Streetsboro mother speaks in front of U.S. Senate Commitee after her child dies a victim of sextortion

STREETSBORO, Ohio (WOIO) - Members of the U.S. Senate heard from Streetsboro mother Tamia Woods on Tuesday about the horrific crimes against her 17-year-old son James.

In November of 2022, James sent a compromising video of himself to who he thought was a woman he trusted online. The criminal demanded $300 from James in order to stop them from sending the video.

According to Woods, James received around 200 messages in less than 24 hours threatening the child. When the threatening messages became too much to bear, James took his own life.

The person responsible for the sextortion, Woods says, is a man in Africa.

“We don’t have an extradition treaty, ”explained Woods. “They stated that they’ll never hand over any of their natural-born citizens”.

Woods is hoping the senate will pass 3 bills to help properly punish these individuals and hold social media companies to a higher standard for safe guards.

“We need to put things in place to save our children,” said Woods. “ To be able to protect our children so that they are here tomorrow”.

The three bills are The Sentencing Accountability for Exploitation Act(SAFE Act),Ending Coercion of Children and Harm Online Act(ECCHO Act) and the Stop Sextortion Act.

You can watch the full Senate hearing here:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is working on getting more bipartisan cosponsors to the legislation.

Former Assistant United States Attorney Jessica Liber Smolar is also advocating for the bills. She says right now the punishments do not fit the crime.

“There’s no consistency that allows us to properly address the specific harm that these actors are committing,” said Smolar. “ ”When we charge crimes like sextortion across the country we all charge them differently”.

Lauren Coffren is with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. She also testified saying the threat to all kids is growing because the goal is to hurt all of us.

“Children being coerced into planning school shootings or threatening their communities,” said Coffren.

Woods is asking all parents to speak to their kids about sextortion and other child extortion crimes. If you don’t know how to talk to them or where to start she says she’s here to help through the ‘Do It for James Foundation’.

Our sister station in Washington, DC caught up with Woods after the hearing. You can watch her full interview here: