‘My daughter, 14, was groomed after meeting man on Roblox’
My daughter, 14, was groomed after meeting man on Roblox
Grooming Case on Roblox Sparks Concern
A parent from Greater Manchester revealed how her 14-year-old daughter was manipulated into sharing explicit content with a man she met on Roblox. The incident unfolded in September 2024, when Carlo Tritta, then 18, began interacting with the teenager. By the time the abuse was discovered, Tritta had turned 19 and was sentenced to two years and four months at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
Tritta admitted to creating indecent images of a child, engaging in sexual conversations, and exposing a 13-15-year-old to sexual content. He also faced charges of intimidating a witness and causing damage. The mother described the moment she found her daughter’s phone messages, which triggered a cascade of distress. “I said, ‘Oh, who’s that?’ and she was crying, begging me not to look at her phone,” she recounted. “I knew then it wasn’t just a random contact. That’s when everything began to fall apart.”
“I was just shocked, bewildered, really angry,” the mother said. “Not with my daughter, because I kept telling her, ‘I’m not angry with you’—but I couldn’t stop myself from feeling the full weight of what I was seeing. It’s your child, and your brain can’t take in all the details.”
The victim’s mother highlighted how Tritta used the platform to build a relationship, eventually persuading her daughter to switch to other messaging apps. “He sent her takeaways and a secret phone to her home,” she explained. “At first, it was just chats—nothing unusual. But the messages grew more sinister over time.”
Roblox, a global gaming platform with 144 million daily active users, acknowledged the case. A spokesperson stated, “We are saddened by this troubling incident and committed to strengthening safeguards to prevent such harm.” The platform requires age checks for communication, aiming to connect users with similar ages or known contacts. However, the mother argued that adults are exploiting the system to target children. “It’s a kids’ game, but adults are using it to groom kids,” she said. “That’s not how it should work.”
Tritta’s actions escalated after he was released on bail. He violated conditions by traveling 200 miles from Hampshire to the victim’s home, damaging the doorbell camera and entering without permission. “He was standing at my kitchen door talking about nightmares,” the mother described. “We were in the living room, writing Christmas cards and watching TV.”
The mother’s daughter endured emotional turmoil, feeling suicidal and unable to sleep. “He had passwords for all her social media accounts and knew her routines,” she said. “He controlled who she interacted with online and what she did outside school.”
She now urges other parents to monitor their children’s use of Roblox. “It needs to be watched,” she emphasized. “Adults should not have the power to groom kids through this platform. Social media must do more to protect young users.”
