Danvers native Haywood Talcove hopped on his bike in Kittery, Maine, on Wednesday, ready to ride 320 miles to Fenway Park. His journey came to an end late Friday afternoon in Boston, just in time for the Red Sox-Dodgers game.
The goal of his ride: to raise awareness around the growing problem of missing and exploited children in the country. He and six others had fundraised more than $900,000, as of Saturday afternoon, nearing their targeted $1 million.
Whatever final amount the group ends up with will go directly toward the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which receives 32 million calls and tips every year about children being harmed and/or gone from their parents.
That’s what inspired the group to ride 320 miles, Talcove told the Herald on Saturday.
“That’s really important,” he said. “The center is a nonprofit organization, and they need resources to run the call center and to also train law enforcement and educate parents on how to help their children.”
Growing up outside of Boston, Talcove said he didn’t have the internet or a cell phone because they simply did not exist.
“The world is a lot more different now, a lot more challenges for kids,” said the 56-year-old, who lives in Washington D.C., working as CEO for LexisNexis Risk Solutions Government Group, which provides resources to law enforcement to find sex predators.
Red Sox President Sam Kennedy invited Talcove to share some facts regarding missing and exploited children in Boston, the region and the country during pregame festivities on Friday. Talcove was also greeted by William Gross, former commissioner of the Boston Police Department.
Roughly 80 children are missing from their homes in the state of Massachusetts right now, and many of them have fallen prey to human traffickers and sex traffickers, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
One in three runaways wind up in the hands of human traffickers, and one in six are trafficked for sex, figures from the center show.
“Unfortunately, it happens every single day, whether it’s exploitation, runaways, child grooming,” Talcove said. “The likelihood of it happening to you is really low, but unfortunately, when it does happen, what the center does is provide the needed resources to help.”
The biggest problem that children face today is sextortion, as they think they’re talking with a peer, but in reality, it’s “some transnational criminal in Nigeria and holding that [nude] image ransom,” Talcove said.
He said there have been more than 30 suicides over the particular issue within the past four months.
“A lot of the time, the great men and women in Boston PD when they’re trying to figure this out, the person that is doing it may not even live in Boston, or Massachusetts or New England. They may not even live in the country,” Talcove said. “Because of the national center, they have access to resources to help figure out who these individuals are.”
