Man accused of raping girl he met on KIK:

20-year-old Michael John Baigert Jr. of Virginia Beach, Virginia, is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl that he met through Kik. For those of you who don’t know Kik is a smartphone app that can be used along the lines of text messaging but uses the internet instead of the phone connection. Baigert allegedly posed as a 16-year-old while talking to his victim. Police say he had the victim meet him near a wooded area where he then allegedly raped her.

Here’s the thing though. Usually, on Kik, no one can talk to you unless they know your Kik username. So a lot of people are calling B.S. on the girl saying that she would have given her Kik username to Baigert. But there is another way. Kik also has conference messaging. It’s not unreasonable to think that the victim and Baigert may have had a mutual friend and that Baigert and his victim may have met in such a scenario.

As for parents, Kik is yet another app that you need to keep your eye out for. Check your kids’ phones to see if they have it and if they do make sure you know who everyone on their friends list is. That won’t guarantee that your child won’t be approached by a predator but it will go a long way in safeguarding them.

UPDATE 10/21/2014: Baigert pleaded guilty to child porn charges and will be sentenced in February. I imagine that this is some kind of plea deal although he’s looking at a mandatory sentence of 15 years and a max of 30.