An Elk Grove man is accused of kidnapping a 10-year-old girl he played with in the popular video game Roblox, officials said.
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Matthew Macatuno Naval, 27, was taken to the Sacramento County jail on kidnapping and sex crimes with a child, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said.
Roblox allows players to create their own content and games within the platform. It also allows users to play online with others.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office said that around 10 a.m. Sunday, deputies went to Cypress Street in Taft for a report of a missing child. Family members told deputies that the last time they saw the girl was at home the night before.
“We were just all hands on deck to get this victim back to their family as soon as possible,” said Lori Meza, public information officer with the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives began looking into the case when deputies got information from friends that the child may have been kidnapped, the sheriff’s office said. They learned that the child was communicating with Naval through Roblox and Discord, an app that allows communication through text, voice and video.
Detectives made an emergency request to gain access to the site
“A search warrant would take far too long. So we rely on the availability and the goodwill of some of these companies to just respond to our emergency request,” Meza said.
The sheriff’s office asked the Elk Grove Police Department for help in this case, and officers found Naval nearly 300 miles away with the girl in his car at a strip mall near where he lives. Authorities took the child into protective custody until the family reunited with the 10-year-old and arrested Naval.
Amar Gandhi, a spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, said Kern County officials transferred Naval into their custody on Wednesday. He’s charged with kidnapping, lewd act with a child and distributing harmful matter to a child.
“Parents, monitor all electronic usage and know who your children are communicating with,” the Kern County Sheriff’s Office said. “Many apps and games have messaging capabilities and present the same, if not more, risk as social media platforms.”
Lt. Juan Hidalgo with the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office is in charge of the internet crimes against children task force. It covers Northern California to the Oregon and Nevada borders.
“The relationships are being built very quickly,” Hidalgo said. “Because now you’re working with someone else on this gaming platform and you’re developing that friendship.”
Hidalgo said parents should communicate with their children.
“You want an open line of communication with your child so that they can tell you who they’re talking to and who they’re dealing with and what they want,” he said.
Hidalgo said parents need to know the apps and suggest playing the games first.
He said parents need to enact parental safety control settings on the gaming console and keep it in a shared room. Set rules for game use, like establishing cut off times, and approve which games they can play.
Also teach your kids to never give out personal information.
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