[chatter]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Why didn't you stop?
[Mariana Van Zeller] This is a story about a new kind of scam.
[Reporter] Sextortion.
[News Anchor] Sextortion.
[Reporter] It's called sextortion.
[Mariana Van Zeller] One that feeds on loneliness, and
thrives at the crossroads of desperation and greed.
[Mariana Van Zeller] All it takes is one message from
a stranger, one moment of trust,
one compromising photo to change everything.
[Brandon Guffey] Nine months ago tomorrow,
I lost my 17-year-old son to suicide.
[Mariana Van Zeller] This is a journey from the bedrooms of
America, to the back alleys of the Philippines,
as I search for some of the most ruthless scammers on the planet.
Oh.
[Mariana Van Zeller] No, you did not!
[theme music plays]
[Cindy] He was going to college.
He was about to graduate, to become a teacher.
The weekend before, he came to my house and stayed.
We went to a soccer game and we just had a lot of fun.
And then Sunday he left to go home
and that night is when the trouble started.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Jake was at home when he received a
private message on Facebook.
The message was from a beautiful young woman,
sweet and flirtatious.
But the conversation quickly took a turn.
[Cindy] This is his phone.
[Mariana Van Zeller] His phone? Do you mind if I see it?
[Cindy] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] He says, "Go face a big mirror and take
a full nude photo of you.
Or a video.
If you can't do that, then we can't play."
And then he asks, "How do I know I can trust you?"
"You and me are just going to play and have fun.
No need for trust issues."
[Cindy] And then he does take it at one point.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, my.
And immediately, it was within seconds.
They said, "So just added, and save all your Facebook friends
on my laptop."
"I am going to send them your nude photo and post it all over
your friend's Facebook timeline, and also to your job.
But I will not do that if you can
send me money right now, okay?"
Jake has become a victim of sextortion, a blackmail scam
in which the criminal coerces someone into sharing sexual
pictures or videos,
and then threatens to release them if they're not paid.
The person chatting with Jake gives him instructions for
making an in-person wire transfer.
Only then will they delete the photo he sent.
And they're pressuring him and pressuring him.
"Are you going now?
Don't take, don't make me wait any longer or else."
[Cindy] It's like they were hounding him
every step of the way.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, my God. That's so...
[Cindy] So he didn't have time to think it through, you know?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.
And then he sends a photo of the money, right?
[Cindy] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Now he's asking,
"Can you please delete it?
I am a college student and
I don't have that much right now.
I can't live the next two weeks with you blackmailing me.
You are ruining my life. Please."
"You are my slave now."
Jake's blackmailer continues to taunt and pressure him,
and after dozens of messages back and forth,
Jake reaches a breaking point.
"I have decided that if the picture posts, then I will end
my life so I don't have to go through the pain and
embarrassment as I lose my job, my education, and family.
I hope when you find out that I am serious,
that you will feel guilt."
[Cindy] So the next day, he ended up getting a shotgun and
he took his life, so.
This happened from Sunday until Friday.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you have the letter that he...
-Yeah. -Wrote for you too?
[Cindy] Uh-huh.
It says, "Dear Mom, I love you so much, and it pains me to
write this.
I am sorry for what I've done.
I have nothing to live for anymore.
I have made a huge mistake that I can't live with.
I lost my way and I couldn't get back.
You were a great mother. Never doubt that.
I love you dearly, Mom.
You will always be my mother and I will always be your baby boy.
Love, Jake."
In such a short time, they destroyed my son.
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's the most devastating loss
a parent can face.
And Cindy is not alone.
Sextortion is on the rise.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
says that sextortion is one of
the primary dangers that kids
face online right now.
In 2022 alone, 7,000 reports were filed with law enforcement
in the US.
And more than a dozen cases resulted in suicide.
[Reporter] The blackmailers demanded $3,500 or they'd
spread his provocative photos around town.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Teenage boys are most at risk.
Experts say they aren't used to being targeted in this way.
They may be more likely to take a blackmailer's threats
seriously and more fearful of asking for help.
[Cindy] He was just too ashamed.
[Mariana Van Zeller] But Jake refused to let his blackmailer
have the last word.
Not only did he keep all the messages, but in his letter to
his mom, he told her exactly where to find his scammer.
