DV Journal

Organized groups of Nigerian cybercriminals are contacting American kids via social media and gaming, befriending them, and exchanging nude photos with them. When they have the American child’s likeness, they blackmail them, demanding money.

That was just one of the disturbing revelations during a hearing on cybersecurity in Northampton Monday, convened by Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran.

“The safety of our children in this digital world is number one,” said Harran. “Our kids live online. They learn, socialize, and play in a digital space empowered by smartphones in their pockets. But this constant connectivity comes with significant risks.”

Harran held the hearing to spur legislation to bolster digital literacy and shield children from online harm. Harran said the Sheriff and District Attorney’s Offices will launch a pilot program with Bucks County school districts to enhance digital safety.

Also participating in the hearing were state Reps. Joe Hogan (R-Penndel) and Kristin Marcell (R-Richboro), along with District Attorney Jennifer Schorn. Northampton Police Chief Steven LeCompte and Supervisor Adam Selisker also attended.

Schorn said there are two categories of perpetrators: Those who prey on children for their own sexual gratification and the sextortioners who target teens and young adults.

“This is truly a criminal organized enterprise, where they’re targeting victims to exploit them for their financial gain,” said Schorn. “It is so organized… It’s so swift that we’re seeing catastrophic outcomes when children take their own lives because they don’t see a way out.”

Graeme Page, founder of Skyll and a board member of the Safe Surfin’ Foundation, testified that he started a social media marketing company at the age of 11 and went on to work with Disney and Warner Bros. When he was 17, his girlfriend, “out of the blue,” committed suicide. It turned out she was the victim of sextortion on Instagram.

“It opened my eyes that social media is not a safe place. There’s a negative underbelly to it. It drove me to create Skyll to protect kids across the country and the world who are facing these crimes,” Page said.

“Kids today are targeted by these organized crime groups, often in Nigeria,” said Page. “These organized crime groups use algorithms to target kids systematically.”

Page said organized Nigerian criminals have increased sextortion by 1,000 percent in the last 18 months.

He described the strategies used by the scammers, like sending a flirtatious message while pretending to be a peer or someone from their school.

“And they say, ‘I think you’re cute.’ They start sexting, flirting, and they encourage the kids to send them a nude photo after sending one of their own, which is often fake. The kid does. Then they turn around and say, ‘I have your photo. Now I’m going to blackmail you for $800, and if you don’t pay it, I’m going to send it to everyone in your school, your family, your friends.”

“This is an epidemic that’s affecting our kids horribly,” Page said, adding: “These were kids reaching out to us at the worst moment of their lives.”

Page worked closely with the state of West Virginia to pass legislation to mandate cyber safety education for all kids.

West Virginia State Sen. Vince Deeds said the new law requires online safety be taught to all public students.

“It’s a crisis situation for our children,” said Deeds, a former state trooper and the chief investigator for the Greenbrier County Prosecutor’s Office. “We really hope this will make a difference for some of our most vulnerable victims, our children.”

Hogan told DV Journal he may sponsor a bill based on West Virginia’s. He believes it will have bipartisan support, noting that Sen. John Kane (D-Delaware) had previously proposed a similar bill.

A law that increased the penalty for those who sextort people, causing them to harm themselves or commit suicide, that was sponsored by Rep. K.C. Tomlinson (R-Bensalem) was named in honor of Lindsey Piccone, 22, a victim of sextortion who died by suicide. Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed it into law in 2022.

“My bill increased penalties for predators who commit this online crime. When I was growing up, I had never even heard of the word sextortion. Today, we live in a different world and, unfortunately, these incidents happen all too often,” said Tomlinson, who could not attend the hearing.

Skyll developed a program called “Deputy” that kids can talk to, an internet 911, that is “peer-to-peer based on AI twins, designed to feel like a support buddy,” he said.

Working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s cyber tipline, they’re able to use a program to take down nude photos being used to sextort kids. “The take-it-down tool is an incredibly powerful piece of software,” he said. The child uploads the photo that is being used against them. The photo is turned into a “hash value” that is sent out to Instagram, Snapchat and “even porn sites.”

All the participating sites look for that hash value and put a block on it so it can’t be seen, shared or spread, “essentially rendering it useless for the blackmailer.”

