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Social media is repeatedly and more frequently employed as a vehicle for human trafficking. This is due to the increasing regularity with which adults and children alike spend time on the internet.

Human traffickers often pose as friends, engaging in the grooming process, before moving to exploit their targets. Therefore, this makes it all the more imperative for people to know how to protect themselves on social media and other areas of the internet.

For children especially, parents have an obligation to put certain safeguards in place. Without these safeguards, terrible things very often occur.

One example of this exists in Bakersfield, California, with  arrested earlier this year for using social media to target and traffick underage girls.

The moves of a predator

The underage girls Richardson targeted for human trafficking ranged between 14 and 17 years old. His modus operandi involved illegally supplying them with weed by first making contact on social media.

Later, after using this to build rapport, Richardson sold the underage girls for sex.

While the California man remains in custody for these crimes, he is no stranger to human trafficking. Before his arrest on February 14, 2022, Richardson already received a conviction for human trafficking in Orange County.

Nevertheless, when Richardson trafficked underage girls in this latest case, he posted social media ads to appeal to those wanting to rape minors. Furthermore, the California man direct messaged these minors, telling girls they'd do well working as escorts.

Various social media conversation threads show Richardson talking with other adults about sexual intercourse, rates, times, and dates for the rape of underage girls.

The California man's eventual arrest occurred earlier this year after law enforcement pulled him over while driving.

Accounts from underage girls targeted by Richardson

Several of the minors who Richardson targeted for human trafficking said they met him online or through other underage children. The girls also spoke of how the California man kept all the proceeds earned from their suffering via trafficking.

According to prosecutors, Richardson, in an effort to evade legal consequences, is passing blame onto the underage girls he trafficked. The California man is consequently on record stating the minors "do what they want to do."

Additional excuses from Richardson involve lying about the girls' ages, claiming he was being used by them, and stating he doesn't need to rape anyone, owing to his physical appearance.