Michelle Collins

April 16, 2008

TESTIMONY OF
MICHELLE COLLINS

Executive Director
Exploited Children Services

THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN
for the
UNITED STATES SENATE
COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
SUBCOMMITTEE ON CRIME AND DRUGS

"Challenges and Solutions for Protecting our Children
From Violence and Exploitation in the 21st Century"

April 16, 2008

Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, I welcome this opportunity to appear before you to discuss the sexual exploitation of children. Chairman Biden, the measurable progress that has been made in the fight against these crimes is a testament to your decades of service in the Senate. We're grateful for your tireless advocacy and leadership in the area of child protection. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children ("NCMEC") joins you and your colleagues in your concern for the safety of the most vulnerable members of our society and thanks you for bringing attention to this serious problem facing America's communities.

As you know, the National Center is a not-for-profit corporation, mandated by Congress and working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice. NCMEC is a public-private partnership, funded in part by Congress and in part by the private sector. For 24 years NCMEC has operated under Congressional mandate to serve as the national resource center and clearinghouse on missing and exploited children. This statutory mandate includes specific operational functions, including a national 24-hour toll-free hotline; a distribution system for missing-child photos; training of federal, state and local law enforcement; and our programs designed to help stop the sexual exploitation of children.

As recognition of the prevalence of child sexual exploitation has grown over the years, so has the range of services offered by NCMEC to address this problem, many of them in direct response to congressional request. Senator Biden, in 2003 you asked NCMEC to serve as the information hub for performing fitness determinations on applicants for volunteer positions in selected nonprofit, youth-serving organizations. NCMEC created our Background Check Unit. Under this program, applicants to these organizations submit their fingerprints to the FBI, which runs them through their database and sends the criminal histories to NCMEC. Our analysts conduct a criteria-based analysis for each criminal history and send the participating youth-serving organization a color-coded determination: Red, if the criminal history indicates a potential threat to a child; Yellow, if the history indicates the need for caution and additional information; and Green, if the history reveals nothing that might place a child at risk.

To date, this Unit has processed more than 45,000 background checks. While 94% of the applicants met the criteria for a Green determination, 4% received a Yellow determination and 2% received a Red determination. The histories of the applicants who received a Red determination included offenses involving child sexual exploitation and other violent felonies. As a result, 864 individuals were prevented from being in a position to harm a child. But what is most disturbing is the pervasiveness of false information: all the applicants knew that their fingerprints were being run through the FBI's database, yet 26% applied using a different name, 6% applied using a different date of birth, 41% of applicants had a criminal history in a different state, and 53.4% of those found to have criminal histories stated that they did not have a history. And all of these individuals were trying to obtain legitimate access to children through these youth-serving organizations. Nothing could more clearly indicate the severity of the risk facing our children and the flaws in the system.

Another of our programs comes out of Congress' concern about registered sex offenders. There are now more than 600,000 offenders who are required by law to register their address and other information with law enforcement and update this information as it changes. However, the mobility of offenders and inconsistencies among current state registration laws have resulted in an alarming number of sex offenders who are "missing" - law enforcement does not know where they are, yet they are living in our communities. In 2006 Congress passed the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, thanks to the leadership of many members of this Committee, which enhanced and tightened the sex offender registration system. The Act also conveyed 'fugitive' status on non-compliant sex offenders who have left the state and failed to register, and charged the U.S. Marshals Service with tracking them down. The Marshals Service came to NCMEC for assistance in carrying out their new responsibilities. In response, NCMEC created our Sex Offender Tracking Team, which runs searches of non-compliant sex offenders against public-records databases that are donated to us by private companies for the assistance of law enforcement. We also conduct internal searches for potential linkages of non-compliant sex offenders to NCMEC cases of child abduction, online exploitation and attempted abductions. We forward all information to the Marshals, who use it to locate the offenders so they can be charged with the crime of non-compliance. This has resulted in hundreds of arrests of fugitive sex offenders by the Marshals. In addition, NCMEC provides assistance to any requesting law enforcement agency trying to locate non-compliant sex offenders - to date, we have provided almost 600 analytical leads packages to law enforcement upon request, and act as liaison between local law enforcement and the Marshals Service, where necessary. To date, over 100 non-compliant sex offenders have been located.

