The USA tends to be at least a year ahead of Europe in the take up of
the Internet and use of all its features. Both the benefits and the problems
have expanded fast in the US and this has certainly been true of Chat
rooms. Law Enforcement agencies have powers in the US to proactively enter Chat
rooms under cover and communicate with perpetrators who are exchanging
illegal material, with the aim of securing evidence to enable an arrest.
IN a number of cases perpetrators who appeared to be looking for children
have arranged an offline meeting only to discover that the child was a
an FBI agent.
The National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) www.missingkids.com/cybertip in the USA works in partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the U.S. Customs Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and runs a national CyberTipline. NCMEC monitors stories about inappropriate contact in Chatrooms and works closely with Childnet International and the INHOPE Association (see www.inhope.org). NCMEC staff have assisted by providing the following examples of Chat danger. The FBI claim to have investigated some 700 cases of potential illegal activity in Chat rooms.
In New Zealand
the police have set up a special unit to combat the exchange of child
pornography in Chat rooms. This unit is dealing with an average of 100
cases a year of people exchanging child pornography in Chat rooms.
EXAMPLE 1
October 16,
2000
Jason William
San Souci, 22 years old and an Air Force Second Lieutenant attending UCCS
full-time was arrested on Friday, 10-13-00, by the Colorado Internet Crimes
Against Children Task Force when he contacted an undercover officer posing
as a 13 year old girl in the parking lot of a local shopping centre. San
Souci had arranged the meeting with what he believed to be a 13-year-old
girl via the Internet. The purpose of the meeting was to go to San Souci's
residence in Colorado Springs and have various types of sexual contact
with the girl, who was actually an undercover Police Detective from the
Colorado Springs Police Department. San Souci had first initiated contact
via the Internet two days before the meeting. San Souci was booked into
the El Paso County Jail on charges of Enticement of a Child and Criminal
Attempt Sexual Assault on a Child.
This case in particular, illustrates how quickly a meeting can be arranged
and the need for parents to be involved with their children as they utilise
the Internet. Even with the many benefits of the Internet, unfortunately,
there are also many hazards. The Colorado Springs Police Department Internet
Crimes Against Children Detail offers presentations on Internet
Safety for Teens and Children to public groups and schools. Also, there
are several excellent web pages that contain important Internet child
safety information. Among these are the National Centre for Missing and
Exploited Children at www.missingkids.com,
and the Safe Kids and Safe Teens web sites at www.safekids.com,
and www.safeteens.com.
Taken from the COLORADO SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT NEWS RELEASE see http://www.colorado-springs.com/police/newsrelease/newsrele.htm
October 7 2000
A 24-year-old
Florida man has been charged with two felonies following accusations he
attempted to have sex with a teen-age Troy girl he met over the Internet,
police say.
Jason Daniel Boris, of Kissimmee, Fla., is charged with one count each
of child sexually abusive activity and attempted third-degree criminal
sexual conduct. He was arraigned Friday in District Court in Troy.
The complaint
alleges that Boris, while living in New Jersey, met the 14-year-old girl
in an Internet Chat room. The two continued communication via letters
and telephone calls, during which they discussed sexual acts and birth
control methods, police said.
According to the complaint, Boris also sent the girl an explicit photo. Boris then arranged to meet the girl Oct. 4 at her home while her parents were out of town, the complaint said. He was arrested by Troy police when he was spotted near her home. Bond was set at $150,000. Boris faces an Oct. 19 preliminary exam.
From: http://detnews.com:80/2000/metro/0010/07/metro-130858.htm
EXAMPLE
3
July 17, 2000,
On July 17,
2000, the Union (MO) Police Department contacted the NCMEC Unit for technical
assistance with an online enticement case. A fourteen-year-old girl in
their town had been chatting online with an older man via email and ICQ
when she went missing. With the co-operation of the girl's father, the
police were able to retrieve some of the logged conversations. These logged
chats were sent to the Exploited Child Unit for analysis. It was discovered
that the older man mentioned that he would be willing to drive to Missouri
to pick the child up and suggested that the child tell her father that
she was "going to Las Vegas to visit a pretty sick person'.
The online conversations also became quite sexually explicit. ECU analysts
conducted various searches on the suspect's email address and screen names
and found two ICQ accounts that listed a possible name and location for
the suspect in Las Vegas. ECU staff then provided this information to
the investigating law enforcement agency. At this point, ECU analysts
suggested that the Union PD intake the missing child with the NCMEC. ECU
analysts also provided Union PD with the details on how to go about contacting
the suspect's Internet Service Provider for his subscriber information.
In addition, ECU analysts consulted with the FBI liaison (assigned to
NCMEC) for assistance due to possible interstate criminal activity. She
contacted the resident FBI agency in Missouri. The agent agreed to visit
the Union PD and offer the FBI's assistance with the case. The FBI in
Las Vegas became involved based on this course of events. Apparently,
the suspect drove to Union, MO to meet the child. The suspect then took
the child back to Las Vegas, NV where the FBI apprehended him and the
child was recovered. The suspect was arrested at his place of employment
and the child was found on the street. The suspect has been charged with
transporting a minor interstate for sexual purposes and it has been confirmed
that the suspect sexually assaulted the young girl.
