Steven Wayne Erickson, 48, a member of the Pulaski Town Council and coordinator of the Pulaski County Work Report Program in Virginia, was arrested on federal charges including one count of receipt of child sexual abuse material and one count of distribution of CSAM. The Department of Justice investigation began when the FBI received a cyber tip regarding potential child sexual exploitation occurring over Kik, a messaging app. Agents discovered Erickson used two Kik accounts, with records revealing multiple instances where he solicited and shared CSAM with other Kik users. Erickson, a Radford native who ran unopposed as an independent in 2024, is now in custody at Roanoke City Jail.
Guardii's world-leading AI detection for child sexual abuse material—including live real-time monitoring across messaging platforms such as Kik, Instagram, Discord and Snapchat—identifies solicitation, exchange and distribution of CSAM the instant it occurs, flagging perpetrators before multiple victims are targeted and enabling rapid escalation to federal authorities. By surfacing threat patterns rather than reading every message, the platform closes the operational gap between a cyber tip and active harm, intercepting predatory contact at the point of first solicitation and preserving forensic evidence for prosecution.
