Can you take us through what then happened to this young man, your son? Yeah.

So I'm going to go back a little bit further to bring in my politics side of things, because I was on county council and the state rep.

I had no aspirations to ever go any higher than just a county commissioner.

And my state house rep, who had been a previous sheriff and then served 50 years of public service, decided he was going to resign.

And a lady had moved here that I thought was.

Extreme in her views is for lack of a better terms.

And I didn't feel like she represented our area.

forum, so to say.

There was a big hubble about that this year, that the process was not public enough, that each one of these entitlements should be... vetted and discussed publicly versus throwing them all into one big ball of wax and passing $337 million worth of

projects.

Well, I will say this.

Whenever I first got elected, I was completely against earmarks.

And I was like, I don't understand the purpose of it.

But whenever we have to operate on a balanced budget, and unfortunately we're writing the budget before the true numbers come in.

So we are estimating on what we're going to bring in.

So what do you want to work on when you go back down there?

So what do you say as, what do you tell the parents listening that are thinking, I have not had this conversation with my kids? How do I begin to have a conversation like that with my kids about this risk and how to avoid it and how to know that they can talk to me about anything with what you said? I mean, you can say that all, you know, as much as you want, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to feel that in that panic

moment.

We're so busy trying to be perfect.

Number one thing I would tell you is quit using filters.

Quit trying to portray your best life and your child see that you and your husband are fighting at home.

You know, quit trying to act perfect and try to gain everyone's approval on up to who you are.

And it's OK to not be OK.

If

Did I read when this guy started sextorting him?

Yes, sir.

He was reached out to about midnight on July 27th of 2022, and by 1.40 a.m., he was gone.

But you mentioned about Meta and these extortionists.

It wasn't just the extortion of my son, Gavin.

Meta left the profile of the person extorting my son up, and they continued to extort myself, my 16-year-old son, my 14-year-old cousin, and dozens of other teens.

Even after you reported him,

Brandon, where's your lawsuit sit right now?

Walk me through whatever level of detail you're comfortable in telling the story as it impacted you and Gavin.

Yes, sir.

So July 27th, 2022, I came home around midnight.

Gavin was playing video games with his friends.

I stepped outside on a phone call, came back in.

Gavin left his bedroom around 1.30 a.m. As a parent, you're used to fussing at a teenager, saying, hey, don't be so loud.

He was very quiet, and just something didn't sit right, so I got up to go and check on him.

Just call me and you'll get a mulligan.