A Monroe County man is using Roblox, Discord and Snapchat to sexually exploit children

MONROE COUNTY, Mich. – A Monroe County man was arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting numerous children online.

Sean Antony Stark, of Erie, was arrested for allegedly coercing children and telling them to send sexually explicit photos of themselves to him.

The FBI filed a criminal complaint on November 14, 2024, saying Stark allegedly used several accounts through Roblox to tell children to talk to him on Discord and Snapchat, and that he sexually assaulted them from January 2023 to August 2024 exploited.

Anonymous tip leads to investigation

On August 11, 2024, the FBI began an investigation after receiving an anonymous tip that a Roblox user was forcing minors on the platform to go to other accounts, such as Discord, to get the children to send him nude photos of themselves.

On August 14, 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) told the FBI that there were two related tips using a username similar to the initial anonymous tip. Both tips stemmed from Roblox accounts with similar usernames that provided the username jakebarns6399 on “Snappy,” which the FBI believes is Snapchat. The usernames were connected to the same IP address.

Eighteen other reports filed with the NCMEC had similar stories of coercion and enticement of children on the platform. All the tips showed the users of the different accounts talking sexually to children and encouraged them to continue the conversations on other platforms, such as Discord and Snapchat, and get sexual images of the children.

Roblox, Snapchat provide FBI information under investigation

In one of the reports, one of the accounts had a blurb on their account showing an additional Roblox account and a Snapchat account. Roblox has made some announcements about groups that the user has made, including: “Add (username) on Snappy to become a couple!! Girls only!! We can trade if you want, but you don’t have to, we can just chat, do it if you want!!!!”

Roblox also provided subscriber information associated with the various accounts and their variations, including the username listed in the account announcement. The majority of accounts had recent logins from the same IP address as the one found after the anonymous tip.

Snap provided subscriber information for the Snapchat usernames found during the investigation on September 18, 2024. Those accounts were also found under the same IP address as the Roblox accounts.

The police trace the IP address

Law enforcement looked to see where the IP address was located and it was found in Erie.

On October 8, 2024, a warrant affecting Snapchat was approved in the Eastern District of Michigan. There, they discovered that the user had referenced the Roblox and Discord accounts mentioned in the NCMEC’s various tips.

The FBI said based on numerous conversations, Stark was aware of how young the victims were — some were as young as 10 or 12 years old.

Police also discovered that the user on the Snapchat account matched Stark’s driver’s license, and they learned that Stark had been grooming a 10-year-old child since 2023.

Stark arrested, interviewed

On November 13, 2024, law enforcement obtained and executed search warrants.

Stark waived his Miranda rights and police began searching his home. The police found an iPhone 14 there.

Stark initially gave police a different Snapchat username than the one mentioned in the tips, but agreed to using other accounts.

He told police he used Roblox to talk sexually to others, some of whom he knew were children. He couldn’t receive or send images from Roblox, so he directed the conversations mainly on Discord.

Stark said he used the various Discord accounts to send nude photos of himself and received nude photos from other users, including those he knew were underage.

He told the FBI that he spoke sexually to more than 100 people, but could not remember how many of them were children. He said he spoke to men and women and asked for sexually explicit images and would send them in return.

Stark is facing federal charges

Stark faces the following charges:

Sexual exploitation of children
Receipt of child pornography
Possession of child pornography
Coercion and seduction of a minor