Tamia and Tim Woods are not letting Washington forget their son’s name.
The Streetsboro couple, who lost their son James to sextortion in November 2022, are pressing Congress to pass a federal law they say would have given victims clearer protection and prosecutors stronger tools. After years of building the Do It For James Foundation and crisscrossing the region for school and law enforcement events, they now want a bipartisan package named for their son to reach the House and Senate floors for a vote. Local leaders and national lawmakers are watching as advocates push the bills forward.
Senate package cleared by committee
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted by voice vote on Feb. 26, 2026, to advance the bipartisan James T. Woods Act, moving a package intended to target sextortion and violent online criminal networks. The package combines three bills that would criminalize sextortion at the federal level, update sentencing for child sexual abuse material, and create a new offense aimed at coercive criminal networks. According to the Senate Judiciary Committee, the trio of bills is the Sentencing Accountability for Exploitation (SAFE) Act, the Ending Coercion of Children and Harm Online (ECCHO) Act, and the Stop Sextortion Act.
What the bills would change
The Stop Sextortion Act (S.3398), introduced Dec. 9, 2025, would create an explicit federal sextortion offense, a gap sponsors say has made charging and extraditing offenders inconsistent across jurisdictions. Congress.gov lists S.3398 as the Stop Sextortion Act, and Sen. Dick Durbin’s office says the broader package would direct the Sentencing Commission to update penalties for child sex abuse material and create tools to target violent “764” style networks that coerce children into harm.
From Streetsboro to Washington
James Woods, a senior at Streetsboro High School, died by suicide on Nov. 19, 2022, after what his parents describe as an intensive, hours long sextortion campaign. Tamia and Tim have turned that grief into advocacy. As reported by News 5 Cleveland, the Woodses started the Do It For James Foundation and have delivered hundreds of presentations to students, parents, and law enforcement audiences.
Their outreach has drawn attention from federal partners as well. FBI Cleveland honored the couple with a Director’s Community Leadership Award, and the foundation’s educational materials and school visit program are catalogued on the Do It For James website.
State laws and local context
Ohio has already moved on sextortion at the state level. Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 531, known as “Braden’s Law,” in January 2025 to make sexual extortion a felony and to speed families’ access to devices after a child’s death. Cleveland 19 reported the law took effect in April 2025 and raises penalties when victims are minors, elderly, or disabled, a step local advocates say has saved future victims in Ohio.
Why advocates want a federal statute
Prosecutors and child safety experts told senators during a December hearing that existing federal statutes do not consistently capture the coercive, transnational nature of many sextortion schemes, leaving gaps in charges and sentencing. Witnesses, including Tamia Woods and former federal prosecutors, urged Congress to create a uniform federal offense so investigators can pursue offenders overseas and avoid patchwork charging that varies by district, a point covered in reporting on the hearing. ABC News notes that officials have described some of these networks as especially brutal and difficult to prosecute without clearer federal tools.
What’s next
The Woods family says they are watching closely for the bills to reach the floor. News 5 Cleveland reports U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes (OH 13) sent a letter urging House and Senate leaders to act on the bipartisan package. If the Senate package clears both chambers and the president signs it, supporters say it would be the first federal statute explicitly aimed at sextortion and coercive online exploitation, strengthening tools for families and prosecutors. Sen. Durbin’s office has outlined the package’s next procedural steps in a press release.
Help and resources
Advocates emphasize that quick reporting can make a critical difference for investigators. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children maintains a sextortion resource page and a CyberTipline for reporting suspected child sexual exploitation, and the FBI’s public guidance urges victims or caregivers to contact the local FBI field office or submit tips at tips.fbi.gov. NCMEC and the FBI list steps families and schools can take if a young person is targeted.