[Cindy] "Look at my phone and read the messages that are
in the Kik app."
[Mariana Van Zeller] A sender? Does he have a name here?
[Cindy] Yes. Abril, Aril.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, here. First name, Mariz.
[Cindy] Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Last name Aril, Abril.
[Cindy] I think he left the information and I believe
he wanted me to be able to do something.
[Mariana Van Zeller] With the clues he left behind,
local authorities were able to trace the money to a small town
in the Philippines.
But the effort stopped there.
After reaching out to authorities in the Philippines,
the sheriff's office claimed there was nothing else they
could do because the perpetrator was
outside their jurisdiction.
[Cindy] And it's happening over and over.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Cindy] And it just feels like nothing is being done.
I understand that my son pulled the trigger,
but they pushed him to do that.
It feels like a murder.
[Mariana Van Zeller] As a mother of a young teenage boy,
Cindy's story has really affected me,
and as a journalist, I want answers.
Who are the scammers pushing American teens to suicide?
And what can be done to stop this crime?
[Mariana Van Zeller] I've come to Manila, the capital of the
Philippines, to try to track down Jake's blackmailer and
learn more about this industry.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm talking to Fernando, an investigative
local journalist who's covered cybercrimes for over a decade.
He wants to remain anonymous
out of fear of the criminals he reports on.
[Mariana Van Zeller] The Philippines is a major tech hub
and a hotspot for cybercrime.
Why is the Philippines such a center of sextortion?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Right.
Since sextortion scammers can work from anywhere,
on any device, these criminals are particularly hard to catch.
[Mariana Van Zeller] One of the stories we've been following
is an American young man called Jake who committed suicide.
And the name of the person that he sent money to here
in the Philippines is Mariz Abril.
Did you ever hear about this name?
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's not a name that's come across
your radar at all?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So where is the center of this all
in the Philippines?
Where should we be spending most of our time in?
[Mariana Van Zeller] North of Manila?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Fernando directs us to Angeles City.
This city has earned an international reputation
for sex tourism.
Hundreds of women and girls
are trafficked into the city each year.
Everywhere I look, I see Filipino girls with
older white men.
Prostitution may be technically illegal in this country
but here in Angeles City,
sex tourism is booming in plain sight.
Typically I'd meet an underground contact in
a secret location, but not tonight.
My contact tells me to meet her at her work and to come in
through the front door.
Wow.
[♪ Filipino music]
[singing in Filipino].
[♪ club music]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
This is Yumi, a drag performer who dances at a local gay bar.
But like many in Angeles City,
she turned to scamming during the pandemic.
After her show, Yumi took me backstage to share her story.
She tells me she started a virtual relationship
with a German man.
But when he suggested that they turn their chat sexual,
Yumi started recording.
[Mariana Van Zeller] So you had video sex
and you recorded that sex, that video?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Did he send you the money?
[Mariana Van Zeller] How much money did he send you?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Thousand pesos. Okay.
So he ended up giving you or sending you $3,000?
[Mariana Van Zeller] The money was easy.
Really easy.
So Yumi started extorting other men she was
chatting with online.
When people stopped paying you, did you ever actually
share those videos or photos
with the family members or friends?
[Yumi] Hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm. Do you know a lot of people
that have done this kind of blackmailing, sextortion?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Hm. Do they do it like you, by themselves?
[Yumi] No.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Full of people working on a computer?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yumi is a lone wolf scammer, someone who
preys upon her own online contacts to make a few extra
bucks a month.
But what she's describing is a more ambitious operation,
set up like a legal call center.
A sea of cubicles staffed with employees whose sole job
is to scam and extort money from foreigners.
There is a name of a person that we have been trying to find.
Her name is Mariz Abril.
Have you ever heard of anyone called Mariz Abril?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yumi says that she's not involved in
sextortion anymore.
After doing it a few times,
she started feeling bad for her victims.
We hit a dead end,
until one of Fernando's inside sources sends us
a lead on a sextortion ring 30 miles north in Bulacan.
[typing]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] This is a scammer we'll call Claudia.
Before she got involved in sextortion, she was earning
$6 a day selling tea towels
while trying to care for her eight children.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Claudia was recruited by a friend who
told her she could make 10 times more money in sextortion.
She started working in an office much like this one.