In response to the concerns of the Senate Banking Committee about the use of credit cards and other payment methods to purchase child pornography online, NCMEC created the Financial Coalition Against Child Pornography. This Coalition is made up of 30 companies, including MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Internet industry leaders and others, and represents 95% of the U.S. payments industry. This initiative recognizes that the sheer number of individuals engaged in this world-wide commercial industry prohibits the prosecution of all of them, no matter how aggressive law enforcement is. So we've come up with a new approach: based on tips to the CyberTipline, NCMEC identifies websites containing illegal images along with method of payment information. We forward this information to agents from the FBI and ICE, who make purchases on a particular site, enabling us to identify the merchant account. If law enforcement does not proceed with prosecution, the financial company is notified and will take appropriate action on the account based on their terms of service. Already we're seeing progress - in less than 2 years, the use of the credit card in these transactions has virtually disappeared. The logos still appear on the sites, but are used either for identity theft or to redirect the purchaser to a different method of payment. And the purchase price for these images of sexually exploited children has risen dramatically - an indication that our efforts may be affecting the profitability of these sites. Despite this, we know that the operators of these commercial child pornography websites are not going out of business - they are simply developing more sophisticated payment methods that are harder for law enforcement to detect. And as they evolve, so will we.

Of course, a key goal is to prevent these images from ever reaching consumers -- the largest percentage of which are here in the U.S. We created a Technology Coalition, made up of industry leaders America Online, Earthlink, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and United Online. These companies have committed themselves to developing and deploying technology solutions directed at the use of Internet to victimize children. We are building a database of the digital fingerprints embedded in each image that companies can use to search their systems and disrupt their transmission to would-be consumers. Bringing together the collective experience, knowledge and expertise of the members of this Coalition is a significant step toward progress in the fight against child sexual exploitation.

We are also working on another initiative with the Electronic Service Providers ("ESP") and international law enforcement agencies. NCMEC has identified thousands of active websites containing child pornography. We are compiling a list of Uniform Resource Locators ("URL") for these sites, which participating ESPs can use to prevent their customers from accessing. A similar technique being implemented in the United Kingdom, Canada and several European countries has proven to be very effective.

Our longest-running program to prevent the sexual exploitation of children is the CyberTipline, the national clearinghouse for leads and tips regarding crimes against children on the Internet. Mandated by Congress, the CyberTipline is operated in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), the Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE"), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces ("ICAC"), the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Department of Justice's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, as well as other state and local law enforcement. We receive reports regarding seven categories of crimes against children:

? possession, manufacture and distribution of child pornography;
? online enticement of children for sexual acts;
? child prostitution;
? child-sex tourism;
? child sexual molestation (not in the family);
? unsolicited obscene material sent to a child; and
? misleading domain names.

These reports are made by both the public and by Electronic Service Providers, who are required by law to report to the CyberTipline. The leads are reviewed by NCMEC analysts, who examine and evaluate the content, add related information that would be useful to law enforcement, use publicly-available search tools to determine the geographic location of the apparent criminal act, and provide all information to the appropriate law enforcement agency for investigation. These reports are also triaged to ensure that children in imminent danger get first priority.

