CHESAPEAKE, Va. — A former Old Dominion University student who admitted to producing child pornography after targeting teenagers online is awaiting sentencing, while child safety advocates warn that online predators are becoming increasingly sophisticated and aggressive.
Federal prosecutors say Gabriel Brooks, then 22, posed as a 14-year-old boy on a teen dating app before meeting two Chesapeake teenagers and sexually assaulting them.
Court records show Brooks was living in Norfolk and attending Old Dominion University when he began communicating with one of the victims through Snapchat.
Records state he was also connected to an address in Centerville, Virginia.
Prosecutors say he promised the teen marijuana before arranging to meet in person. Authorities say Brooks later sexually assaulted the boy and, during another encounter, sexually assaulted the victim's 14-year-old female friend.
Investigators previously appealed to the public for additional information about potential victims when the case first became public in 2023.
Brooks later moved to Florida to attend graduate school at Florida A&M University. Federal court records show that in November 2025, Brooks was also sentenced for raping two girls he met online in Woodstock, Virginia, just days after the Chesapeake assaults. One of those victims was 12 years old.
"It's such a sensitive topic for so many parents because the worst fear of a parent is their child being taken advantage of," said retired police lieutenant Jeff Lurie.
Online Enticement Reports Continue Rising
The case comes as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) reports a sharp increase in online child exploitation complaints.
According to NCMEC, more than 1.4 million online enticement reports were received in 2025. Those reports included more than 80,000 sextortion incidents and more than 800 reports involving offenders who traveled to meet a child in person.
The organization says online enticement reporting increased 158% compared to 2024, and early data suggests the trend is continuing into 2026.
"The majority of our reports are coming in from the electronic service providers, those social media companies," said Kathryn Rifenbark with NCMEC.
NCMEC officials say many reports involve child sexual abuse material discovered by technology companies operating social media and messaging platforms.
Social Media Often Used To Target Children
Child safety experts say offenders frequently use fake online identities to gain a child's trust.
"In these cases, we often see that children are being contacted online through common social media apps," Rifenbark said. "The offenders are often using fake profiles to pretend to be a child that's located near the child they're victimizing."
NCMEC says the growing popularity of social media, combined with emerging artificial intelligence technology, is creating new opportunities for offenders.
"With the continued increase in use of social media, we see kids are often being targeted frequently online by these offenders," Rifenbark said. "There's also the rise of the use of AI, which makes it quite easy for offenders to victimize a child."
What Parents Can Do
Experts say parental awareness remains one of the most effective tools in preventing online exploitation.
Lurie recommends monitoring any device that allows internet access, including smartphones, tablets and gaming consoles.
"If they have a cell phone, if they have a tablet, if they have any access to the internet through any of their devices, even gaming consoles, you don't know who's on the other end," Lurie said.
NCMEC also encourages parents to have age-appropriate conversations with children about online safety from an early age.
"It's really important that parents are aware of these risks kids are facing online, and that they're having open and honest conversations with their kids," Rifenbark said.
