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(NEW YORK)- — A father’s lawsuit against the online gaming platform Roblox will remain in the public eye after a California judge denied the company’s attempt to force the dispute into a private resolution process.

While the ruling issued last week by California Superior Court Judge Nina Shapirshteyn applies only to one case in San Mateo County, attorneys representing dozens of families view the ruling as a legal precedent that opens the door for other victims to pursue their lawsuits against the company through the judicial system.

Roblox, launched in 2006, has been at the center of recent controversy, with some parents alleging that the platform has been used to help facilitate child sexual exploitation and grooming. The company is facing over 35 lawsuits, with one law firm telling ABC News that it is investigating thousands of child sexual exploitation and abuse claims.

Roblox had nearly 83 million average daily active users in 2024, according to its financial reports. It reported $3.6 billion in revenue last year.

The attorneys general of Louisiana and Kentucky have filed lawsuits against the company, and recently Florida’s attorney general subpoenaed Roblox for information about its age verification and chat moderation policies.

The company has consistently responded to the lawsuits and allegations by stating that protecting children is a priority and announcing investments in safety measures, including artificial intelligence age verification.

“We are deeply troubled by any allegations about harms to children online and are committed to setting the industry standard for safety,” a spokesperson for Roblox told ABC News. “To protect our users, we have rigorous, industry-leading policies, including limiting chat for younger users and employing advanced filters designed to block the sharing of personal information. Roblox also does not allow users to share images or videos. We also collaborate closely with law enforcement.”

The Roblox spokesperson told ABC News the company disagrees with the ruling from the California judge and plans to appeal.

‘The gateway to all of this happening’
Steve, the father whose lawsuit prompted last week’s ruling in California, told ABC News that in 2023, he created a Roblox account for his son who was 13 years old at the time.

A year later, Steve — who asked ABC News not to publish his last name out of concern for his son’s safety — made a devastating discovery. He says he found messages on his son’s phone from an individual who, according to civil court documents, found his son on a children’s game in the online platform and initiated contact, despite him and his son not being “friends” on the platform.

According to Steve and court records, the perpetrator, who had initially posed as a 16-year-old, moved communication off of Roblox and onto Discord, a separate communication platform. Once there, he allegedly began exploiting Steve’s son by offering Robux gift cards — Roblox’s in-game currency — in exchange for explicit images and videos.

The messages Steve found allegedly included direct threats after his son failed to show up to an arranged in-person meeting, with the accused predator reminding the teenager that he knew his New Jersey address, according to the complaint.

“He had our home address, what school he went to, his phone number, everything,” Steve said.

Steve told ABC News he immediately contacted local police who later told him that the man who messaged his son was a known predator who was facing charges in another case for sexually exploiting another child. According to the complaint, authorities believe the same individual similarly exploited at least 26 other children using online platforms.

In February, Steve filed a lawsuit against Roblox and Discord, alleging the companies misled him and other parents about the platforms’ safety and features, leading directly to his son’s “sexual exploitation and abuse.”

In a statement to ABC News, a Discord spokesperson said the company is “committed to safety” and said it requires all users to be 13 to use their platform. 

“We maintain strong systems to prevent the spread of sexual exploitation and grooming on our platform and also work with other technology companies and safety organizations to improve online safety across the internet,” the spokesperson said.

“I’ve traditionally kept myself as a ‘helicopter parent,’ so I did all my research,” Steve said. “I did my best to enable every parental control I could find, and a lot of them are pretty confusing, but I tried my best to keep him safe online and teach him as best I could, and it still happened.”

Steve told ABC News that Roblox “was the gateway to all of this happening” because that’s where “all the conversations started.”

‘Everyone deserves a day in court’
Alexandra Walsh, the attorney representing Steve and about a dozen other clients suing the company, said Roblox’s response to the lawsuit was to file a motion to compel arbitration — a private, out-of-court process where claims are settled confidentially by a third party.

“[It was] a motion to silence this family, to prevent this family from presenting what happened to them to a judge and jury, and instead put it into a secret rigged system,” Walsh told ABC News. “Roblox has followed suit in multiple other cases … they’ve either filed similar motions to compel arbitration, or made very clear that they intend to do so.”