The FBI, ICE and Postal Inspection Service have "real time" access to the CyberTipline, and all three agencies assign agents and analysts to work at NCMEC. In the 10 years since the CyberTipline began operation, NCMEC has received and processed more than 580,000 reports. To date, electronic service providers have reported to the CyberTipline more than 5 million images of sexually exploited children. An additional 13 million images have been reviewed by the analysts in our Child Victim Identification Program, which assists prosecutors to secure convictions for crimes involving identified child victims and helps law enforcement to locate and rescue child victims who have not yet been identified. Last week alone, we reviewed more than 166,000 images and we expect our workload to increase. In 2007 we saw an increase in reports for nearly all our categories: 23% increase in child pornography reports, 66% increase in online enticement reports, 58% increase in child prostitution reports, 10% increase in child sex tourism, 9% increase in child molestation and 31% increase in misleading domain names.

Our unique role has given us an unparalleled depth of knowledge about how the Internet is used to victimize children and the challenges this presents to law enforcement. In order to clarify the term "the Internet", below is a diagram that shows the various types of platforms contained within it:

The Internet Segmented by Platform

Each of these platforms offers distinct advantages to someone seeking to sexually exploit a child. Some platforms are used for direct communication with a child and some platforms are used to distribute sexually abusive images of children. The 18 million images we have reviewed were detected on a variety of these platforms.

Attached are examples of successful investigations and prosecutions in various states that demonstrate the ways children have been victimized on various parts of the Internet.

Because of the diversity within the Internet, law enforcement uses a variety of techniques in order to detect and investigate the range of crimes against children - from enticement of children on social networking sites to distribution of child pornography via email, websites and peer-to-peer networks. Law enforcement is actively engaged in these investigations every day, using similar tools and techniques on the local, state, and federal level. After ten years of working with officers and agents tasked with child exploitation cases, I am pleased to say that law enforcement at all levels are working more closely than ever before on these important investigations. The level of cooperation is unprecedented and has led to the rescue of thousands of children from abusive situations.

The CyberTipline is a major source of leads for law enforcement and streamlines the process from detection of sexual exploitation to prosecution and conviction. This process increases the efficiency of law enforcement's efforts and maximizes the limited resources available in the fight against child exploitation. However, innovations such as webcams and social networking sites are increasing the vulnerability of our children when they use the Internet. The use of the Internet to victimize children continues to present challenges that require continual adjustment of our tools and methods.

This problem is so vast that we must attack it from multiple angles. While law enforcement is tireless in its efforts, NCMEC contributes to the fight by combining its expertise with its relationships with industry leaders. We are bringing together key business, law enforcement, child advocacy, and governmental leaders to explore ways to more effectively address these new issues and challenges.

I cannot overemphasize the need for increased funding of all the law enforcement programs at the local, state and federal level. Despite the progress made in the fight against child sexual exploitation, it is well-accepted that there are simply more of these potential cases than there are trained law enforcement officers to investigate them.
But I can assure you that any additional resources that build capacity for these efforts will lead to more prosecutions and fewer child victims.
And that's what we're all working toward.c
Thank you.

DELAWARE

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

On January 19, 2007, the CyberTipline received three reports from a major commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP) regarding a subscriber who allegedly sent sexually abusive images of a child via email. In compliance with Federal law, the ISP provided the CyberTipline with incident information, including the images in question. An Exploited Child Unit (ECU) Analyst viewed the uploaded files and found what appeared to be pornographic images of a prepubescent female. Based on information provided by the ISP, the analyst forwarded the report to Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), an OJJDP-funded initiative, via the Virtual Private Network (VPN). The report was then sent to the High Tech Crimes Unit of the Delaware State Police for investigation.

