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A warning for parents: Tampa man charged with enticing children through Xbox

Authorities ask parents to keep an eye on their children after recent cases of men inappropriately interacting with underage youth.
Credit: Getty Images, michal-rojek
Playing a video game, stock image.

Tampa, Fla. -- Kyle Wallace, 22, of Tampa has been arrested and charged by a federal criminal complaint with production and attempted production of child pornography and possession of child pornography.

According to the investigators, FBI agents executed a search warrant on Nov. 29 at Wallace’s home in Tampa. On Wallace’s phone, agents found at least four child-pornography images depicting two different male minors, a news release states.

Wallace admitted that he had persuaded those minors to send him child pornography by, among other things, offering them money and gift cards or credits for games on the Xbox Live video game service. He further admitted to sexually molesting one of the two boys, when the child was only 11 or 12 years old.

He wasn’t the only man arrested this week for enticing children on a video game.

Gregory Mancini, a 29-year-old Erie, Pennsylvania, man was arrested in Hall County, Georgia, after authorities said he traveled there to meet a teenage boy who he met while playing Fortnite.

Credit: Hall County Sheriff’s Office
Gregory Mancini

Officials say parents have to monitor at all times who their children are chatting with online, especially when playing video games.

"Technology is always evolving and so parents really need to stay educated with what children are using," said Sgt. Lisa Parashis with the Tampa Police Department. "Consider keeping the systems in your living room so you can monitor what they are doing.

"It's like when you're outside and children are on the playground you have to know what they're doing."

And while that video gaming system is out in your living room, if your kids are gaming with a headset on, you can set it so the chat audio plays on your TV speakers as well so you can monitor those conversations.

With the Xbox, you can also log onto their Microsoft account from your computer and check whether money you might not have deposited is in there.

You can also check out any chat they might have typed out with other gamers.

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