In court filings, Roblox has said the dispute must be settled confidentially, because Steve, when he signed up for Roblox, was provided notice of the Terms of Service and the Arbitration Agreement mandating that any dispute “will be subject only to binding arbitration.”

The company said in filings that their arbitration agreement is “consumer friendly and cost friendly.”

Last week, Judge Shapirshteyn rejected Roblox’s motion to compel arbitration.

Walsh told ABC News the company has a right to defend itself, but it should do so “in the light of day so the public can see, and so that a jury made up of citizens of this country can decide if they’re liable or not.”

Steve told ABC News the ruling was “reassuring.”

“Everyone deserves a day in court, but Roblox and these companies don’t want that to happen,” Steve said. “They want to keep things quiet.”

Steve told ABC News that his family moved across the country because they did not feel safe in their home.

“It was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “Predators aren’t down at your local park anymore. They’re not hanging out in the dark city places … it has become just so easy for them to come online and pretend to be somebody that they’re not.”

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(NEW YORK) — Two New Jersey teenagers have been arrested in connection with an alleged ISIS-inspired Halloween attack in Michigan that the FBI announced it had thwarted last week, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The NYPD and FBI-Newark arrested Tomas Kaan Guzel, 19, before he could board a flight to Istanbul, the sources said.

A second 19-year-old, Milo Sedanet, was also arrested, according to sources.

Two other men, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, were arrested on Friday for their alleged roles in the plot, according to court records unsealed on Monday.

They allegedly “used online encrypted communications and social media applications to share extremist and ISIS-related materials,” and allegedly used the term “pumpkin day” for their plans, according to the complaint.

According to sources, an NYPD undercover had been monitoring Guzel, who was allegedly in communication with those arrested in Michigan and others overseas. The group allegedly talked about an attack on the LGBTQ community in Detroit and about traveling to Syria to train with ISIS, sources said.

Guzel allegedly had planned to travel in two weeks to Turkey and onward to Syria from there, but it’s believed he got spooked after last week’s arrests and moved his flight up, sources said.

There were searches at his home in Montclair and also in Seattle as part of the investigation, the sources said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON) — The man accused of throwing a sandwich at a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent in Washington, D.C., waived his right to testify in court Wednesday, ahead of closing arguments in his ongoing misdemeanor assault case.

Sean Charles Dunn, a former Department of Justice staffer, was charged with a misdemeanor after a grand jury failed to indict him on a more serious felony assault charge.

Both sides are expected to deliver closing arguments later today in the case that first went viral during the federal surge of law enforcement in D.C.

Dunn was caught on camera throwing a Subway sandwich at a Border Patrol agent in August.

According to the earlier felony criminal complaint, Dunn allegedly approached the officer while shouting “f— you! You f—— fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”

After several minutes of confrontation, Dunn allegedly threw the sandwich, striking the officer in the chest, the complaint says.

His sudden launch into the public spotlight inspired a groundswell of attention to his case in the early days of the surge.

The court will resume this afternoon for closing arguments.

-ABC News’ Alex Mallin contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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(CHICAGO) — A federal judge is set to hear arguments Wednesday and is weighing extending restrictions on the use of force by federal immigration agents in the Chicago area.

Attorneys representing journalists, clergymen and protesters who say they’ve been harmed by federal immigration agents during lawful protests are expected to show images and call on witnesses they say prove the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are “increasingly reckless and dangerous.”

Videos of several violent immigration arrests and clashes between federal agents and protesters in the region have become a flashpoint in the nation’s debate over immigration enforcement. But the Department of Homeland Security says their agents have been harassed and followed by violent protesters and are responding appropriately to a 1,000%-increase in attacks on agents across the United States.

“Although some protests remained peaceful, others turned violent,” the government claimed in court filings. “Rioters have attacked law enforcement personnel with fireworks, rocks, and other objects. Rioters also breached the perimeter of federal buildings, blocked all traffic into the only immigration facility in the region, damaged federal vehicles, and injured officers. At some violent protests, officers responded by issuing dispersal orders and using nonlethal crowd-control devices.”