Hogan said it was very troubling to hear about the overseas groups targeting children.

“That is a whole different scale from what I was prepared to hear about today,” said Hogan.

Bucks County Democrat Bob Harvie is throwing his hat in the ring to challenge popular GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in 2026.

Political professionals say it’s likely to be a campaign of contrasts between Republican Fitzpatrick, named the most bipartisan member of Congress, and Harvie, who’s been an unapologetic partisan as while serving on the Bucks County Board of Commissioners.

“Bob Harvie looks to be a high-profile challenger. He is likely to attract a lot of financial backing as a result,” said Temple University political science Professor Robin Kolodny. “Having said that, Brian Fitzpatrick has managed to overperform in a Democratic-leaning district for some time.”

A teacher by trade, Harvie is a former Falls Township supervisor who was first elected to the county board of commissioners in 2019. He has been its chair since 2022.

“Brian Fitzpatrick has failed to stand up for us—his silence and inaction is unacceptable. We need a leader who will actually fight for our future. I’ve seen firsthand what bad policies from Washington do to our communities,” Harvie said in a statement.

During his time as chair, the county commission has faced multiple controversies. For example, Harvie and fellow Democratic Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia made national headlines last November after allowing the counting of ineligible ballots in the 2024 election. The state Supreme Court had ordered those ballots not to be counted.

“I think we all know that precedent by a court doesn’t matter anymore in this country,” Ellis-Margeglia said afterward. “People violate laws any time they want.”

She later apologized.

Harvie and Ellis-Marseglia were also criticized for silencing county health department director Dr. David Damsker in order to close schools longer than necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic. They sued two mothers who sought county records through right-to-know requests.  The Democratic commissioners additionally hired a political operative as the director of policy and communications.

And just last week, a judge criticized Harvie and his fellow commissioners for using “sneaky” tactics to slip approval of a climate-activism lawsuit through county government without public oversight.

Juliana Winberg, who chairs the Falls Township Republican Committee, said the township has numerous financial issues stemming from Harvie’s tenure on the board.  She noted the FBI has investigated township officials, although Harvie has denied that he was a target of that investigation.

Harvie is a “controversial person” who is “not greatly loved in Falls Township,” Winberg said.  “I think he got a lot of votes because of the letter after his name.”

Fitzpatrick, a Republican who co-chairs the Problem Solvers Caucus, was named the most bipartisan Republican in 2024, according to The Hill. Fitzpatrick easily twice beat Democratic challenger Ashley Ehasz, a relatively unknown candidate. But with Harvie, Fitzpatrick faces a more experienced competitor.

And veteran Democratic strategist TJ Rooney told DVJournal Harvie may have an unexpected ally on his side in 2026: President Donald Trump.

“If President Trump continues to run our economy into the ditch, members like Congressman Fitzpatrick will be left holding the bag. No amount of solid constituent service can make up for getting run over by the Trump Pain Train. Recent history suggests that might be our best hope for beating him,” Rooney said.

Kolodny offered a similar warning for Republicans.

“If Fitzpatrick does something that looks like he is putting Trump’s agenda above the district’s interests, that could hurt the reputation he has built for being independent. It will be an interesting 18 months,” she said.

Bucks County Republicans note that, since Harvie first won office, the county’s party registration has flipped from a Democrat advantage to the GOP. Bucks County now has 10,126 more Republicans than Democrats, according to state records.

And, says Bucks County GOP Chair Pat Poprik, Harvie’s record will be a tough sell for Democrats.

“Throughout his time as Bucks County commissioner, Harvie has consistently worked to bring a far-left progressive ideology to Bucks County and has failed to deliver positive results for working families,” said Poprik. “We’re confident that the voters of the First Congressional District will see Harvie for what he is: a hyper-partisan career politician. Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick has a clear record of representing the values of this district and has always served all the people of this community. In contrast, Bob Harvie has only served the Democrat Party’s agenda.”

Harvie is already under attack from the pr0-Fitzpatrick “Defending America PAC.”

“Bob Harvie is an embarrassment to himself and an embarrassment to us all. He’s a do-nothing partisan hack who has spent over two decades running for office while thumbing his nose at the middle class,” said Defending America PAC spokesman Chris Pack. “We’re excited to hold Harvie accountable and watch him explain the FBI’s corruption investigation into his criminal conduct, along with his many other politically disqualifying flaws.”

