'Evil people': Parents of Streetsboro sextortion victim who died by suicide speak out

Less than four months after she and her husband lost their 17-year-old son, James, to suicide, Tamia Woods said they aren't backing down from the sextortion schemers who drove him to take his own life.

"These evil people, they want you to be embarrassed, they want you to be ashamed and they want us to hide and not tell the story of our children and how they victimize our children every day," she said. "We lost our everything. We have no reason to stand here, because our son is gone. Or so they thought. We going to keep fighting."

Her husband, Tim Woods, said the impact of what happened is still with them.

"My wife and I are now left with a big void that can never be filled," he said. "We lost our only child to a predator who only wanted money. That's all they wanted was money. Nothing else. They didn't care who they hurt or how that person got hurt."

The Woods were at a press conference Thursday organized by Lt. Gov. Jon Husted's office to support the proposed Social Media Parental Notification Act.

The proposed state law — part of Gov. Mike DeWine's 2023-24 executive budget presented to the Ohio General Assembly in late January — would require social media companies to obtain verifiable parental consent before permitting minors under the age of 16 to use their platforms.

It is designed to be a tool to combat the epidemic of sextortion, with juveniles like James Woods, a Streetsboro High School student, often targeted.

Sextortion typically involves an adult pretending to be the same age of a younger victim to get them to share explicit photos or videos of themselves. Common avenues for these scams are social media, dating apps and chat forums.

"These unsuspecting victims are then threatened with vast exposure of their photos if they do not send money to the perpetrator," State Rep. Gail Pavliga, who represents Portage County, said during the press conference at the Educational Service Center of Northeast Ohio in Independence. "These fraudsters will also threaten to harm people's families and further psychological abuse through social media."

Thousands of juveniles become victims of sextortion

Cases of sextortion are on the rise locally and nationwide.

A 23-year-old Kent man pleaded guilty and was recently sentenced in Portage County Court of Common Pleas to 24 years in prison for threatening minors around the world if they did not continue sending him photos and videos of themselves. He has since asked the Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals to review his sentence.

Streetsboro police say Woods was one of three sextortion victims in the city who have been targeted. The most recent was a Streetsboro Middle School student who reported to his mother on Monday that he had been threatened out of $200 in gift cards by someone posing as a girl who he had been in contact with through an app. His mother then called police.

"It warms my heart," said Tamia Woods. "A lot of people may have looked at that and said, 'why did he do that? Did he hear about James?' But the great thing about that is he heard about James. Yes, he made a mistake. He did. But he remembered James' story. James' awareness. The parents may have heard James' story. they knew what to do. I don't know exactly what came out from all of that, but us making awareness, it makes a difference. He is still here today, don't you know that? It's a wonderful day. He is still here today."

During the press conference, Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski said that law enforcement is in its infancy in dealing with the issue.

"Four months ago, I hadn't even heard of sextortion," he said.

He said the challenge in dealing with sextortion is that perpetrators could be local but often are outside the country, making bringing them to justice difficult.

Zuchowski said the FBI has reported that thousands of juveniles have been victims of sextortion, more than a dozen of whom —including James — died by suicide.

"This heinous crimes needs to be exposed by as many people as possible," he said.

'Worst day of my life'

Tim and Tamia Woods spoke about their son, who ran track in school and was planning to go to college.

"He grew up his whole childhood as a happy, jubilant person," said Tim. "He was friendly, kind, you know, went to school every day, didn't cause trouble…Everyone loved him, neighbors, old, young, white black, whoever. He got along with everyone."

But then one night, James started communicating with someone over Instagram. The person began demanding money. James then went into "panic mode," said Tim.

"We get home, he's talking to us like normal. Nothing came up, we didn't notice anything," his dad recalled.

Tim spoke to his son before going to work the next morning. James' college plans dominated the conversation. Tim then went to work.

He said he now believes James had been up all night stressing over what was happening.

"Time goes by, I get home from work and I found out," said Tim, who paused a moment before continuing. "I found out that day, Nov. 19, turned out to be the worst day of my life. I had to grab my phone and call my wife and let her know what I had found when I got home. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done."

In the months since, the Woods have started the Do It For James Foundation as an effort to educate people about sextortion.

Do It For James Foundation Donations

"We are going to continue to fight," said Tamia. "We are going to continue to make our parents aware and the children aware. We are talking directly to the children"

After James' death, it was discovered he had received some 200 messages over less than 20 hours that apparently wore him down, she said.

"We thought that we had a wonderful relationship, that no matter what, James would come to us in his time of need and these evil people tormented his brain, made him stay up all night and told him the most hideous things to make him believe otherwise," she said.

She said children must me made to speak up and not feel ashamed when they are victimized.

"Parents, you guys get the privilege to know what sextortion is," she said. "We unfortunately had to find out after our son's death. Please don't question why they have done something so stupid. We all have. Talk to them. Make them aware of what these people are doing to them and give them tools to proceed."

What is in the Social Media Parental Notification Act?

The proposed new law would impact social media and online gaming/activity companies such as Facebook (Meta), Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, etc.

It would not include e-commerce online shopping sites.

Companies would be required to create a splash page that verifies the user's age and obtains the necessary consent from a parent or guardian.

They must then send written confirmation to parents to ensure children are not circumventing the system. If parents do not OK the terms of service, the companies would have to bar the kids from their apps.

Under the proposed legislation, companies would be required to:

• Create a method to determine whether the user is a child under the age of 16.
• Obtain verifiable parental or legal guardian consent.
• Send written confirmation of the consent to the parent or legal guardian.
• If a parent or legal guardian fails or refuses to consent to the terms of service, the company would be required to deny access or use of the online website, service, product, or feature by the juvenile.

If the Ohio General Assembly passes it and DeWine signs it into law, companies would have 90 days to comply.

The process would apply only to new account creation, but a Husted spokeswoman said in February that he is open to ideas on how active accounts could be reviewed.

"Tina and I, we have teenage daughters," said Husted, referring to his wife standing next to him during the press conference. "We see what's happening in that world today. We see how vulnerable kids are."

"All of this is born out of love," said Tina Husted. "We love our kids."

Husted said enforcement would be through criminal penalties against the companies, but he hopes they will cooperate and work with the state.

Pavliga said her office will quickly have a proposed bill prepared.

"This is a bipartisan issue," she said.

But Husted and Pavliga said the effort is still a work in progress. Husted said he is open to changes, such as increasing the age parental permission is required to under 18. He also said that the verification process could be tweaked, including for dealing with the question of what happens if a juvenile under 16 claims to be older.

Husted said he wants to see a compromise between something effective, but not burdensome.

"All ideas are welcome," said Husted. "It's a problem that we need to look at and we look forward to working for solutions with the general assembly and the public in general and moms and dads and law enforcement to help us come up with the right answers."