MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – A Monroe County man was arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting numerous children online.
Sean Antony Stark, from Erie, was arrested for allegedly coercing children and telling them to send sexually explicit photos of themselves to him.
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The FBI submitted a criminal complaint on Nov. 14, 2024, saying Stark allegedly used various accounts through Roblox to tell children to talk to him on Discord and Snapchat and sexually exploited them from January 2023 to August 2024.
Anonymous tip leads to investigation
On Aug. 11, 2024, the FBI began investigating after receiving an anonymous tip that a Roblox user was coercing minors on the platform to go to other accounts, such as Discord, to get the children to send him nude images of themselves.
On Aug. 14, 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) told the FBI that there were two related tips for the use of a username similar to the initial anonymous tip. Both tips stemmed from Roblox accounts with similar usernames that provided the username jakebarns6399 on “Snappy,” which the FBI believes is Snapchat. The usernames were connected to the same IP address.
18 more reports submitted to the NCMEC had similar accounts involved in coercion and enticement of children on the platform. All tips showed the users of the various accounts talking to children sexually and encouraged them to go on other platforms, such as Discord and Snapchat, to continue the conversations and get sexual images of the children.
Roblox, Snapchat provides FBI information in investigation
In one of the reports, one of the accounts had a blurb on their account providing an additional Roblox account and a Snapchat account. Roblox provided some announcements on groups that the user made, including, “Add [username] on snappy to be a couple!! Girls only!! We can trade if you want but we do not have to we can just chat do it if you want!!!!”
Roblox also provided subscriber information associated with the various accounts, and its variants, including the username mentioned in the account’s announcement. The majority of the accounts had recent logins from the same IP address as one found following the anonymous tip.
Snap provided subscriber information on Sept. 18, 2024, for the Snapchat usernames found during the investigation. Those accounts were also found under the same IP address as the Roblox accounts.
Police track down IP address
Law enforcement searched where the IP address was located, and it was found in Erie.
A warrant was authorized in the Eastern District of Michigan on Oct. 8, 2024, and served Snapchat. There, they found that the user had referenced the Roblox and Discord accounts mentioned in the various tips from the NCMEC.
The FBI said, based on numerous conversations, Stark was aware of how young the victims were—some were as young as 10 and 12 years old.
Police also found that the user pictured in the Snapchat account matches Stark’s driver’s license, and they learned Stark was allegedly grooming a 10-year-old child since 2023.
Stark arrested, interviewed
On Nov. 13, 2024, law enforcement obtained search warrants and executed them.
Stark waived his Miranda rights, and police began searching his house. There, police found an iPhone 14.
Stark initially provided police with a different Snapchat username from the ones mentioned in the tips but agreed he used other accounts.
He told police he used Roblox to talk to others sexually, some of whom he allegedly knew were children. He could not get or send images of Roblox, so he directed conversations primarily on Discord.
Stark said he used the various Discord accounts to send nude images of himself and received nude images of other users, including those that he knew were minors.
He told the FBI he was talking to over 100 people sexually but did not recall how many were children. He said he talked to males and females and requested sexually explicit images, and he would send them in return.
Stark facing federal charges
Stark faces the following charges:
- Sexual Exploitation of Children
- Receipt of Child Pornography
- Possession of Child Pornography
- Coercion and Enticement of a Minor
