All this, two years and two months since little Lina was seen alive.

"February 20th, Lina will be turning six," added Allen. "We're just gonna pray for a good outcome."

Child Sexual Exploitation

Child sexual exploitation refers to the sexual abuse of a person below the age of 18, as well as to the production of images of such abuse and the sharing of those images online.

Online child sexual exploitation is a constantly evolving phenomenon and is shaped by developments in technology. Mobile connectivity, growing internet coverage in developing countries and the development of pay-as-you-go streaming solutions, which provide a high degree of anonymity to the viewer, are furthering the trend in the commercial live-streaming of child sexual abuse.

As a form of cybercrime, child sexual exploitation is one of the EU’s priorities in the fight against serious and organised crime as part of EMPACT 2022 - 2025.

Europol has identified key threats in the area of child sexual exploitation:

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and anonymised access like Darknet networks (e.g. Tor). These computer environments remain the main platform to access child abuse material and the principal means for non-commercial distribution. These are invariably attractive for offenders and easy to use. The greater level of anonymity and the strong networking possibilities offered by hidden internet that exists beneath the “surface web” appear to make criminals more comfortable in offending and discussing their sexual interests.

Live-streaming of child sexual abuse. Facilitated by new technology, one trend concerns the profit-driven abuse of children overseas, live in front of a camera at the request of westerners.

To a lesser degree, there is also some evidence that forms of commercial child sexual exploitation such as on-demand live streaming of abuse is also contributing to the rise of the amount of CSEM online.

Live distant child abuse has the most obvious links with commercial distribution of CSEM. As new and/or unseen CSEM is valuable currency within the offending community, live distant abuse is therefore a way to not only acquire more CSEM, but to simultaneously generate material with a high ‘value’.

Online solicitation and sexual extortion. The growing number of children and teenagers who own smartphones has been accompanied by the production of self-generated indecent material. Such material, initially shared with innocent intent, often finds its way to “collectors”, who often proceed to exploit the victim, in particular by means of extortion.

Networking and forensic awareness of offenders. Offenders learn from the mistakes of those that have been apprehended by law enforcement.

The Kids Off Social Media Act Misses the Mark on Children’s Online Safety

By Ash Johnson and Alex Ambrose

February 6, 2025

As part of the ongoing debate surrounding children’s online safety, Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Katie Britt (R-AL) reintroduced the Kids Off Social Media Act (KOSMA), which the Senate Commerce Committee advanced on February 5, 2025. The bill would prohibit users under the age of 13 from using social media entirely, prohibit recommendation algorithms for users under the age of 17, and require schools to restrict social media access on federally funded networks. Like other recent children’s online safety bills, KOSMA has many flaws, namely that it complicates compliance for platforms that already disallow children below age 13 and limits users’ ability to fully customize their online experience.

In a statement on the bill, Sen. Cruz outlined his intentions for KOSMA: To “combat the harms social media poses to children,” including predatory adults, content that promotes risky behavior, and content that negatively affects children’s self-esteem. Everyone, including social media platforms themselves, can agree that certain online content or activities can negatively impact children. However, social media also has many benefits for children and teens, such as facilitating communication, education, entertainment, and community-building. Like other children’s online safety bills, KOSMA fails to balance reducing the risk of harm with magnifying the benefits of social media.

KOSMA rightfully observes that all the major social media platforms already prohibit children under the age of 13. Online services restrict these users because the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) imposes additional requirements on platforms with users under the age of 13. At the same time, KOSMA does not require platforms to use age verification to ensure they have no users below age 13. As a result, this bill accomplishes nothing that platforms do not already do in terms of restricting young children from their services.

However, KOSMA creates a regulatory challenge for social media platforms. With regard to underage users, COPPA holds platforms to an “actual knowledge” standard—online services are obligated to act when they are aware and have no doubt that a minor under the age of 13 uses the service. But KOSMA uses a “reasonable knowledge” standard—online services must act if there is a high likelihood that a user is below the age of 13. COPPA’s actual knowledge standard allows online services to protect children without significantly increasing compliance costs, whereas KOSMA’s reasonable knowledge standard is so broad and ill-defined that it would raise compliance costs and subject platforms to an increased risk of liability, even when attempting to comply in good faith.

KOSMA also prohibits personalized recommendation systems for users under the age of 17. Social media users should be able to choose the experiences they prefer, whether that be chronological feeds or algorithmic ones that prioritize content based on users’ profiles. Indeed, many platforms already give users this choice, and most users prefer personalized recommendation systems. Banning these systems would cut children and teenagers off from the benefits of algorithmic feeds, which recommend content users are more likely to find interesting and make it much easier for users to discover new content.

