Cousins! A Michigan mom is speaking out to fellow parents issuing valuable advice after her young teen daughter encountered a life threatening incident involving a Illinois male she met online!
“He just said that he was interested, you know? Because it was about video games. In general, talking about interests and stuff like that,”said the victim’s mom who wanted to keep her identity undisclosed.
The mother says 18 year old Julian Antonio Pinedo targeted her daughter by pretending to be a 16 year old boy and used different strategies to obtain their home address. “All he did was say, ‘Hey, if I’m ever in Michigan, I’ll come and look you up and we can hang out.’ That was it. General friendly talking. Nothing to exploit about sexual encounters or any of that stuff,” she recalled.
Reports read that Julian traveled from Illinois to Michigan to visit the teen after discovering she was at her Springfield Township home alone. On Wednesday January 28th just a little after midnight local authorities entered the teen’s home to discover her bleeding out on a bedroom floor.
Julian is said to have stabbed her after she refused to engage in sexual intercourse with him. He is said to have stabbed her with an 8 inch knife he purchased within the White Lake Township area on his way to the teen’s home. Sadly the teen was stabbed several times and is currently listed in critical condition.
Officials state that Julian fled the scene; he was arrested shortly after contacting 911 dispatch. He is currently facing charges of assault with an attempt to murder, reports ABC 13 news.
“The victim is stable and seems to be holding her own,” Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. “We have taken an important step to hold the perpetrator accountable by arraigning him on serious charges today. I look forward to that proceeding.”
Julian is in police custody and being held at the Oakland County Jail on a bond of $2 million dollars. He is scheduled for court next week on Feb. 7.
Retired MSP inspector Ellis Stafford advises parents to closely watch over any series of devices and passwords their children utilize. That includes gaming sites and apps that have chat features about gaming.
“Be nosy. If you have a child spending an inordinate amount of time on their phone, online gaming, that should raise a red flag,” Stafford said.
He also encourages parents to enforce that their children never give out personal information such as an address. Ellis also suggests settings up blurred backgrounds while on camera to avoid strangers from distinguishing any landmarks etc.
“Never go meet anybody and use real-life examples to show your kids how these incidents have ended in tragedy,” Stafford said. Cousins, be sure to check out some additional steps to assure your child’s safety.
- Educating your kids that people often are not who they say they are.
- Setting limits to only talking with people parents have met personally.
- Limiting new apps or technology predators use to avoid detection.
- Watching for mood changes indicating embarrassment or stress over activity.
- Looking at chats underage children are having and for any probing questions being asked.