IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — A well-known man in the video game world is now in jail in Iredell County.
Nicholas Dean Des Barres, from Los Angeles, is charged with sending inappropriate messages to a local teenager. Des Barres has more than 25 years of experience in the gaming industry.
The teen victim’s father spoke to Channel 9′s Dave Faherty, saying the way he found out about it was when his son received an Amazon package with sex toys in it.
The father went to the Mooresville Police Department, which assisted the Department of Homeland Security with the case.
Des Barres is charged with felony solicitation of a child by computer and first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, among more than a dozen felony charges.
Family members say the 13-year-old, who Channel 9 is not identifying, met Des Barres while playing a video game online.
“I was shocked,” the teenager’s father said. “I quickly realized why they’re trying to push for people to produce identification to join social media for stuff like that.”
Court records show Des Barres encouraged the teen to take pictures and videos of himself and send them via chat.
Des Barres was a prominent video game journalist in the 1990s and early 2000s under the pen name Nick Rox.
Skyler Tuckler has worked dozens of internet crimes against children cases while at the Mooresville Police Department. She spoke with Faherty about precautions parents can take.
“If they have unlimited access to phones, computers and tablets and things like that, I don’t think you can do it too much,” she said. “Checking your kids’ phones every night just to make sure there’s nothing suspicious.”
The 13-year old’s father believes the online encounters with Des Barres possibly lasted months. He said he found other packages in his home sent to his son with Des Barres’ return address in Reseda, California.
He hopes his discovery reminds other parents become more vigilant when their children go online.
“If you have a feeling, go through their room, go through their belongings, go through their phone, go through their emails, their social media. You don’t know what you’re keeping them safe from,” he told Faherty.
Des Barres is locked up at the Iredell County jail with a $1 million bond.
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