Investigators with the HTCU served legal process on the ISP and quickly identified the sender of the emails as a 28-year-old male residing in Georgetown, DE. On February 23, 2007, a search warrant was executed at his home. A preliminary review of his computer revealed numerous images of child pornography, as well as nearly 3,000 online chats between the suspect and other individuals who had been graphically discussing the sexual molestation of children. Investigators combed through the chat logs and set about tracking down the correspondents. To date, their hard work has resulted in the identification and arrest of the following additional suspects:

? A 24-year-old male firefighter/EMT from Harrington, DE who admitted to engaging in sexual activity with a 13-year-old female who had just been released from a drug treatment program. He has been charged with two counts of exploitation of a child, two counts of possession of child pornography, and one count of conspiracy to commit rape in the first degree on a child less than 14 years of age.
? A 29-year-old male from Lewes, DE who molested his 8-year-old daughter during a webcam transmission while the initial target of the investigation observed the assault. Charges against him include two counts of sexual exploitation of a child less than 12 years of age, and 3 counts of conspiracy to commit unlawful sexual contact with a child less than 12 years of age.
? A corrections officer who directed the initial suspect to take pornographic photos of his 3-year-old niece and 4-year-old nephew. He and the suspect also discussed renting a hotel room for the purpose of sexually abusing the children. He has confessed to repeatedly molesting a 15-year-old girl and to engaging in oral sex with a 17-year-old boy whom he met through the original suspect. He also admitted to receiving child pornography from him.
? A 28-year-old store clerk from Wilmington, DE who was the original recipient of the child pornography transmitted by the target of the Cybertipline report. In addition to receiving numerous images of child pornography from the original target, the pair had numerous graphic conversations, and detailed plans on how they were going to sexually molest the 3- and 4-year-old children.
? A 21-year-old convicted sex offender and father of two boys, ages one and a half years and three months, from Leipsic, DE. He was convicted of the repeated rape of a 13-year-old girl when he was 18. In March of 2006 he was placed on Home Confinement to serve the remainder of his sentence. Within two weeks, he engaged in chat discussions with the original target, offering to allow him to molest the one and a half year old while simultaneous receiving sexual favors from the target himself. Their plan was to do this during the suspect's permitted two-hour free time each day. He admitted to hundreds of peer-to-peer downloads of sexually abusive images of prepubescent females while on house arrest. The investigation is ongoing to determine if the sex offender and the original target actually molested the child.

The target from the CyberTipline reports has been charged with 19 counts of child sexual exploitation, 16 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of conspiracy to commit rape in the first degree on a child less than 12 years of age. Additional charges are pending the forensic examination of his computer. He is currently in custody.

Investigators with the HTCU continue to vigorously pursue additional targets from the initial case and anticipate more arrests in the near future.

CALIFORNIA

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story
May 2006

On January 10, 2006, the CyberTipline received a report from a registered Internet Service Provider (ISP) which provided them with incident information, including an allegedly illegal image. The uploaded image appeared to be a screen capture of a web camera transmission depicting the sexual abuse of a prepubescent child.
An Exploited Child Unit (ECU) analyst immediately recognized the urgency of the situation and began conducting Internet searches on the provided information, including the suspect's screen name. The analyst found a possible name, location, and date of birth for the suspect. In addition, online photo albums containing numerous images of an adult male were found.
The analyst then conducted public records searches and found that the suspect was listed as a convicted sex offender. The analyst located the online sex offender registry photo of the suspect and a list of his known tattoos. The descriptions of the tattoos were compared to the visible tattoos in the suspect's uploaded images and were consistent, as were the photos.
The analyst then contacted the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, which is part of the OJJDP-funded Los Angeles Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. Within a matter of hours, investigators obtained a search warrant and executed it at the suspect's home address. They noted that he answered the door wearing the same shirt he had been wearing in many of the photos.
They were quickly able to secure a confession from the suspect, who admitted to molesting his daughter live via web cam and that he was in possession of additional images of child pornography. The suspect was the primary caregiver for his two minor daughters. The children have been removed from the suspect's care and are currently in foster care, where they are reported to be thriving.
The suspect has been arrested and faces preliminary charges of child sexual molestation, child endangerment, manufacturing of child pornography, and distribution of child pornography. Additional charges are pending. The suspect is facing his third felony conviction in the state of California, which carries a possible sentence of 25 years to life in prison, if convicted.

