Father says Facebook ‘friend’ asked about sexual solicitation of daughter

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – A single father says what began as an innocent conversation on social media turned perilous when he began receiving threats of violence and death.

Logan Lunsford was recently on Facebook when someone who claimed to be another single parent reached out to him. Lunsford initially believed the person might have been looking for a friend, WXIX reports.

“At first, I felt sorry for the guy,” Lunsford said. “Then, it just all of a sudden changed.”

Lunsford, who lives in Clermont County, Ohio, was contacted by a person Wednesday night on Facebook who claimed to also be a single father from Cincinnati.

“I relate to that a lot, and I know that it’s hard as a single father to make friends,” he said. “And so, I held a conversation with him.”

Lunsford says the tone of the conversation changed on a dime.

“It turned really quickly into him talking about his daughter and basically trying to exchange my daughter and his daughter for sexual solicitation,” he said.

Lunsford’s daughter is 5 years old. The person messaging him claimed to have a daughter younger than her.

Lunsford says he couldn’t believe his eyes when the messages started coming in.

“I just… I’ve never had anything like this happen before,” he said. “I’m still stunned from it.”

The messages kept coming, even after Lunsford refused the solicitation and told the person to leave him alone. In fact, they escalated.

“He threatened to basically kill me, tie me up, force me to do it… I don’t know if it’s a real person, someone behind a mask. You never know with social media who it can really be,” he said.

Lunsford contacted the Union Township Police Department.

Above all else, he wants other families to learn the same lesson as him: they should be careful about what they post online.

“I would say to try to make your profile as private as possible. Make sure your profile picture is of yourself and just lock down all your other photos, so only your friends can see them, if you’re going to post photos of your kid,” Lunsford said.

Following the incident, Lunsford says he’s reconsidering having any social media accounts.

“It’s really hard to find out where people really are these days. They could say they’re in another country, and they could be right next door to you,” he said.

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