In October, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a temporary restraining order restricting federal agents from “using riot control weapons” against journalists, protesters and religious practitioners without first issuing warnings unless necessary to stop “an immediate and serious threat of physical harm” to agents or others.

Ellis also prohibited agents from “dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical force” against anyone they should reasonably know is a journalist. The judge expanded the order on Oct. 16 to include a requirement for federal agents equipped with body-worn cameras to wear them and keep them on during “law enforcement activities” in the Chicago region. That order is set to expire on Thursday, Nov. 6.

But in recent weeks, plaintiffs in the case have provided several accounts, often caught on tape, of incidents they say are evidence that DHS is violating her court order. Attorneys submitted video from an incident in Evanston, IL last Friday which allegedly showed agents clashing with protesters and individuals involved in a collision with a government vehicle.

Videos taken of the incident showed a federal agent pressing a man’s head to the ground for nearly two minutes as the man yelled “I can’t breathe.” In one declaration submitted in court, an eyewitness who took a video of the incident said she saw a federal agent “bash his head on the street at least two times.” The eyewitness said she then saw the agent “strike the young man in his head with his hand or fist at least two times.”

Another declarant, David Brooks, who filmed the incident said a Border Patrol agent pointed a pistol at him.

“Step back or I’m going to shoot you,” the agent allegedly told Brooks.

“I took a step back and said ‘you’re gonna what,’” Brooks wrote.

“He then pulled out his pistol from his holster and pointed it directly at me. I was startled and stepped back again. He holstered the gun,” he added in his declaration.

In a statement about the Evanston incident, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said agents were being “aggressively tailgated” by a vehicle that crashed into them.

“A hostile crowd then surrounded agents and their vehicle and began verbally abusing them and spitting on them. One physically assaulted a Border Patrol agent and kicked an agent. As he was being arrested, he grabbed the agents’ genitals and squeezed them. As you know this is an extremely painful experience for most human beings and justifies certain responses, the agent delivered several defensive strikes to the agitator to free his genitals from the agitator’s vice,” she said.

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(LOUSIVILLE, Ky.) — At least three people are dead after a UPS aircraft crashed upon departing the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky, officials said Tuesday, sending a massive plume of smoke into the air and leading authorities to urge residents of a large swath of the nearby area to shelter in place following the fiery crash.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said he believes the number of fatalities will increase following the “catastrophic” crash.

At least 11 people were injured, some with “very significant” injuries,” he said.

Three crew members were on board the plane, according to UPS, which said it has not confirmed any injuries.

“We do not, at the moment, have the status of the crew,” Beshear said during a press briefing Tuesday. “Watching that video, I think we’re all very, very worried about them.”

Video captured the moment the plane crashed, resulting in a large fireball.

A shelter-in-place was initially issued within 5 miles of the airport but was subsequently expanded to all areas north of the airport to the Ohio River, police said. Areas south of the Outer Loop have since been cleared from the shelter-in-place, police said.

“This is an active scene with fire and debris. Stay away,” the Louisville Metro Police Department said on social media.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called the incident an “incredible tragedy that our community will never forget” and said the city has “every emergency agency responding to the scene.”

“There are multiple injuries and the fire is still burning,” he said on social media. “There are many road closures in the area — please avoid the scene.”

UPS Flight 2976 crashed around 5:15 p.m. local time on Tuesday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The McDonnell Douglas MD-11 freighter plane was headed to Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, the agency said.

It appears there was an engine issue during takeoff, sources told ABC News.

Small plane crashes in California park, injuring pilot and pedestrian, officials say
UPS said it has been “notified of an incident/accident involving one of our aircraft” in Louisville.

The airport is home to UPS Worldport, the company’s massive package handling facility.

Boeing, which acquired McDonnell Douglas in 1997, said,” Our concern is for the safety and well-being of all those affected.”

“We stand ready to support our customer and have offered technical assistance to the NTSB,” it said.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

The airport confirmed there was an “aircraft incident” and that the airfield is closed.

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Sam Sweeney and Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(LOUSIVILLE, Ky.) — Authorities are responding to a reported plane crash near the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Kentucky, police said Tuesday.

There are reported injuries, according to the Louisville Metro Police Department, which did not specify how many.

