A Boise man is in Ada County Jail after being accused of trying to entice a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activities.
Boise Police officers say Jeffrey Alan Bramwell, 35, of Boise, had been using the internet and text messages to communicate with the underage teen.
Officers believe that the conversations had been occurring for about a month and say that pictures had been electronically shared between the suspect and the victim.
Officers took Bramwell into custody and charged him with child enticement over the internet and sexual exploitation of a child.
Officers would like to suggest the following tips for parents to help keep their children safe when using the internet:
--Get informed about your kids and their knowledge of computers and the Internet. Let your children show you what they can do online, and visit their favorite sites.
--Keep the computer in an open, common area of your home. Be aware of any other computers your child may be using.
--Talk to children about what personal information is and why you should never give it to people online.
--If your child uses chat or E-mail, talk to them about never meeting in person with anyone they first "met" online. Know who your children are exchanging E-mail with, and only let them use chat areas when you can supervise.
--Talk to your children about not responding to offensive or dangerous E-mail, chat, or other communications.
--Report any such communication to local law enforcement. Do not delete the offensive or dangerous E-mail; turn off the monitor, and contact local law enforcement.
--Clear, simple, easy-to-read house rules should be posted on or near the computer. The rules should include the time of day that children may be online, the length of time they may be online, who they may communicate with while online, and appropriate areas for them to visit while online.
--Look into safeguarding programs or options your online service provider might offer. These may include monitoring or filtering capabilities.
--Internet accounts should be in the parent's name with parents having the primary screen name, controlling passwords, and using blocking and/or filtering devices. Children should not complete a profile for a service provider, and children's screen names should be nondescript so as not to identify that the user is a child.
--If you suspect online "stalking" or sexual exploitation of a child, report it to the Boise Police Department at 377-6790 or 911 for emergencies.