Harvie did not respond to requests for comment.

Republican pundit Guy Ciarrocchi, who ran for Congress in Chester County, said, “Sadly, Bob Harvie’s candidacy for Congress represents an attempt to fail-upward. Having failed as commissioner—publicly and repeatedly showing contempt for the rule of law and Bucks citizens- he wants to take that ‘record’ to Congress.

“On the other hand, Congressman Fitzpatrick is understandably happy.”

Despite her history of antisemitic statements and anti-Israel rhetoric, all three Democrats representing the Delaware Valley voted to keep controversial Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) on the Foreign Relations Committee. Now Jewish organizations are calling them out for backing someone whose antisemitism has been repeatedly called out by members of her own party.

The Republican majority, with the help of Bucks County GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, successfully removed Omar last week from the committee that plays an important role in the nation’s foreign policy, including the state of Israel.

“It’s just that her worldview of Israel is so diametrically opposed to the committee’s,” said Foreign Relations Committee chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) leading up to the vote. “I don’t mind having differences of opinion, but this goes beyond that.”

Omar’s antisemitic statements and anti-Israel stances are well known. She has claimed she is criticized for her anti-Israel positions — including supporting the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement — because of the influence of Jewish money. “It’s all about the Benjamins, baby,” she tweeted. She has also claimed, “Israel has hypnotized the world. May Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.”

She has also compared the U.S. and Israel to the terrorist groups Hamas and the Taliban, for which she was also rebuked by Democrats in 2021.

That wasn’t enough to stop Delaware Valley Democrats from siding with her.

”Rep. Omar immediately apologized when told by the Jewish community that her words were hurtful and put in the work to become a better ally,” said Rep. Madeline Dean on Twitter. “Her four years on House Foreign Affairs Committee have been dedicated to peace and human rights — and she should remain.”

And Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware/Philadelphia) accused the GOP of partisanship.

“Speaker McCarthy struck a corrupt bargain with MAGA extremists to get the speaker’s chair when he agreed to remove Rep. Omar from her committee. This partisan political stunt strikes a blow to the integrity of our democratic institutions.”

Interestingly, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester/Berks), who serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, declined to respond to a request for comment. In 2019, in the wake of Omar’s antisemitic comments, Houlahan publicly denounced her. “There is no place for antisemitic comments from anyone at anytime, anywhere. This is not who we are, and language which does not reflect our national values must be called out and condemned without exception,” Houlahan tweeted at the time.

But today she is silent.

The Coalition for Jewish values, which represents 2,000 American rabbis, supported taking Omar off the committee.

“We are obviously very pleased with the outcome,” said Rabbi Yakov Menken, a spokesman for the group. “It is a morally correct outcome. But we’re very distressed at the same time. Her defenders turned around and accused her critics of racism.  That is inverting bigot and victim, which is unacceptable.”

One of those who voted to retain Omar is Rep. Susan Wild (D-Lehigh). Wild is Jewish, serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee, and voted to keep Omar on the committee. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Wynnewood Rabbi Yonah Gross, a regional ambassador for the Coalition for Jewish Values, was also pleased with Omar’s removal.

Omar has had antisemitic views that she “sometimes covered as being anti-Israel. But even that would be considered antisemitic. And to have her on the Foreign Affairs Committee and have access to information and influence in an area that affects Israel and allowing her bias to impact those decisions is a dangerous thing to allow.”

“She’s certainly welcome to represent her constituents, and she could be on other committees, but her antisemitic, anti-Israel bias makes her unfit to be on that committee, in my view,” said Gross.

Philadelphia Cantor Elliott Tessler also favored removing Omar from the committee.

“The last place she should be is the Committee on Foreign Relations, somebody with such strong anti-Israel feelings,” said Tessler. “I read an article this week that she was flying a Palestinian flag in her office. She’s a constant critic of Israel. That is the absolute last committee she should be on. It’s a very important committee, very powerful.”

“Martin Luther King said anti-Israel criticism is antisemitism,” said Tessler.

Cheltenham resident Myron Goldman said, “It was the right move.”

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