WISCONSIN

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

Text Messages Lead to Arrest, Additional Suspects Being Sought

The CyberTipline received a report on September 20, 2007 concerning suspicious text messages sent between three individuals. The messages discussed the trading of images of "young girls" and appeared to indicate that images of child sexual abuse were exchanged.
An analyst with NCMEC's Exploited Child Division (ECD) performed Internet and public database searches with the information provided in the report and found possible locations for each suspect in three states. She also tracked down personal information on each of the reported suspects.
The CyberTipline report was then forwarded to the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Forces, programs funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, in each of the three states. The ICAC Task Force in Wisconsin reviewed and shared the report with the Milwaukee Police Department. Investigators in Milwaukee were able to link the suspect in the CyberTipline report to an ongoing investigation they had involving this individual. They took the suspect into custody on October 5, 2007 during what the suspect believed to be a meeting with a 14-year-old female.
The suspect has been charged with Use of a Computer to Facilitate a Child Sex Crime, as well as five counts of Possession of Child Pornography. At this time, he remains in custody pending his trial in January of 2008. In addition, the Milwaukee Police Department will be coordinating and sharing information with law enforcement in the other two states involved as they continue their investigations of the other suspects.

NEW YORK

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

Multiple CyberTipline Reports Lead to One Suspect

Between May 2006 and February 2007, the CyberTipline received four reports regarding the same suspect who was allegedly uploading sexually abusive images of children to the Internet. In compliance with Federal law, the Internet Service Providers gave NCMEC specific information about the incidences, including the reported images, the suspect's e-mail address, and an Internet Protocol (IP) address. Also during this time, a concerned citizen notified the CyberTipline of a website that contained an image of a prepubescent female posing suggestively.

Based on the reported information, analysts with NCMEC's Exploited Child Division were able to link the reports to the same individual. Through various Internet searches, they determined that the suspect was accessing the Internet in New York. The analysts also located an online profile that indicated the reported suspect was posing as a 20-year-old female. NCMEC forwarded the reports to the New York State Police's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, a program funded by the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, for investigation.

The investigation by the New York State Police led to the execution of a search warrant at the suspect's home on November 15, 2006. His computer and other media storage were seized, and were found to contain over 600 sexually explicit images of children. Investigators also seized notebooks filled with stories in which the suspect detailed his sexual attraction to, and interest in molesting several females in his community.

On March 26, 2007, the suspect pled guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. He was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised probation.

MASSACHUSETTS

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

On January 2, 2008, the CyberTipline received a report containing chat logs from an instant messenger conversation involving an adult male and a female who stated she was fourteen years old. In the conversation, the reported suspect made multiple sexually explicit comments and repeatedly asked the female for photos of herself. He also revealed that he was a high school teacher and informed her that he liked his "girls young, firm, and cute." The two also discussed the possibility of meeting at a local mall.

Using the provided email address, an Exploited Child Division (ECD) analyst conducted online searches and found various profiles for the suspect. All profiles gave a location of Massachusetts. Based on this information, and the contents of the chat log, the analyst forwarded the report to the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), an OJJDP-funded program, out of the Massachusetts State Police.

Not surprisingly, law enforcement personnel were already acquainted with this particular suspect, as he had been the subject of an undercover investigation originating in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in December 2006. Detectives with the Portsmouth Police Department were able to establish his identity and turned that information over to the authorities in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts State Police picked up the case and determined that while communicating with both the undercover officer and the reporting person from the CyberTipline report, the suspect had disseminated material that was harmful to a child, including nude photos of himself.

The suspect was arrested on January 18, 2008 at his home, where investigators seized a laptop computer and a USB thumb drive. It was established that the suspect was, in fact, a history teacher at a Massachusetts high school. During his interrogation, he reportedly made admissions concerning the charges against him. He has been charged with five counts of disseminating obscene material to a minor and two counts of attempting to commit a crime (enticement of a child under 16). He has pleaded not guilty.

