Key Points:

• Constituent contacted lawmakers about missing 13-year-old girl 

• Abduction was linked to online video game

• AG funding targets internet crimes

Two Arizona lawmakers, often called upon to find money for much-needed programs, participated in a search with a more rewarding goal: to find a missing child.

Rep. Cesar Aguilar, D-Phoenix, said he and his seatmate, Rep. Quanta Crews, D-Phoenix, were contacted by a constituent about the missing child, and the two lawmakers immediately started working with local businesses and law enforcement to track down evidence that could help locate the child.

The 13-year-old child, whose name was not shared with the Arizona Capitol Times, was abducted by an adult she met while playing the video game “Roblox,” an online platform where players create the game’s content. 

“It was scary,” Aguilar said. “I was definitely scared, too, because the longer it takes, the less chance you have of finding a person.”

The child was able to make a call home from a phone that wasn’t hers. She let her family know she was at a Taco Bell in Idaho and that the person who took her wanted to adopt a dog for her birthday, Aguilar said.

With that information and video footage of the truck that the child was placed in after being taken while she was throwing out the trash, Aguilar said police were able to locate her and bring her home about a week after she was abducted.

“It took a long time, but luckily we were able to find the little girl,” Aguilar said.

The story was shared by the two representatives during a roundtable discussion on Oct. 14, organized by Attorney General Kris Mayes and other Democratic legislators, to discuss funding that Democrats secured in this year’s state budget to help law enforcement’s efforts in stopping internet crimes against children. 

The discussion was the fifth stop on the House Democrat caucus’s “Democrats Deliver” tour, where caucus members have made visits to different areas of the state to share the fruits of Democratic budget priorities. 

The $300,000 funding to the Attorney General’s Office for fighting internet crimes is a relatively small part of this year’s $17.6 billion budget, but it was a top priority for Mayes and her staff because grant funding that previously supported the work was set to expire.

With that funding, Mayes is prioritizing looking at online platforms and other social media sites to prevent online child sexual exploitation. 

“I think that’s something that attorneys general across the country are looking at — the degree in which kids are getting targeted inside video games and the degree to which those companies probably know that kids are being targeted inside video games,” Mayes said. 

The Associated Press reported on Oct. 7 that Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has filed a lawsuit against Roblox for a lack of child safety measures that have made the platform a “playground for predators.”

Kentucky’s lawsuit follows another against the company filed by Louisiana in August. Iowa has also filed a lawsuit against the company after an adult allegedly kidnapped a 13-year-old girl she met while playing the video game, who then kidnapped, trafficked her across multiple states, and raped her.

Mayes said she’s hoping Congress repeals Section 230 of the Communications Act, which protects websites and other online platforms from being held liable by content posted by third parties — often users of the platform. 

While the attorney general staff were happy to see the funding from the Legislature to address internet crimes against children, Attorney General Criminal Division Chief Nick Klingerman said the crime is so prevalent that law enforcement and prosecutors will likely always be playing catch up to predators. 

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received more than 20 million reports through its tip line for suspected child sexual exploitation, with most being related to child pornography. 

“The scope is shockingly and seemingly unlimited,” Klingerman said. “It’s scary.”