On March 5, 2024, Brittney Bird’s teenage son took his own life after being sextorted all night. A little more than two years later, a suite of bills has passed the Wisconsin Legislature to better protect kids online and more aggressively go after those responsible for sextortion.
Not long after her son’s death, Bird, who lives outside of Wausau in the town of Kronenwetter with her husband and daughter, swung into action. She worked with Rep. Patrick Snyder, R-Weston, to pass stricter laws that recognized sextortion as a felony crime, one that would charge offenders with first-degree homicide in cases that ended in suicide.
That bill, fast-tracked by Snyder and Rep. Brent Jacobson, R-Mosinee, was signed into law on Dec. 8. It’s called Bradyn’s Law, after Bradyn Bohn, Bird’s son.
Bradyn Bohn, a 15-year-old teenager living in Kronenwetter, Wis., took his own life March 5, 2025, after being tormented for hours by scammers who threatened to ruin his life. The crime, financial sextortion, is now the fasting growing cybercrime targeting children, and especially teenage boys, in North America.
Now, three new bills will expand Bird’s mission to help children and families across Wisconsin stay safe and get educated on the alarming rise in sextortion cases and other internet crimes.
Gov. Tony Evers signed all three into law on March 17.
The three bills will inject $400,000 into the Department of Justice over the course of the 2025-27 fiscal biennium to investigate internet crimes against children, hire four additional full-time experts to join the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and conduct administrative subpoenas on social media companies, servers, and hotels if it is relevant to an ongoing investigation of internet crimes against children.
Prior to the bills passing, sextortion wasn’t included among the statutes that could trigger an administrative subpoena. That speaks to the rapid shifts in technology – and those who use it to harm people.
In a press release on Tuesday evening, Attorney General Josh Kaul praised the passage, describing the Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force as critical work to protecting children and supporting victims. He also praised state Sen. Jesse James (R-Thorp) and Reps. Lindee Rae Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) and Barbara Dittrich (R-Oconomowoc) for their legislation supporting the task force’s efforts.
Jesse Crowe, a special agent at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the bills will enhance the work already being done by the task force. Last year, the task force received more than 19,000 cyber tips but had only three full-time and one part-time criminal analysts.
“Every one of those tips could be a child at risk,” Crowe said. “By adding criminal analysts, it’s going to supplement our staff and lessen the number each of us has to work through every day.”
One of the bills that passed includes hiring two additional full-time criminal analysts, one full-time digital evidence examiner and an outreach specialist.
The outreach specialist will work across different agencies and communities to spread awareness of what sextortion is and how to address it. The digital evidence examiner, meanwhile, will work with the digital forensic labs across five Wisconsin offices.
The additional positions will hasten prosecutions, spread awareness and, importantly for Crowe, help minimize the burnout and mental health conditions often associated with staff who work within the internet crimes field.
“The fear that these tips are or could put a child at risk, it takes a big mental toll on them,” Crowe said.
Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation that involves threatening or blackmailing people – typically teens or children – often after tricking them into sending them nude or sexual images. The scammers threaten to go public with their photos if they don’t comply with their demands, which sometimes involve money, sexual activities or sending additional sexual content.
Since 2023, the first year the state started tracking this specific crime, Wisconsin has seen a startling spike in sextortion tips, with each year exponentially worse than the last.
In addition to the passing of these bills, the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has a robust list of resources focused on education, links to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Cyber tip line, victim services, and a set of online safety courses called interact!, created by the Wisconsin Department of Justice and the Department of Public Instruction, and available in English and Spanish.
Crowe heralded Bird’s contributions that pushed lawmakers into recognizing the need for these new laws.
“Bradyn’s family had a significant impact especially with the legislators that didn’t know what Internet Crimes Against Children was,” Crowe said. “It’s really immeasurable what his family has done, especially with what the family has gone through.”
Natalie Eilbert covers mental health issues for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin adds to effort sextortion, internet crimes against kids