ILLINOIS

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

US States News

February 21, 2008 Thursday 3:32 AM EST

HUNTLEY MAN ARRESTED ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CHARGES
The Illinois Attorney General issued the following news release:
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today said that a Huntley man has been taken into custody and faces child pornography charges after an early morning search of his residence revealed numerous computers and computer hard drives that allegedly contained images of child pornography.
Stephen H. McConnaughay, 64, of 10618 Michael St., is being held in the McHenry County Correctional Facility charged with one count of Possession of Child Pornography, a Class 3 felony, and one count of Dissemination of Child Pornography, a Class 1 felony.
After receiving a cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a search warrant was executed by Madigan's Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force along with the Huntley Police Department, South Elgin Police, and the Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) with assistance from the Kane County Sheriff's Department and the Kane and McHenry County State's Attorneys' offices.
The investigation is continuing and additional charges are pending. The public is reminded that these charges are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

PENNSYLVANIA

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, Pennsylvania)

June 28, 2007 Thursday

Man arrested in child porn case;
Police: Lititz man had, sent images
A Lititz man was arrested and charged recently with possessing child pornography.
In a separate incident, a Mount Joy Borough man arrested on child pornography charges is now serving a sentence in federal prison.
Criminal charges were filed June 21 by Warwick Township Police against Peter Thayer Ringer, 37, of 4 Santa Fe Drive.
The Lititz man was charged with seven counts of possessing child pornography and two counts of dissemination of child pornography.
Ringer was arraigned before District Judge Dan Garret and released on $10,000 unsecured bail pending a hearing.
According to Warwick Township Police Detective Ed Tobin, the investigation began in November after a tip was called in to The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Cyber tipline.
The information was sent to the Pennsylvania Internet Crime Against Children Task Force, and Delaware County detectives traced images of child pornography to Ringer's Internet account and e-mail address.
According to court documents, Delaware County detectives also received a compact disc with 205 photographs, some of which were child pornography.
The case was turned over to Detective Peter Savage of the Lancaster County District Attorney's Office and Warwick Township Police.
Police served a search warrant in February at Ringer's residence, confiscating computer hard drives, other related items and clothing.
Ringer admitted the computer "contained photographs of underage children," according to the affidavit.
According to court documents, Savage reviewed the confiscated items and found 113 photographs depicting child pornography, 68 movies containing child pornography and six computer disks containing images of child pornography.
Three pictures containing children pornography had been e-mailed to another person.
In a separate incident, Keith Gephart, 53, formerly of the 800 block of West Main Street, Mount Joy, was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison by federal district court Judge James T. Giles.
The sentence includes 3 years of supervision upon release and $2,600 in fines and fees.
Gephart was a noted member of the community, serving as Mount Joy Memorial Day Parade chairman for more than 20 years.
Gephart was arrested June 15, 2006.
He is incarcerated at a federal prison in White Deer, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Gephert was sentenced March 21. He began serving his sentence April 30, according to Rich Manieri of the U.S. Attorney's Eastern District Office in Philadelphia.
Gephart's guilty plea memorandum says that on June 8, 2005, Mount Joy police received a box belonging to Gephart containing 30 images of child pornography.
Police served a search warrant at the Mount Joy residence two weeks later and found home computers containing more than 2,000 still images and more than 10 videos containing child pornography.
Books, magazines and videos depicting adult pornography, child nudity and child erotica were also seized.
Gephart pleaded guilty in December to four counts of receiving child pornography and two counts of knowingly possessing still images containing child pornography.

