Single-father hounded with threats after Facebook friendship turns to nightmare

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - A single-father says what began as an innocent conversation on social media turned perilous when he began receiving threats of violence and death threats.

Logan Lunsford was recently on Facebook when someone who claimed to be another single parent reached out to him. Lunsford initially believed the person might have been looking for a friend.

“At first, I felt sorry for the guy,” Lunsford said. “And then, it just all of a sudden changed.”

Lunsford, who lives in Clermont County, was contacted by a person on Facebook who claimed also to be a single-father in the Tri-State.

“I relate to that a lot, and I know that it’s hard as a single-father to make friends,” he said. “And so I held a conversation with him.”

Lunsford says the tone of the conversation changed on a dime.

“It turned really quickly into him talking about his daughter and basically trying to exchange my daughter for sexual solicitation,” he explained.

Lunsford’s daughter is 5 years old.

The person messaging him claimed to have a daughter younger than her.

Lunsford says he couldn’t believe his eyes when the messages started coming in. “I just... I’ve never had anything like this happen before,” he said. “I’m still stunned by it.”

The messages kept coming even after Lunsford refused the solicitation and told the person to leave him alone. In fact, they escalated.

“He threatened to basically kill me... tie me up, force me to do it... I don’t know if it’s a real person, someone behind a mask... you never know with social media who it can really be.”

Lunsford contacted the Union Township Police Department.

Above all else, he wants other families to learn the same lesson as him, that they should be careful about what they post online.

“I would say, try to make your profile as private as possible. Make sure your profile picture is of yourself, and just lock down all your other photos so only your friends can see them if you’re going to post photos of your kid.

Lunsford continued: “It’s just really hard to find out where people really are these days. They could say they’re in another country and they could be right next door to you.”

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