Maria Gomez-Perez found: Case highlights parent’s need for online vigilance

ATLANTA - The disappearance of 12-year-old Maria Gomez-Perez and her safe recovery nearly 60 days later, highlights a problem every family faces. 

Cyber safety experts say all children with online access are vulnerable to getting messaged by strange adults who may want to do them harm.   

At a press conference Friday, Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch announced that after a nearly 60-day search, Maria Gomez-Perez had been found safe in Ohio, with a 34-year-old man.  

"We believe Maria had been communicating for a time with Mr. Augustin via Facebook Messenger and some other online apps," Sheriff Couch said.  

That’s how he explained that 34-year-old Antonio Augustin was able to entice 12-year-old Gomez-Perez to get in a car with him and drive to Ohio.  

Chief Parenting Officer for Bark Technologies, Titania Jordan, says this could’ve happened to any 12-year-old.  

"First of all, parents can know that this absolutely can happen to your child," she said.  

Jordan says many parents might see this story and just assume Gomez-Perez didn’t have enough supervision and that their child would never message strange adults.  

"That's just such a misconception. The amount of predators that are online at any given time, there’s over half a million of them, and they have direct access to your children in the places your children are spending time. Whether that's Roblox or Instagram or Snapchat or Tik-Tok, you name it, they're there," Jordan said.  

"That’s why Vice President of IT for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta Carl Patten II says parents should be involved in every aspect of their child’s online activity.  

"Check the kids’ browsing history, be aware of all the accounts that they may have and their emails. But also make sure you have conversations with them about what they're doing online. Spend time with them online to gather the what and why they're doing things," Patten said.  

Maybe most importantly, Jordan says, you need to make sure your kids feel safe coming and talking to you about strangers online.  

"They need to know that they can tell you anything, and you're going to remain calm and help them navigate the situation without jumping to punish them and removing their form of entertainment," she said.  

Jordan provided an example of what parents can tell their own child.  

"‘They might seem really friendly, but I need to know that because that could be a tricky person that's trying to trick you, and it could turn bad. And you're not in trouble. You didn't do anything wrong, but I need to know about this so I can keep you safe,’" she said.  

FOX 5 asked Patten when parents should start having these conversations with their children.  

"As early as kids can get online… If they can get to the point where ‘I want to get on YouTube, YouTube Kids, I want to watch Disney+, etc.’ I think they're able to have a conversation or at least be aware of being safe," Patten said.  

Patten says many devices your children may use will come with parental controls, and you can even monitor your children’s activity through your internet provider.  

Jordan says Bark can be a great tool to keep kids safe.  

She said as a free resource she started this Facebook group to help parents know how to keep their kids safe online.