IOWA

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

US States News

October 9, 2006 Monday 3:34 AM EST

DIVISION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION MAKES ARREST AS RESULT OF CYBERTIP TO NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING, EXPLOITED CHILDREN
The Iowa Department of Public Safety issued the following news release:
On October 6, 2006, agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation arrested Darius Hernandez, age 31, of Des Moines, Iowa. Hernandez was arrested at 1801 Grand Avenue in Des Moines, as a result of a search warrant conducted at his residence on October 5, 2006. Hernandez was charged in state court with five counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Minor. The investigation was conducted as a result of a tip received by investigators from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children.
The Congressionally mandated Cyber Tipline is a reporting mechanism for cases of child sexual exploitation including child pornography, online enticement of children for sex acts, molestation of children outside the family, sex tourism of children, child victims of prostitution, and unsolicited obscene material sent to a child. Reports may be made 24 hours per day, 7 days a week online at www.cybertipline.com or by calling 1-800-843-5678.
Follow this link for more information about the Cyber Tipline: http://www.missingkids.com/cybertip/
The DCI continues its investigation and it should be noted a criminal charge is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

NEW YORK

NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED CHILDREN
Child Victim Identification Program (CVIP)
Case Summary

During the course of providing technical assistance to the United States Secret Service's (USSS) Newark field office in July 2005, staff with the Child Victim Identification Program (CVIP) at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) reviewed multiple child pornography images of a young pubescent boy. During the review, CVIP analysts also found non-pornographic pictures of the child. These images, which showed the boy partially and fully clothed, provided clues for a location of this never seen before child victim.

Prior to notifying law enforcement in New York, CVIP first contacted the USSS, ensuring that the child was not part of their current investigation. USSS confirmed that the child was not part of their investigation and agreed to provide copies of the pornographic images to the local law enforcement agency.

Once a possible location was identified, CVIP analysts determined that many of the images were taken between January and May of 2004 using both a Canon and a Seiko Epson camera. Most important, a serial number was listed for the Canon camera which was used to take the pornographic images.

CVIP analysts reviewed the Pack's website, looking for additional pertinent information. On the website they found one image from a parade that appeared to contain the same boy seen in the pornographic images.

On July 15, 2005, CVIP contacted the Nassau County Police Department and provided them with the Image Analysis Report, cropped images of the child victim along with an image of the boy's uniform. Upon receipt of the information Nassau County Detective Bob Shaw contacted the USSS and arranged the exchange of information and images. An investigation into the make and model of the camera yielded no further clues. However, using various investigative methods Detective Shaw determined the identity of the boy seen within the abusive images. As the boy did not reside within his jurisdiction, Detective Shaw forwarded the case to Detective James Held with the New York City Police Department, who is assigned to the Vice Enforcement Division, Sexual Exploitation of Children Squad.

On August 18, 2005, Detective James Held along with the Vice Enforcement Division interviewed the boy, who disclosed that the abusive images had been taken by a man who volunteered with his Boy Scout Troop. The next morning, NYPD arrested the forty-five year old suspect who worked for a security company and who had volunteered with the organization for over 15 years. During the search of the offender's residence authorities uncovered numerous sexual devices, and boys' underwear which the suspect had allegedly labeled with boys' names and dates of the sexual activities. NYPD also recovered a cache of child pornography, which appears to have been downloaded from the Internet, and hundreds of pornographic pictures and videos of the victims.

On August 31, 2005, the suspect was rearrested for the alleged abuse of a second boy, who disclosed being abused for the past 11 months. As this exhaustive investigation continues Detective Held believes that the suspect may have more victims. Police are currently conducting searches in their efforts to identify additional child victims.

The Queens District Attorney's Office has charged the defendant with multiple counts including: sexual conduct against a child, use of a child in a sexual performance, criminal sexual act, promoting a sexual performance by a child, possessing an obscene sexual performance, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse. If found guilty, the defendant could spend a total of 40 years in prison. He is currently being held on bond.

