Carbondale Reporter

In a Jan. 28 Facebook post, Rep. Paul Jacobs warned his constituents of a situation with social media.

“An Illinois school has put out a warning to parents about a social media app that could potentially put students in dangerous situations with strangers,” Jacobs wrote.

In his Facebook post, Jacobs shared a link to an NBC5 story on the warning about the Omegle app from Mokenna Junior High School. "Omegle does not appear to have powerful moderation. It also does not require registration or have age verification, which makes young people a potential target for abuse online," Dr. Mike Rolinitis, the school's principal, wrote in a letter to parents.

In December, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Indiana announced that an Illinois man, Kyle Peterson, was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor. In this case, the victim was a 12 year old girl. The news release explains Peterson used Omegle and Snapchat to lure the girl into an online relationship. The release said these activities started on March 20, 2020, and that Peterson knew the victim was a child when he began sending sexually explicit videos and pictures, before engaging in video chats that were sexually explicit. He then directed her to send explicit videos of herself. He threatened the child when she stopped complying. 

U.S. Chief District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt imposed a 22-year prison sentence, as well as supervision by the U.S. Probation Office for 20 years following his release from federal prison. Peterson must also pay $16,000 in restitution to the child victims, and register as a sex offender wherever he lives, works, or goes to school, as the law requires.

Jacobs was first elected to the Illinois House in 2020. His legislative experience includes serving on the Tourism, and Higher Education committees. Jacobs resides in Pomona.