The only difference was that Claudia's had armed guards
at the door.
You started chatting mainly with foreigners?
-Yes. -Which countries?
[Mariana Van Zeller] How did the structure inside the group work?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So there's a supervisor basically
walking and making sure you're doing your job?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Claudia was assigned the role of a chatter.
The person who sends messages to the victim and
records their interactions.
She worked on Facebook and Instagram, but chatters have
also been known to use encrypted messaging apps
and dating platforms like Tinder and Bumble.
After you got them to do the video, somebody else would
start the blackmailing.
And somebody else would get the money.
When the victims send the money, who do they send the
money to, was it to you or, who was sent to?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Because of the intimacy of the crime,
I had always imagined that sextortion scammers work
one-on-one with their victims.
But Claudia is describing a highly-organized operation.
This means that Jake's scammer, Mariz Abril,
if that's even her real name,
might have been a part of a much bigger machine.
There may have been a whole team of sextortion workers
manipulating him.
Claudia either doesn't know who the big boss is,
or she doesn't want to tell me.
But I have to know, who's at the very top?
While these scamming operations are constantly
in flux and difficult to track,
one person keeps popping up in our investigation.
[Mariana Van Zeller] She goes by many names, Maria Cabrera,
Cabreras, Caparas, Maria Cecilia.
And rumors have it that she invented the sextortion scam.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Maria grew up in the slums of Manila,
relying on work in the cyber porn industry for survival.
At some point, it seems like Maria decided to
turn the tables.
She started building a criminal empire that targets
foreign men.
She has been arrested many times,
once in a high-profile Interpol-led raid,
but she's always inexplicably released.
[Mariana] So, our goal here was to find Mariz Abril,
but there is a chance that actually we're looking
for the wrong person, and...
[Mariana Van Zeller] And we should be looking for the head
of the syndicate, Maria Cabreras,
'cause there is a good chance that it was part of her
syndicate that did this to Jake.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow. That's huge.
I want to work my way up to the top, to the person
credited with the birth of this industry,
the same industry responsible for Jake's death.
Fernando's contact could be my way in.
Okay, so you're gonna talk to her and see if she agrees to
talk to us?
[Mariana Van Zeller] What's the, is it the authorities?
What are they concerned about?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, my God.
So, bruised, their whole back is bruised.
They were beat?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, my God.
[Mariana Van Zeller] I think this is it.
We got a call last night telling us that one of the
scammers he knows has agreed to speak to us.
It's in this property that we've been driving now
for a few minutes.
It's supposedly at the end of this road, there is a house
where this person is waiting for us.
[♪ unsettling music]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Jamie, not her real name, is known as
one of the most prolific scammers in this area.
Have you ever actually went through with the blackmail and
sent the video to the family or friends
when they don't pay?
[Mariana Van Zeller] You have? Really?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Did you feel bad about doing that?
Maybe you ruined this person's life?
Do you think about that?
[Host] Philippines.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Before the pandemic, Jamie says she
earned money competing in transgender beauty pageants,
popular events in the Philippines that can be
a path out of poverty.
But those events were canceled during the pandemic.
And to make matters worse, trans-women were excluded
from government assistance.
Transphobia in the mainstream workforce limits career options.
That's why many in Jamie's community turn to sex work for
survival, but Jamie discovered another path.
When did you find out about sextortion?
[Mariana Van Zeller] We heard a lot about the
Queen of Sextortion, as she is known,
Maria Cabrera.
[Mariana Van Zeller] That's her?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Maria Cabreras is known to recruit
impoverished youth.
She has plucked dozens, if not hundreds of teens
off the streets.
She taught Jamie and these other young scammers how to
find victims, how to flirt with them and how to use
pre-recorded videos ripped from porn sites to fool them
into thinking they were interacting with real people.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm. How young do they start?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow. That's my son's age.
I can't imagine him, not only scamming, but also seeing
these videos and these photos from the victims.
It's so young.
What can happen to you if Maria finds out you were
talking to us?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Really? So why are you talking to us?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you think Maria would talk to us?
[speaking Filipino]
[Mariana Van Zeller] No?
[Mariana Van Zeller] What's that?
-Be careful? -Yes.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We don't know for sure if Maria's
syndicate was behind Jake's sextortion.
