"10-year-old girl kidnapped by man she met on Roblox, police say", 17 April 2025

A California man has been arrested for abducting a 10-year-old child he reportedly met on social media apps Roblox and Discord, authorities said...

Matthew Macatuno Naval, 27, was arrested Sunday for kidnapping and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor...

Kern County deputies began... searching for the child, who is a young girl from Taft, California, according to CNN affiliate KOVR, after her family reported her missing, police said.

Following information indicating the possibility that the missing minor was kidnapped, detectives said they uncovered the juvenile had been communicating with Naval via social media, and they were believed to be in the area of Elk Grove, California – more than 250 miles away.

Kern County police notified authorities in Elk Grove, who found the child...

Naval was arrested and booked in Sacramento County and later transferred to Kern County, where he is being held with bail set at $250,000...

The sheriff’s office warned of the “importance of internet safety” in the news release, referring to the communications Naval allegedly had with the minor on Roblox and Discord before the abduction. Roblox is an online gaming platform popular with tweens, and Discord is an instant messaging app.

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Both Roblox and Discord told CNN that they have a zero-tolerance policy against child endangerment and exploitation.

“These allegations are deeply troubling and we are actively investigating,” a Roblox spokesperson told CNN in a statement, adding that the platform has a range of safety features to guard against predatory behavior.

A Discord spokesperson said they remove content, ban users and engage with law enforcement if they find the platform’s policies have been violated. “As soon as we became aware of this matter, we provided information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC),” the spokesperson added.

Last month, in response to claims that children are being exposed to harmful content on the site, Roblox’s co-founder and CEO Dave Baszucki told the BBC the company takes “the attitude that any bad, even one bad incident, is one too many.”

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