MILWAUKEE – The FBI calls it an online crime against kids – perpetrators convincing kids to send sexual images of themselves and then blackmailing them. 

Online crime against kids

The backstory:

The reality is settling in. This will be Brittney Bird’s first Christmas without her son, Bradyn Bohn, since he was born. That is because just nine months ago, the 15-year-old died by suicide, just hours after telling his family good night. 

“This winter has been pretty heavy,” Bird said. “This will be a lot of first this year.”

Bird said Bradyn was the kind of kid who would always try to make you launch. The teen had a lot of friends, played sports, did well academically, and had big plans for the future. 

“Definitely a kid who we were just so proud of,” Bird said. “Bradyn never struggled with or suffered from mental illness or depression or anything of that nature so immediately we knew, you know something’s wrong.”

Once police went through Bradyn’s phone, she said it came out he was the victim of the cyber crime, sextortion. 

What is sextortion?

What we know:

“Sextortion is a form of online child exploitation where a child is coerced by a perpetrator to send compromising images,” said Jesse Crowe from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

This week, the Wisconsin Department of Justice sent out a public service announcement on sextortion. 

Officials say suspects often pose as someone else online. While exchanging messages, they convince a child to send images of themselves. Once they have explicit images of the child, they use the photos or videos to blackmail the child into sending even more images, money or ask for sexual favors. 

FBI data, change in Wisconsin law

Dig deeper:

The FBI said victims are typically males between the ages of 14 and 17, but any child can be a target. 

This crime led to at least 20 suicides between October 2021 and March 2023. 

In the months after Bradyn’s death, change would come to Wisconsin. Earlier in December, Gov. Tony Evers signed Bradyn’s Law. It creates a new crime of sexual extortion in Wisconsin. It aims to ensure harsh penalties for those who exploit children online. 

“It will bring, hopefully statewide, eventually nationwide attention to where every family is having this conversation with their kids,” Bird told FOX6 News.

Take action

What you can do:

The Department of Justice said the best thing to do if a child finds themselves in this situation is the following: 

• Block the perpetrator
• Report the account, but do not delete the messages
• Tell a trusted adult
• Do not send any money

Resources available

Heart-pounding video shows the moment a shoplifting suspect allegedly tried to shoot an Ohio police officer at point-blank range inside a Walmart only to be stopped when his gun appeared to malfunction and a store security worker intervened.

The dramatic incident unfolded Thursday in Canton after the suspect and a woman were detained for allegedly stealing items from the store, according to reports.

The pair were taken to a security room, where a police officer is seen questioning and searching the male suspect, identified as Shane Newman, 21, by FOX 8.

Video from the officer’s body camera, which had been placed on a table, initially showed a calm scene, with a Walmart employee handing the officer a pen and paper as the two suspects sat on a bench.

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Moments later, the situation exploded.

Newman suddenly turned, pulled out a gun and attempted to shoot the officer as the woman screamed, “No, no, no!” A clicking sound could be heard as Newman apparently pulled the trigger.

The Walmart worker immediately jumped on Newman in an effort to restrain him, but Newman raised the gun again and attempted to fire a second time and another click could be heard.

The worker then knocked the gun from Newman’s hands as the officer drew his weapon and shouted, “Get back! Get back!”

The officer then took control of matters and pinned Newman to the floor until additional police arrived. Both suspects were taken into custody.

In the bodycam footage, the officer told responding police Newman had “pulled the gun out, pointed it at my head and pulled the trigger,” but the weapon did not fire.

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The officer said he drew his own weapon and would have shot Newman but feared hitting the Walmart employee as the worker struggled to disarm the suspect. He also acknowledged missing the gun concealed in Newman’s shoulder bag during the initial search.

The officer said he had just been alerted seconds before the attack that Newman had an active warrant for his arrest and was classified as “armed and dangerous.”

Newman was charged with attempted murder and felonious assault on a police officer, court records show.

The woman, identified as Katerina Jeffrey, was charged with complicity to commit robbery and having weapons under disability for possession of ammunition, FOX 8 reported.

Before the violence erupted, the police officer asked Newman if he had anything on him as part of the search. Newman said all he had was a cellphone, and then he voluntarily handed over a small container from his pocket that investigators said contained illegal drugs, according to FOX 8.

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“Are we going to jail?” Jeffrey asked the police officer.

“Not unless something crazy happens,” the officer replied.

Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown is dealing with a knee injury, though Lions coach Dan Campbell indicated he does not believe it’s serious.

St. Brown was listed as a non-participant on the Lions’ estimated practice report Monday, Dec. 22.

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The Lions held a walk-through Monday in advance of this week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday (4:30 p.m., Netflix). Campbell said St. Brown showed up to the practice facility after the team’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and reported the injury.

“We’ll know more a little bit later but this is just something that just popped up when he came in today,” Campbell said. “So hopeful this is something [that’s] just some type of irritation from the game. That’s what I’m hoping.”

St. Brown leads the Lions with 98 catches, 1,194 yards and 11 touchdowns and needs two catches over the Lions’ final two games for his fourth straight 100-catch season.

Taylor Decker (shoulder) and Avonte Maddox (back) also were listed as non-participants on Monday’s practice report, and the Lions listed nine others as limited participants including starters Marcus Davenport (shoulder), Graham Glasgow (knee), Christian Mahogany (fibula), Alim McNeill (abdomen) and Amik Robertson (hand).

The Lions (8-7) must win their final two games and have the Green Bay Packers (9-5-1) lose their final two games to make the playoffs.

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.