The operation is powerful and elusive,
her scammers hidden behind fake IDs.
But we do know that the money Jake wired was traced to a
bank in the region Maria calls home.
So I'm setting my sights on the Queen of Sextortion.
The last we heard, Maria was based in a little town called
North Hills, which she'd converted into her own
scamming empire.
[crowing]
[snorting]
But before I go to North Hills,
I want to understand what I'll be walking into.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Peter, not his real name,
is a government official
who asked us not to disclose his location.
He's witnessed the corruptive power of the sextortion
industry first-hand.
It took a long time to convince him to talk to us.
But he finally decided it was worth the risk.
You don't want your face shown.
-Dangerous. -Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Wow. That's a really strong accusation.
Corruption in the Philippines has spiked in recent years.
Dirty money has made its way into politics, elections.
And even the judicial system.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, so this is as dangerous a time as
any to go and look for her, I guess?
[Peter] Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] What advice do you have for us?
-To us. -Uh-hmm.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah.
Starting to think that maybe
this is not a great idea after all.
We're in the thick of it now.
[grinding]
[sizzling]
[honking]
[Mariana Van Zeller] We're gonna start getting people
looking at us because, you know, this isn't a very
touristy area and they definitely don't see people
with cameras coming here.
Underneath the veneer of quiet village life, North Hills
hides a checkered history of corruption.
Maria Cabreras, the Queen of Sextortion,
based her operation here.
And we have reason to believe she's still in the game.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Maria's social media accounts are
filled with pictures of her hanging out
with local politicians.
She apparently owns a gym and a youth center, which we hear
she's used as a hunting ground for new recruits.
It's here.
Our local producer suggests we keep the cameras in the car,
as they would attract too much attention.
I'm a little anxious just because of all the warnings
and people who told us we shouldn't come,
but I'm hoping we'll find someone to talk to.
Yeah, and I think this is it, guys.
We're in the thick of it now.
Hi. Can I ask you a question?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yes. Okay, Fred, maybe put the camera down.
Hi.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Maria Cabrera.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay. Okay.
You can put the cameras back up.
Well, this is like the mayorship?
Oh, it's like the city hall? Okay.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Yeah. So this is like the city hall?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Small city hall. Okay.
And they can help me, maybe?
[Mariana Van Zeller] They have the records, okay.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Let's see what happens.
Thank you.
[♪ distorted music]
[knocking]
Hi, Mariana. My name's Mariana.
Inside the city hall, I meet two women.
We're looking for somebody that I think lives in this region?
Her name is Maria Cabreras?
Maria Cecilia Cabrera?
She doesn't live here anymore?
The women tell me that Maria no longer lives in
North Hills, but her sister does.
The sister lives here?
Do you know where the sister lives?
After a bit of back and forth,
they agreed to help us track her sister down.
Okay. The sister of Cabrera.
Okay. Great!
And if you could accompany us, that would be great.
Just as it seemed like we were about to catch a big break,
one of the women decides to make a phone call,
and everything changes.
Okay.
[honking]
I think, uh, Dan, who is our local producer,
was just talking to them.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, so they wanna figure out what
we're doing here?
-Yes. -The local police is coming?
-They're alarmed. -Yes.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Should we be worried?
[Mariana] Oh, they're not gonna allow us to film anymore.
[Mariana] So you don't think we can go and talk to the sister?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Or they can kick us out, okay.
Thank you, Dan.
Yeah. So, he says the people here are alarmed.
They've called. They've seen the cameras.
They've seen our car with a bunch of foreigners driving
around and they're coming to ask us questions.
He thinks they're gonna shut down our filming immediately
and they're ask, they're gonna ask us to leave town.
What's happening, Dan? What's happening?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Hi, how are you? Mariana.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay. So who is this lady? Sorry.
[speaking Filipino].
-Volunteer security? -Yes.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We just want to see if we can find
Maria Cabreras or her sister.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, the leader called you and said
that we had to leave?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Can somebody show us where
Maria Cabrera's sister lives?
[speaking Filipino].
[Mariana Van Zeller] Without cameras, nothing.
[speaking Filipino]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Why?
[speaking Filipino]
[Mariana Van Zeller] You don't want to show us.
[Mariana Van Zeller] To leave? Okay. So they're...
