BRIDGEPORT, W.Va (WDTV) – 80,000. That’s how many kids were targeted by online sexual predators across the united states in 2022, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. But it’s not just a national problem, West Virginia is in the top 5 states in the country for at-risk youth.
Statistics like those led one man to start cleaning up the streets himself by working with law enforcement and pretending to be a young girl online to help carry out sting operations of men who message girls on the internet for sex.
5 News set out to learn more about him and the organization he has started to put predators behind bars.
His name is Olive Hugh.
For the past four years, Hugh has dedicated himself to protecting children online. He’s not a detective — he’s not even employed by a police department. He does this work through the use of undercover Facebook accounts.
Hugh …