Parents can avoid online dangers

A LeRoy teen is being reunited with her parents after missing for close to a week. Police say 17-year-old Tiffany Stapleton was located in Perry County, Tenn., Thursday night. She allegedly hitch-hiked with 20-year-old Kevin Bartig, who she met on MySpace.com more than two weeks ago.           

Bartig’s now being charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The district attorney’s office in Tennessee was considering a kidnapping charge but decided not to file it.

Stapleton’s parents realized she was missing just a couple of days after they learned Bartig had been living in their daughter’s bedroom. Officials say parents can a learn a lesson from this case.

"It just shows parents need to be conscious of where their kids are going on the Internet,” said Chief Chris Hayward of the LeRoy Police Department.

And the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says parents need to ask as many questions as they would if their teen was going out to a party on a Saturday night.

"Similar questions need to be asked when kids are using the Internet,” said Debra Ortiz-Pardi of the National Center. “What sites are they allowed to go to?;  how long can they spend on the computer?; and who can they talk to online?."

Experts say cases involving online sites and kidnapping have increased. Already this year, one case worker says 65 percent of his cases involved the Internet. And they say action from parents might help those missing children cases go down.

"Take computers out of the kids bedrooms,” Ortiz-Pardi said. “Keep computers in the common area of the household so parents can monitor."

But parents are not totally to blame. Responsibility also falls on the shoulders of the kids surfing the web.

"The reality is the child can control what they put online,” Ortiz-Pardi said. “They can control their images online, so we tell kids, don't give out personal information."

Officials suspect that’s how the LeRoy teen formed a relationship with Bartig, who was living in Florida at the time they started talking. Althought he’s not being charged as an online predator, officials say Bartig might just be the type of person who teens and their parents need to look out for online.

"That's the type of people that are hooking up with these girls on the Internet,” Hayward said. “As the father of two daughters, I'm a little (worried too)."