[speaking Filipino]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Okay, thank you. Thank you.
Our presence here is clearly raising alarms,
and our local producer is getting nervous.
Yeah. Okay.
[Mariana Van Zeller] We need to go?
[Mariana They're telling you that we have to leave right now.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Do you wanna get back in the car?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Nobody wants us here essentially.
Yeah. The idea is nobody wants us here.
As a journalist,
the worst feeling is being forced to turn away.
I've become so invested in this story and I feel like
I owe it to Cindy, to Jake's mother, to uncover as much as
I can about the sextortion industry.
But these scammers seem to be operating with impunity.
Hello.
So I'm surprised when my local producer tells me about a
person who's actually being held in a jail nearby
for crimes related to sextortion.
Hello.
And he's willing to talk to us.
[clapping]
This jail houses all types of criminals
and is massively overcrowded.
I'm introduced to a young man we'll call Diego,
who shares a cell with over a dozen other inmates.
How old are you?
[Mariana Van Zeller] I'm struck by the fact that Diego
is only a few years older than Jake was
when he took his own life.
So was it men you scammed?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Women?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, that's the first time we heard that.
Diego was arrested for sextorting Filipino women
on dating apps for small amounts of money.
But now he admits to crimes he's never been charged for.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Like which countries?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Diego says he was never recruited to
work for Maria Cabreras,
but at some point, he says he upped his game,
adopting her syndicate's methods.
We spent time in the United States with families who lost
their sons because they committed suicide
because of sextortion.
[Mariana Van Zeller] You never heard this?
No one ever said, "I'm going to kill myself if you continue
asking me for money, blackmailing me?"
[Mariana Van Zeller] Did they kill themselves?
[Mariana Van Zeller] They died?
[Mariana Van Zeller] How did you find out he killed himself?
[Mariana] Oh, that's horrible. And you saw it happening?
[Mariana Van Zeller] What did you say?
Didn't you ask him to stop?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Oh, my God. That is horrible.
How much money were you trying to get from him?
[Mariana Van Zeller] $1,000?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So why do you think he committed suicide?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So if he was begging you to stop,
why didn't you stop?
[Mariana Van Zeller] No, you did not!
So you said, you said, "Just do it, I don't care."?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Why?
[Mariana Van Zeller] So you thought he was lying,
just bluffing because others had said the same thing?
[Mariana Van Zeller] But nobody had actually done it?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Nobody had actually, are you sure
nobody else did it?
[Mariana Van Zeller] We spent time with mothers of kids
who committed suicide.
And seeing their pain and seeing them cry,
sorry I'm gonna get emotional.
But it's very, very hard to know that this is happening.
And to now be with you here and seeing somebody who
in many ways was responsible for somebody,
for somebody's death, right?
Do you know that he committed suicide because of
what you did to him?
[Mariana Van Zeller] Hearing Diego admit to driving a
person to suicide makes it hard to believe that this
crime is not the reason he's in jail.
Transnational scams are hard to prosecute.
And Filipino authorities seem more concerned with crimes
committed against locals than foreigners.
I don't know whether Maria Cabreras still lives
in North Hills, but her legacy is very much alive,
in the corruptive power of her syndicate
and the ruthless playbook she created.
Combating sextortion requires updated legislation,
significant resources, and collaboration between
law enforcement agencies around the world.
But these things rarely happen, so these crimes continue.
As does the pain they cause.
[wind chimes tinkling]
[Brandon Guffey] It sounded like a bowling ball coming down
from a top shelf.
I ran in there and yelled his name.
He didn't answer, so I immediately just shouldered
the door in.
I'm yelling to call 911 to my wife, but as I put my hand on
his artery, I could just feel, it felt like a hose pipe, the
blood was leaving very, very quickly.
And I just sat there holding him until I couldn't feel the
blood coming out anymore.
[Mariana Van Zeller] On July 27th, 2022, Brandon Guffey's
17-year-old son, Gavin, ended his life after falling victim
to sextortion by someone pretending to be a college girl
from a few towns over.
[Brandon Guffey] After everything happened with Gavin,
I was in such a dark place.
I wanted to resign from the House.
My wife's like, "Absolutely not.
You're one of the few people that can make a change."
