Agents: Parents should 'be nosy' about Net use

Where child predators previously had to target children at public places or homes, now a single mouse click gives them access to chat rooms and social networking sites where children are not always so closely monitored.

Pedophiles lead children from initial contact to private face-to-face meetings through a process known as grooming. The pedophiles may send gifts or play games with the child over the Internet and often pose as children to create a higher comfort level with their young target.

FBI Special Agent Tom Blades described an instance where a pedophile sent a Webcam to a child as a gift. But the pedophile had installed a Trojan horse that allowed him to turn on the camera by remote, letting him view the child's bedroom at all times.

"You, as a parent, have to be aware," Blades said.

June is Internet Safety Month, and law enforcement agencies are using the opportunity to warn parents about the growing instance of cyber sex crimes against children. This week, Blades gave a presentation to parents, educators and child-care providers at Southeast Missouri Hospital on how to keep children safe from online sex predators.

Blades works on the FBI's Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team, which advises local law enforcement in abduction cases.

The Internet poses new threats to children because of the ease with which predators can meet and talk with them, Blades said. "There are predators out there trying to lure young people. Lots of predators 'troll' Web sites and chat rooms for children they can exploit."

Blades said parents have an obligation to monitor their children's Web use actively. "It's easy for the child to say they're doing research or talking to friends, and you go and start watching TV," Blades said. "Before you know it, it's three hours later and who knows who the child's been talking to?"

Unexpected gifts from strangers are just one of many warning signs that should alert parents to possible online relationships with sex predators. If a child withdraws from family and friends and begins to spend all their free time on the Internet, parents should start asking questions, Blades said.

"Talk to them, don't interrogate them. You do have to be somewhat of an investigator and be nosy, but it's for your child's safety. Our job is to help them make wise decisions," he said.

Federal prosecutor Catherine Hanaway said her office has one of the highest rates of prosecution of sex crimes against children in the nation.

"We have a lot of child exploiters in the area, but we also have excellent investigators," Hanaway said. "Through Project Safe Childhood, launched by Attorney General Gonzales, we've been able to increase public awareness of these online crimes and increase prosecutions of exploiters."

Though the Internet gives predators more means to exploit children, Hanaway said it also can be an effective investigative tool. "There have always been child molesters and child pornographers," she said. "But they didn't feel comfortable walking into a supermarket and saying 'I'm a child molester.' For some reason, they feel comfortable sharing these things on the Internet, and that makes it easy for investigators to track."

Hanaway said she works with federal and state investigators on cases, but more cases originate with local law enforcement officers like Jeff Shackelford, of the Poplar Bluff Police Department.

Shackelford, head of the SEMO Cyber Crime Task Force, a partnership between eight area law enforcement agencies. He said the Internet has created an environment where predators feel safe to pursue children. "Internet technology advances have created a universe where criminals can operate with anonymity," he said. "Traditional law enforcement methods no longer suffice in tracking down these criminals. That led to the formation of the task force."

Shackelford received online investigative training through Internet Crimes Against Children, a U.S. Justice Dept. program designed to target internet sex predators.

The task force helps law enforcement investigate Internet crimes against children and provides assistance in stopping predators before they strike. Shackelford said the majority of the cases the task force works involve child enticement and child pornography.

Investigators use undercover online investigations and a sophisticated system that can track users of child pornography to solve these crimes, according to Shackelford. He said the number of sex crimes against children involving the Internet has increased since the task force was founded in January.

"My stack of cases just grows and grows," he said. "These investigations are often painstaking and lengthy, so by the time you finish one case you've got two more in its place."

Shackelford said another goal of the task force is to constantly educate and inform other law enforcement officers about Internet sex crimes and their prevention. "Predators will soon know that they will not be safe in this area," Shackelford said. "Our task force will actively investigate and prosecute these crimes in order to eradicate child predators in Southeast Missouri."

The SEMO Network Against Sexual Violence worked with more than 600 children in 2006. Cases are referred to NASV once there are allegations that a child was abused or exposed to pornography. "The investigators are experts in gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses," executive director Tammy Gwaltney said, "but we are contacted because our staff has expertise in interviewing children."

SEMO-NASV's specially trained forensic nurses administer Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence exams to children who have suffered abuse.

Gwaltney said children are often afraid or embarrassed to talk about sexual abuse. The nurses' training prepares them to get children to open up. They also are trained to understand the verbal and cognitive abilities of all ages of children so they recognize how a child communicates about abuse.

Gwaltney said Web sites like inobtr.org are helping educate parents and children about online dangers before abuse occurs. INOBTR gets its name from the Internet shorthand for "I know better." The site was launched in October after a $100,000 gift from Steve Schankma, a philanthropist from St. Louis, according to INOBTR spokeswoman Kelly McMahon.

McMahon said the site provides education for parents, children and educators about online safety. It offers tips on online sex crime prevention as well as a "cyberspeak" dictionary that explains chat lingo to parents.

The site also has contact numbers for reporting suspicious online behavior.

In another effort to stanch opportunities for online sex predators, Gov. Matt Blunt asked Attorney General Jay Nixon this week to use his subpoena power to request the names of Missouri sex offenders using social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. According to Blunt spokeswoman Jessica Robinson, the governor has recommended doubling funding for the Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force, a group of investigators at law enforcement agencies that collaborate to provide resources to pursue sex offenders.

Robinson said Blunt also advocated a new law making it a crime to solicit a minor online even if the minor was a police officer posing as a child.

Federal prosecutor Hanaway said the collaborative efforts of law enforcement agencies and proactive parents will help reduce the number of child sex crimes. "The best-case scenario is to give children the tools and education to protect themselves before they become victims," she said.

pwylie@semissourian.com

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