A pedophile used Roblox to groom, abduct and sexually assault a 15-year-old girl, a full 18 months after the community had outed him as a predator

A new report from Bloomberg Businessweek covers the investigation and arrest of a pedophile who used the Roblox gaming platform to groom his victim, before abducting and sexually assaulting her multiple times. The man assumed various identities on Roblox but was best-known as the creator of a profitable Sonic the Hedgehog fan game on the platform, a position that gave him considerable clout within the Roblox community, and one which he used to prey upon its young users.

DoctorRofatnik created Sonic Eclipse Online, a game where Roblox users could race as Sonic and friends, and it proved unsurprisingly popular with the young audience. As is typical of the platform's experiences, users could buy costumes and trinkets with Robux, and DoctorRofatnik claimed to be one of the best-paid creators on the platform. He further claimed to be Jadon Shedletsky, the younger brother of Roblox's longtime creative director John Shedletsky.

Many users were attracted by DoctorRofatnik's story, popularity and position on the platform: even his overtly sexual sense of humor. Others smelled danger, and perhaps the most shocking element of this story is that Roblox users seemed more alert to the danger posed by this individual, and did more to expose his behaviour and even identify him, than Roblox and the conventional authorities.

In late 2020 screenshots were posted to Twitter showing a private chat DoctorRofatnik had with a 12 year-old, in which he wrote: «soon I’ll corrupt you beyond your wildest dreams. Words cannot explain what I want to do with you. You’re the reason why I’m gonna end up behind bars.»

One of the figures involved in exposing DoctorRofatnik is Ben Simon, a controversial Roblox YouTuber who goes by the handle Ruben Sim. He was sent the above screenshots of the chat exchange and, as well as posting them to Twitter, made a video exposing the behaviour that he also sent to Roblox's developer relations team. Other users reported the account, as did the mother of the girl