June 2000
On June 11, 2020 NCMEC's Hotline received an anonymous tip from a female
caller in Iowa wishing to report a possible abduction that was going to
take place on Wednesday, June 14, 2000. The caller stated that a 53-year-old
suspect from Indiana had been communicating with a 14-year-old female
child from Wisconsin via the Internet for three years. The caller also
stated that the suspect intended to have sexual relations with the child
and that the child wished to run away with the suspect. The caller also
alleged that this suspect had served previous jail time for a prior murder
conviction. As a result, ECU Staff contacted the OJJDP-funded Internet
Crimes Against Children Task Force in Wisconsin, and authorities in Iowa
and Indiana. Each agency was provided with the caller's ANI and a copy
of the report that was intaked by Hotline.
On June 16, 2000, the 53-year-old suspect was arrested in a shopping mall
parking lot when he travelled to Madison, WI to meet the child and arrange
a sexual encounter with her. Seer Magi, from Roanoke, Indiana, was charged
with child enticement, attempted child abduction, interference with the
custody by parents or others, possession of
marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal damage to property
after a scuffle with police. The Madison Police Department, the Indiana
State Police and the Dubuque (Iowa) Police Department assisted the Wisconsin
DCI with the arrest.
When Magi was arrested, authorities conducted a search of his truck and
found in his possession an unsheathed twelve-inch axe, four pieces of
rope, drug paraphernalia and a bottle of Demerol pills among several other
items.
In 1968, Magi was convicted of second-degree murder in Indiana. Although
he was sentenced to thirty years, he was released on parole in October
1991. His criminal record also includes burglary convictions in 1981 and
an escape in 1982.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jun00/net17061600a.asp
EXAMPLE 5
MARCH 2000
On March
13th, 2000, the CyberTipline received a report from a woman who was Instant
Messaged by a suspect who mistakenly thought she was an eleven year old
girl. The woman logged the conversation with the suspect in which he began
talking in sexually graphic terms. In addition, he told the "child" that
he would leave his house at that exact time to drive the eight hour distance
to meet her. He asked if they could engage in sexual activities when he
got there and offered to bring the "child" beer or wine coolers. He said
that he would "drive really, really fast" so he could get there before
her mother came home from work. The reporting person sent a copy of the
logged chat to the CyberTipline.
ECU Analysts conducted several Internet searches on the suspect and determined
that he resided in San Antonio, Texas. The CyberTip Report was forwarded
to a Sergeant at the Bexar County Sheriff's Office. Eight weeks after
this report was forwarded to San Antonio, the Sergeant in Texas received
an urgent phone call from a law enforcement agency in South Carolina.
This agency reported that a thirteen year old girl from their area had
gone missing the previous day.
Law enforcement was called in to examine the missing child's computer
and they found correspondence in which a stranger was telling the child
the he would like to meet her in person. Law enforcement in South Carolina
contacted the suspect's ISP and identified him as a man from San Antonio,
Texas. The Sergeant in Texas immediately recognised the suspect's name
as being the same person that the CyberTipline Report identified eight
weeks earlier. The two law enforcement agencies co-operated and subpoenaed
the suspect's credit card company and learned that he had checked into
a motel in the missing child's hometown on the same day she disappeared.
They also learned that the suspect checked out of the motel the following
morning but there was still no sign of the child.
Per
the request of law enforcement, ECU Analysts conducted thorough public
records searches on the suspect and immediately faxed the information
to the agency. The Bexar County Sheriff's Office kept round-the-clock
surveillance on the suspect's house anticipating his return. Three days
after the child went missing, the suspect arrived back at his house without
the child. After a search warrant was authorised, law enforcement entered
the suspect's home where he confessed that he had dropped the child at
her friend's house. The child was then located and returned to her parents.
Law enforcement arrested the suspect on a Federal warrant of Interstate
Travel to Engage in Sex with a Minor. It is fully expected that this offender
will also be charged on State Charges in South Carolina.
EXAMPLE
6
The reporting person called NCMEC for assistance because her 14 year old
daughter disclosed that the prior week she went to a hotel with an adult
male she met in a Chat Room. The named suspect travelled from New York
to Texas to meet with this child.
ECU staff contacted the reporting person and gathered all of the information she had regarding the incident. This information included the name and location of the hotel, the floor number, the exact date, the phone number for the suspect, and other specifics relating to the incident.
ECU conducted
public records database searches on the suspect phone number. The results
indicated a possible name, address and social security number for the
suspect. The Cybertipline Report with detailed information was forwarded
to the jurisdiction where the incident occurred (TX). Local law enforcement
and the FBI- Houston investigated the incident and found corroborating
evidence that indeed this individual travelled from New York to Texas.
The suspect has polio and no criminal history. He has also failed a polygraph
examination. The suspect has been charged by the state of Texas with assault
of a minor and statutory rape. These are Class III Felonies in Texas.
On August 25, 1999, the defendant was indicted by the Grand Jury for indecency
with a child by contact and sexual assault of a child. Federal charges
are not going to be pursued because it cannot be confirmed that the defendant
knew the child's age at the time that he travelled to Texas. However,
when the defendant picked the child up at her house, she came out of the
house with slippers on and a Teletubby backpack. At this point, he knew
that she was a minor but he proceeded to take her to a hotel anyway and
assault her. He had no criminal history.