NCMEC wishes to congratulate the many agencies whose hard work and determination resulted in the apprehension of this alleged dangerous predator, removing multiple children from sexual abuse and preventing future victimizations. Specifically, we'd like to recognize the following agencies:

United States Secret Service
Nassau County Police Department
New York City Police Department
Queens District Attorney's Office

SOUTH CAROLINA

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

South Carolina ICAC Task Force Arrest

On November 8, 2004, agents from the South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) received a complaint from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's (NCMEC) CyberTipline, stating that the Internet service provider, America Online (AOL), had reported that someone using an AOL email address attempted to send three emails containing three identifiable images of child pornography (or minors engaged in sexual activity) on November 4, 2004. Further investigation revealed that a known sex offender, Thomas Turner, 38 years old, used the AOL screen name and that he resided in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Turner is a former correctional officer who was already on probation from a prior Criminal Sexual Conduct with a minor (under 13) conviction.

A forensic examination of the media taken from Turner's residence revealed over 200 child pornography images. Turner was ultimately charged with 4 counts of 3rd Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.

Turner pled guilty on November 1, 2005 and received a total sentence of 31 years. He will not be eligible for parole until he serves at least 16 years.

This cooperative effort between the SC ICAC Task Force agencies also included assistance from Spartanburg County Sheriff's Office, SC Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, and the US Department of Immigration and Custom's Enforcement

ALABAMA

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

On March 29, 2005, a concerned citizen submitted a CyberTipline report regarding a suspect who had allegedly posted pornographic images of children to a newsgroup. An Exploited Child Unit (ECU) analyst quickly accessed the newsgroup and located 32 images of children posted by the reported suspect. She confirmed that several of these images were pornographic and documented her findings. The analyst then carefully reviewed the expanded headers associated with the postings. She observed that the suspect had posted these images through the commercial service 'Earthlink'. She also noted two different IP (Internet Protocol) addresses in the headers. After finding that both IP addresses resolved to Alabama, the analyst forwarded the CyberTipline report to the Alabama Bureau of Investigations (ICAC), an OJJDP-funded program, for investigation. Investigators quickly launched an investigation and were able to successfully identify the individual responsible for the postings.

On May 11, 2005, investigators served a search warrant on the suspect's home and confiscated his computer and other printed materials. They found that he was in possession of a large quantity of child pornography. Investigators then attempted to arrest the suspect on May 31, 2005, but found he had left the state. They learned that he had sold his home and fled to Virginia in search of his girlfriend, who had left him when she learned of the allegations against him. The Alabama ICAC then enlisted the help of the Virginia State Police Fugitive Unit, who located the suspect on June 6, 2005 and arrested him without incident. The suspect was extradited back to Alabama shortly thereafter.

The investigation on the suspect revealed that there were two misdemeanor warrants out for his arrest in Olean, New York; one for Driving Under the Influence and the other for exposing himself to three 12 year-old children. The suspect has been charged with Possession of Child Pornography, with possible additional charges of Distribution of Child Pornography forthcoming. He is currently being held in the Madison County Jail in Huntsville, Alabama. If he is convicted of Possession of Child Pornography, a Class C Felony, he faces up to 10 years in prison.

OKLAHOMA

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Exploited Child Division
Child Pornography Success Story

Published: May 07, 2007 12:07 pm
Man accused of attempting to sell kids for sex
THE CHICKASHA EXPRESS STAR (CHICKASHA, Okla.)
CHICKASHA, Okla. -- A Chickasha, Okla., man is in jail on allegations of attempting to sell two children over the Internet for sex.

Assistant District Attorney Lesley March contends Jason Burns, 25, admitted to having a conversation in an Internet chat room where he allegedly promised to procure a 5-year-old and a 1-year-old for sex to a New York man.

The price - $5,000.

March said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children picked up on the possible transaction and alerted New York State Police.

The investigation expanded to include the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Chickasha Police Department.

Following up on information, Chickasha Detective Jason Maddox arrested Burns on Saturday.

March said the OSBI has seized a large amount of data and is sifting through it.

Formal charges are expected Tuesday. Burns is in the Grady County Jail.

The Chickasha, Okla., Express-Star