A pedophile abused Roblox to abduct, groom and sexually abuse a 15-year old girl, 18 months after the community exposed him as a predator

Bloomberg Businessweek has published a report on the arrest and investigation of a pedophile, who used the Roblox platform to groom and then abduct his victim before sexually assaulting and abducting her repeatedly. The man used several aliases on Roblox, but was best known as the creator of the popular Sonic the Hedgehog game. This gave him a lot of power within the Roblox community and he used it to prey on its young users.

DoctorRofatnik developed Sonic Eclipse Online. This game allowed Roblox users to race as Sonic, his friends, or both. It was a hit with the younger audience. Users could purchase costumes and trinkets using Robux. DoctorRofatnik claimed that he was one of the highest-paid creators of the platform. He also claimed to be Jadon Shedletsky - the younger brother of Roblox longtime creative director John Shedletsky.

DoctorRofatnik was a popular and prominent user on the platform. Many users were drawn to his story, popularity, and even his overtly homosexual sense of humor. Others smelled the danger. The most shocking part of this story was that Roblox users were more aware of the danger than Roblox or the conventional authorities. They exposed his behaviour, and even identified him.

In late 2020, screenshots of a private conversation DoctorRofatnik held with a 12-year-old were posted on Twitter. He wrote: "soon, I'll corrupted you beyond your wildest dream." Words can't describe what I want to achieve with you. You're why I'm going to end up behind bars."

Ben Simon, also known as Ruben Sim, is a controversial Roblox Youtuber who was involved in exposing DoctorRofatnik. He received the screenshots above of the chat exchange. In addition to posting them on Twitter, he made a video that exposed the behaviour. It was also sent to Roblox’s developer relations team. Other users reported the account as did the mom of the girl that DoctorRofatnik messaged.

Roblox reported the account to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He remained active in other accounts and boasted that the controversy had boosted Sonic Eclipse sales (which were still available). Simon thought Roblox's response was weaksauce. "Roblox spends a lot of time, effort and resources convincing parents that its platform is safer than what it is."

Simon would find out the real identity of DoctorRofatnik: Arnold Castillo from Paterson, New Jersey. He called the Tucson Police, who said that there was not enough evidence to conduct a criminal investigation.

Roblox claims that Simon is not "a credible source of information" about its strong safety record.

Another user used a new tactic to inform Sega that Sonic had been used by a Roblox pedophile. The 22-year-old Japanese player tweeted and wrote to Sega executives. Sega then filed a copyright violation notice with Roblox. Sonic Eclipse vanished in late 2021.

In May 2022, a missing person report was filed in Indiana for a 15 year old girl. She had taken her personal belongings and fled the state, despite not having the money to do so. The detective assigned to this case learned from her sister soon that the girl was talking to a Roblox user named Jacob Shedletsky. Shedletsky bought one of the girl’s drawings and began sending her food and gifts.

After eight days, the authorities tracked the girl down to Paterson, New Jersey where they found her with Arnold Castillo. In an interview after his arrest, he admitted that he used the aliases Jacob Shedletsky Jadon Shedletsky DoctorRofatnik and paid a driver $1,000 for the girl to be brought from Indiana. He admitted having multiple sex sessions with the girl in the eight days following her disappearance.

The FBI was surprised to learn that Roblox users exposed Castillo's identity 18 months earlier. "Seeing what these children did and their ability to identify Mr. Castillo," FBI special agent Len Rothermich says, "well they might want submit some applications to FBI one day."

Castillo pleaded to guilty in August 2023 to transporting a child across state lines for sex. Castillo, a "closed-in" with "zero confidence in social situations" who shared his bed with his mother and was "talented with computers", was told that he could "make money" by designing Roblox games.

Tiffany Preston, a federal prosecutor, described what she called the "worst nightmare of every parent", eight days during which Castillo's female victim was repeatedly sexually assaulted in a room that he had rented next door to his apartment. In a victim's statement, the girl’s sister stated that she suffers from depression and anxiety. She also said that it is difficult for her to leave her room or attend school. "These scars are permanent," she said.

Castillo was sentenced to 15 years. The scandal led to a major policy overhaul at Roblox as well as a number of new roles in child protection alongside a team that moderates child exploitation.

The scale of policing an online platform with 12 million games and over 78 million users daily is a problem. Roblox makes a lot of noise about its safety priorities, but a moderator told us that her team receives hundreds of reports on child safety every day and can't keep up. The report speaks to eight current and former trust workers and safety experts. They highlight the lack of staffing, the failure to implement their recommended features (like pop-up warnings) and the inability for AI moderation systems detect signs of grooming.

A Roblox spokesperson refuted these claims by pointing out that there is a "robust" pipeline of new safety features. "To imply that a lack in immediate integration of ideas, tools, or features is a sign of lack of care or lack of priority is simply wrong," stated the spokesperson.

Castillos are a real concern for parents. Bloomberg reports that since 2018, "police have arrested at least 20 people accused of abducting, abusing or grooming victims they met or cultivated using Roblox." They included "a sheriff deputy, a teacher of third grade and a nurse." A Florida man accused of trying kidnap an 11-year old New Jersey girl that he met through Roblox, a New Jersey man charged with abducting a girl he met via the platform, and a Californian man accused of abusing a child he also met on Roblox.

Roblox stated in a press release that the Bloomberg report contains "glaring mischaracterizations about how it protects users of any age" and "fails both to reflect the complexities of child safety online and the realities of tens and millions of people from all ages who use Roblox every single day." Do your own research.