A convicted Pedophile Poses as Pop Star To Get Naked Pictures: Niall Horan shocked as pedophile uses his identity to get girls to send naked photos.

Ever heard of One Direction, one of the new the boy bands that pre-teen and teen girls are wild about?  My own daughter asked me today if I had heard about the guy that pretended to be Niaal Horan, one of the members of the band, in order to get teen girls to send nude pictures of themselves.  Wow.  No, I had not heard that but that is upsetting on many levels.

Of course, I went to the computer to get more details … here they are:

Simon Heale, a 37-year-old sex offender previously convicted in the UK for child rape, has been jailed again for soliciting Internet sex acts from children under Niall Horan’s name, the Irish Independent reported. Heale told girls, most of whom were between 13 and 15, that if they sent him videos of sex acts, they’d be able to talk to Niall Horan in an online chat room.  (Apparently he also pretended to be Justin Bieber sometimes too.) He sometimes alternated Horan’s name for Justin Bieber’s.

His plan elicited more than 180 videos from girls worldwide!  Even more disturbing that included in the videos sent were two of girls performing sex acts with their younger male RELATIVES.   Heale also convinced the girls to send him topless photos of themselves.

The detective involved with the case state that both Horan and Bieber as “shocked and appalled.” Heale will serve at least a decade in prison, but the judge specified in his sentence that Heale might never leave jail, the Independent reported.

Parents around the globe need to wake up to what is going on when their kids go online.  I know parents have the need to build trust but they also need to protect their kids.  I am sure many parents would be very upset to find out their girl sent a nude picture to a teen rock star.  Of course this anguish is compounded when she sent it to a convicted sex offender.

The computer is a horrible babysitter.  Wake up and get engaged in the who, what, where of your kids and the online world.  Chances are, you will find many teachable moments and many times they need your protection.

Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/Pedophile-posed-as-Niall-Horan-to-solicit-naked-photos-from-young-girls-164398746.html#ixzz23juiUvR8

AUTHOR OVERVIEW

Lisa Shaw Senior Director, Child Online Safety and Protection at SpectorSoft

What do five kids ranging in age from kindergarten to high school, a Harvard MBA and years of protecting kids online get you? It gets you Lisa Shaw, COO of her very busy household, and a Senior Director at SpectorSoft, the number one leader in monitoring and protecting your kids online. She's an expert on the technology and trends that you need to arm yourself with to be the best parent you can be in today’s digital world.

Tags: pedophile targets teen girls, sexcasting, sexting