EXCLUSIVE: Child advocate and Safe from Online Sex Abuse founder Roo Powell will continue her efforts to identify some of the internet’s most dangerous child predators as Discovery+ renews her docuseries Undercover Underage for season 2.
Undercover Underage follows the SOSA team in real time as they transform Powell, a 38-year-old mother of three, into a teen persona and work to reveal the true identities of the men who reach out to her. It’s a race against time to identify the suspects before they discover Powell herself is not who she claims to be. The docuseries seeks to give insight into how SOSA works to successfully track down some of the internet’s most dangerous child predators.
News of the renewal comes just ahead of the Season 1 finale Thursday night. Undercover Underage has also been renewed amid the recent conviction of predator Daniel Bowling, who was featured in the second episode of the series, “Two Lies for Every Truth.” After the episode aired Bowling was sentenced to three years in prison followed by two years of sex offender probation, forfeit of electronics, and will be placed on the sex offender registry. Clips from the episode and Bowling’s arrest can be found below.
“The intense and dangerous work you see profiled in “Undercover Underage” led to the recent conviction of Daniel Bowling, who thankfully, can no longer abuse children,” said Jason Sarlanis, President of Crime and Investigative Content, Linear and Streaming. “This is a true victory for justice, and we’re so proud of Roo and her team at SOSA for their unwavering dedication to keeping kids feel – and be – safer on the internet. We can’t wait to continue to profile their work with a new season later this year coming to discovery+.”
Added Powell: “Our goal at SOSA is to help prevent the online sex abuse and exploitation of children. It takes more than identifying some bad actors online — it takes raising awareness and empowering a society to tackle the issue of online sex crimes together. Mr. Bowling was able to go through the appropriate judicial processes, and I’m grateful that there is one fewer person online targeting minors. We hope that rehabilitation is in store for him in the days to come, and that this story will deter would-be perpetrators from choosing to harm a minor.”
“Thanks to Roo’s evidence gathering, attention to detail, and professionalism, a dangerous online predator is off the streets. I feel like I only assisted with the case, since the entire process felt like I was working with another ICAC detective with years of experience. Roo rises above the rest and her non-profit organization, SOSA, is exactly what this world needs,” said Detective Jennifer Wing, Orlando Police Department, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Ron Simon is executive producer of Undercover Underage for discovery+.
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