A shelter-in-place has been issued within five miles of the airport, police said.

“This is an active scene with fire and debris. Stay away,” the Louisville Metro Police Department said on social media.

A large plume of smoke could be seen near the airport, which is closed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The airport confirmed there was an “aircraft incident” and that the airfield is closed.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — Authorities in South Carolina said they are searching for a 19-year-old college student who has been missing since Halloween.

Owen Tillman Kenney was last seen early on Oct. 31 in Charleston, according to the Charleston Police Department.

The teen was last seen by friends around 2 a.m. in an area near his school, the College of Charleston, police said. Detectives have confirmed he was then walking alone onto the Ravenel Bridge pedestrian walkway shortly after 3 a.m., police said.

“His cell phone’s last recorded location was also on the Ravenel Bridge around that same time,” the Charleston Police Department said in an update Tuesday.

Authorities initially said Kenney was last seen wearing a green and white Boston Celtics Halloween costume. Though Charleston police said in the update Tuesday that “subsequent evidence now confirms that he was wearing a black hooded jacket, light-colored pants, and black Nike sneakers with white soles.”

He was reported missing on Nov. 1, according to the College of Charleston Department of Public Safety.

“CofC Public Safety personnel are working diligently to share with Charleston Police any information that may be helpful in the search,” the College of Charleston Department of Public Safety said in a statement on Tuesday.

“At this time, there is no reason to believe that there is any danger to the campus community in relation to this case,” the department added.

The search has involved K9 units, drones and an underwater recovery team, police said.

The school said it is offering support for those impacted by Kenney’s disappearance.

Hunter missing for nearly 20 days in California wilderness found alive: Officials
Kenney graduated from Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank, New Jersey, last year, according to the school, which shared photos of the missing teen on social media while urging people to share and “pray for his safe return.”

Charleston detectives are working with the FBI and New Jersey State Police on the investigation into Kenney’s disappearance, police said.

Police described Kenney as a white man who is 6-foot-1, weighs 155 pounds and has brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information on his last known activities or whereabouts is asked to contact the Charleston Police Department at 843-720-2422 or submit a tip here.  

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(WASHINGTON) — A suburban Chicago man was federally charged for allegedly threatening to kill President Donald Trump on social media, according to court records unsealed on Monday.

Trent Schneider, 57, of Winthrop Harbor, was charged via criminal complaint with making a threat in interstate commerce to injure a person, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.

Following his arrest Monday morning, a federal judge in Chicago ordered that he remain detained in federal custody, prosecutors said. Schneider is next scheduled to appear in court for a detention hearing on Thursday.

According to the complaint, in a “selfie-style video” posted to Instagram on Oct. 16, Schneider allegedly said, “I’m going to get some guns. I know where I can get a lot of f—— guns and I am going to take care of business myself.”

“I’m tired of all you f—— frauds. People need to f—— die and people are going to die. F— all of you, especially you, Trump. You should be executed,” he allegedly said in the video, according to the complaint. 

The video also allegedly included a caption that stated, in part, “THIS IS NOT A THREAT!!! AFTER LOSING EVERYTHING and My House Auction date is 11.04.2025 @realDonaldTrump SHOULD BE EXECUTED!!!”

Schneider allegedly posted the same video and caption approximately 18 times between Oct. 16 and Oct. 21, according to the complaint.

A “concerned citizen” in Florida who viewed the video on Oct. 16 reported it to law enforcement, according to the complaint.

Schneider faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison if convicted, the DOJ said.

Attorney information was not immediately available.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Jake Haro, the father of missing 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to the baby’s murder.

He was also sentenced to over six years in prison for other offenses, to run consecutively.

He is ineligible for probation because he was already on probation for severely abusing another child, the judge said while handing down the sentence on Monday.

His sentence also included more than $20,000 in fines and court fees.

Prior to the sentencing, the defense objected to imposing any court fees or fines, saying Jake Haro is indigent and a public defender client.

In response, the prosecutor said the defendant “deserves no leniency.”

Last month, the 32-year-old father pleaded guilty to all charges, including second-degree murder, assault causing bodily harm to a child resulting in the death of said child and filing a false police report, according to court records.