KOSMA does include exceptions for social media platforms to use certain, very limited types of data to personalize children’s feeds, but this does not include important data such as children’s interests or content they have interacted with in the past. Ultimately, KOSMA assumes personalized recommendations are always harmful, meaning these rules would also prohibit social media sites from creating customized feeds that could boost positive content encouraging acts of kindness, self-care, educational curiosity, and healthy living habits.

Though it attempts to differentiate itself from other children’s online safety bills, ultimately this bill is more of the same, with many of the same problems present in other proposals. KOSMA complicates platforms’ compliance and limits users’ ability to customize their experience. Additionally, because it does not preempt state law, KOSMA will further muddy the waters in the conflicting patchwork of state laws in the United States. KOSMA—and other children’s online safety bills up for debate—needs further improvement before Congress passes children’s online safety legislation.

Instead of resorting to blanket bans or proposals that target core features of social media such as algorithms, Congress should pass legislation to establish a standardized child-flag system, giving parents and guardians greater control over their children’s online safety. Under this system, all users would be presumed adults unless marked as children, with platforms checking for this flag when accessing age-restricted content. This approach would be less burdensome for platforms, parents, children, and adult social media users, and would strike a better balance between enabling children and teens to access the benefits of online spaces while gatekeeping them from inappropriate content.

TBI Arrests, Charges Shelbyville Man in Ongoing Child Exploitation Case

 

TBINEWSROOM.COM

FEBRUARY 6, 2025 | MIDDLE TENNESSEE

BEDFORD COUNTY – Special agents assigned to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Cybercrime & Digital Evidence Unit have arrested and charged a Shelbyville man accused of soliciting a sexual relationship with a juvenile and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Agents began investigating the case after receiving information from the San Bernardino (CA) Police Department concerning a juvenile who reported a man solicited her for an online sexual relationship through the online games Roblox and Call of Duty. Authorities soon identified the man as Ricky Lee Bonifant, Jr. (DOB 10/8/1984). As the investigation progressed, agents additionally determined Bonifant possessed and distributed CSAM on several online platforms.

On Wednesday, agents arrested the Shelbyville man and charged him with two counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, one count of Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, one count of Solicitation of a Minor, and two counts of Solicitation of a Minor by Electronic Means. Agents subsequently booked Bonifant into the Bedford County Jail, where, at the time of this release, he remained in custody with a bond set at $100,000.

The charges and allegations referenced in this release are merely accusations of criminal conduct and not evidence. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and convicted through due process of law.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is an ICAC affiliate of the Tennessee ICAC Task Force. Anyone with information about these cases or other cases of online child exploitation should contact the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Tipline at 1-800-TBI-FIND, TipsToTBI@tbi.tn.gov, or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org.

Parents seeking additional information about cybercrime, child exploitation, and how best to safeguard their loved ones can visit www.NetSmartz.org for a variety of topical, age-appropriate resources.

Inside the FBI Podcast: Endangered Child Alert Program

Listen to this episode on:

  

For more podcasting platforms, please view our listing on transistor.fm or subscribe to episodes with email.

Transcript

According to Jurden, the best ECAP tips include as many identifiers about the individual—like name and residence—as possible so that the FBI can conduct an investigation.

The webpage at fbi.gov/ecap also includes a link to a Seeking Information poster that features images of items that may assist in identifying locations where child victims may have been abused and where unidentified suspects might still be holding them. 

Any information about where these photos may have been taken could help us bring another victim home and another offender to justice. If even a tiny detail of an item shown in a photo looks familiar or otherwise jogs your memory, we implore you to reach out to the FBI.

Oprihory: ECAP’s full-court press strategy has led to the successful identification of almost 40 unknown individuals, to date.

Jurden: One of our successes was one that we recently launched. Within 48 hours, we were able to identify that subject based on the tips that we received from the public, which helped us out immensely.

I have four agents and three analysts, and they're exceptional and passionate about the program. And I'm hoping, down the line, we get bigger so that we can evolve and even work harder at finding more victims and finding these subjects, as well.

Our sole responsibility, in the grand scheme of things, is to save and rescue victims.

Oprihory: Visit fbi.gov/vcac—that’s fbi.gov/V-C-A-C—to learn more about the FBI’s efforts to investigate violent crimes against children, and resources you can use to help keep your children safe.

This has been another production of Inside the FBI. You can follow us on your favorite podcast player, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. You can also subscribe to email alerts about new episodes at fbi.gov/podcasts. I’m Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory from the FBI’s Office of Public Affairs. Thanks for listening.