[Mariana Van Zeller] Guffey is a delegate in the
South Carolina House of Representatives.
[Brandon Guffey] Today we will be debating Gavin's bill
on the floor.
[Mariana Van Zeller] And he has a plan to bring awareness
and justice to victims of sextortion.
[Brandon Guffey] I lost the battle for Gavin, but if I can
save these other teens, then that's what's most important.
[House Speaker] No questions.
Mr. Guffey is next to speak on a bill.
Mr. Guffey is recognized.
[chatter]
[Representative] I'd like to request a debate.
[Brandon Guffey] Will I be able to speak on it?
-Yeah. Yeah. -Okay.
I just wanna make sure. Thank you.
[Mariana Van Zeller] When you talk to people, do they even
know what sextortion is?
[Brandon Guffey] It's still not out there enough.
And it doesn't really make the news, and no one's truly
explaining how dangerous it is.
And as a parent, you hear something like that and you
think that, "Well, that won't happen to me.
You know, my kid's smarter than that."
But, yeah, I still get messages every single day
from somebody that's being extorted asking for advice.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Every single day?
[Brandon Guffey] Every single day.
[Mariana Van Zeller] In response to his son's death,
Representative Brandon Guffey is now trying to put the dangers
of sextortion on the agenda with a bill proposal that
would increase the maximum sentence for a perpetrator
in South Carolina to 20 years.
[Representative] Whenever you're ready though.
[Mariana Van Zeller] He named it Gavin's Law, after his son.
[Brandon Guffey] The primary purpose of this is to raise
awareness, because most of the perpetrators are not coming
out of the state of South Carolina.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Brandon Guffey] So it's really to open up the conversation
with parents and teens alike and bring that awareness
for them to have that hard conversation.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Even though the bill is limited to
South Carolina, Representative Guffey hopes it will inspire a
wave of similar bills across the country,
eventually making it federal law.
[Boy] I have one on my backpack.
[Brandon Guffey] But we're gonna put it on your shirt.
[Mariana Van Zeller] It's the day his bill is up for a vote
and his family joins him on the floor of the state house.
[House Speaker] No questions.
Mr. Guffey is next to speak on a bill.
Mr. Guffey is recognized.
[Brandon Guffey] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I haven't even said a word and I'm tearing up.
Most of my fellow House Members are aware of the
importance of this bill to me.
Nine months ago tomorrow,
I lost my 17-year-old son to suicide.
And it was due to extorting.
This is not just a problem in South Carolina.
This is not just a problem in the United States.
This is a problem globally.
Our laws do not move fast enough to keep up,
to punish those that are responsible.
I would like to read the names of the kids that just since my
son have taken their lives as well, because we're not
getting the message out enough.
You've got Carter Bremseth, forever 16, from Minnesota.
You've got Brayden Markus, forever 15, from Ohio.
Waylon Scheffer, from Montana, forever 16.
James Woods, forever 17, in Ohio.
And Walker Montgomery,
forever 16, out of Starkville, Mississippi.
And Landen Edward-Todd Weigelt, from Wisconsin,
forever 17.
And my son, Gavin Timothy Guffey, who's forever 17.
So, I urge you guys to pass it and I thank you for all of
your support.
[applause]
[House Speaker] By a vote of 113-0
House Bill 3583 has been approved.
Congratulations, Mr. Guffey.
[applause]
[Mariana Van Zeller] Gavin's Law was passed unanimously and
signed into law in August of 2023.
[Brandon Guffey] Yeah. I'm proud of it.
[Mariana Van Zeller] A small but important step in the
fight against this predatory new crime.
[Brandon Guffey] Thank you.
[Mariana Van Zeller] But we still have a long way to go.
I've see the roots of this black market.
I know how it flourishes in the dark legacies of
sex tourism and discrimination.
Crime bosses see a workforce in the impoverished and
marginalized, a revenue stream in the desperation of youth.
There are no easy answers.
No quick fixes.
But if my experience as a journalist and a mother has
taught me anything, it's that our best defense is awareness
and communication.
[Cindy] My life has been devastated losing my son.
I miss him so much.
But maybe Jake's story can make them realize.
[Mariana Van Zeller] Uh-hmm.
[Cindy] It's, it's just a picture.
Talk to your kids.
There are so many people that have been affected from this.
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.