The father, who previously pleaded not guilty with his wife Rebecca Haro in September, cried in court when he was giving his plea on Oct. 16.

Emmanuel’s mother, 41-year-old Rebecca Haro, pleaded not guilty to an amended complaint in October, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Monday. It remains unclear what is in the complaint, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.

The baby’s maternal grandmother, Mary Beushausen, addressed the court during Jake Haro’s sentencing on Monday.

“He destroyed my family,” she told the court. “Everybody in my family, all my children are destroyed by this.”

“He changed my daughter. We don’t know who she is,” she continued. “He kept my daughter away. I don’t know what he did or how he changed my daughter’s life, but she was never that same person after she went to live with him.”

She asked for a lengthy sentence, saying, “I don’t want to give him another chance.”

Officials have not announced whether they have located the baby’s remains.

The 7-month-old was reported missing on Aug. 14 at approximately 7:47 p.m. local time after his mother “reported being attacked outside a retail store on Yucaipa Boulevard,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on Aug. 15.

When he was reported missing, Emmanuel’s mother told officials that “while she stood outside her vehicle, changing the child’s diaper, she was physically assaulted by an unknown male and rendered unconscious,” authorities said.

Authorities later said the mother was “confronted with inconsistencies in her initial statement,” leading officials to say they were “unable to rule out foul play in the disappearance of Emmanuel.”

Jake and Rebecca Haro were arrested and charged for the child’s murder on Aug. 22, officials said.

In August, officials announced they had a “pretty strong indication” on the location of the child’s remains and said they believed Emmanuel was “severely abused over a period of time.”

Jake Haro was even seen searching a field near the 60 freeway in Moreno Valley in late August with law enforcement, but no remains were apparently found.

“The filing in this case reflects our belief that baby Emmanuel was abused over time and that eventually because of that abuse, he succumbed to those injuries,” Riverside County District Attorney Michael Hestrin said during a press conference in August.

Hestrin said Jake Haro, who he described as an “experienced child abuser,” “should have gone to prison” due to previously abusing another child he had with his ex-wife in 2018, but a judge at the time granted him probation — a ruling Hestrin called an “outrageous error in judgment.” Authorities said the child in that case has been left bedridden.

“If that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today,” Hestrin said in August.

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(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A federal judge on Sunday extended her order blocking President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops into Portland, continuing the legal battle over the president’s power to use the military on American cities.

Following a three-day trial last week, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the deployment of troops from any state’s National Guard into Portland through at least Friday.

Judge Immergut concluded that the attempt to send troops into Portland stemmed from exaggerated claims of violence in the city, where isolated protests were already contained by federal and local law enforcement. 

“Based on the trial testimony, this Court finds no credible evidence that during the approximately two months before the President’s federalization order, protests grew out of control or involved more than isolated and sporadic instances of violent conduct that resulted in no serious injuries to federal personnel,” she wrote.

Judge Immergut also concluded that the Trump administration likely violated a federal law that allows the takeover of the National Guard in the case of rebellion or invasion, as well as infringed on the state sovereignty of Oregon. The protests in Oregon, Immergut wrote, at most resulted in “sporadic isolated instances of violent behavior toward federal officers and property damage to a single building” and fell short of the standard definition of a “rebellion.” 

“Defendants have not, however, proffered any evidence demonstrating that those episodes of violence were perpetrated by an organized group engaged in armed hostilities for the purpose of overtaking an instrumentality of government by unlawful or antidemocratic means,” she wrote.

The trial and decision follow a prolonged legal battle over the use of the National Guard in Portland. After Judge Immergut last month blocked the use of the Oregon National Guard, the Trump administration moved to send in troops from Texas and California.

She similarly blocked those troops from being sent into the city, and the Trump administration then appealed her order.

The Ninth Circuit briefly lifted her decision but agreed to rehear the case en banc, — when the entire court hears the case, rather than just a panel — thereby restoring the block on the deployment.

With both Immergut’s previously issued orders set to expire on Sunday, she issued a preliminary injunction tonight that will expire on Friday, at which time she plans to issue a complete ruling based on the testimony and evidence presented at trial. 

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