PA- Battle on porn online

4-12-2009 Pennsylvania:

Nils Frederiksen has worked on every one of the 203 Internet arrests since the state Attorney General's Child Predator Unit was created in 2005.
And he's seen the world of child pornography change drastically in the past few years.

A decade ago, isolated pedophiles had to send child pornography through the mail, which was expensive and exposed both sender and receiver to law enforcement. Now, there are thousands of child predators online every minute of every day, says Frederiksen, a spokesman for the unit.

The year Child Predator Unit first became fully operational, Frederiksen said, they made 27 arrests. In 2008, there were 70. So far this year, Frederiksen said they have made 23 arrests, putting them well ahead of last year's pace.

While Frederiksen said there might be more child predators out there, the ability to transmit, reproduce and store these materials has "increased exponentially."

"It's coming directly into people's homes, which normally had been a safe haven," Frederiksen said.

Frederiksen worries that the easier availability of child pornography might tempt some who otherwise wouldn't have sought it out. Some people who aren't comfortable stalking children in person might be less inhibited about sending nude photographs online, he said.

But if the Internet has made the sharing of child pornography easier for the perpetrators, it's also made it somewhat easier for agents to catch them in the act, Frederiksen said. And the increased attention on child pornography gives parents a better understanding of the risks their children face.

Double-edged sword

Although it's become easier to find and share child pornography online, the same technology has made it easier to catch offenders in the act.

In the current Internet age, images and videos of child pornography can be shared through flash drives, encrypted disks, online sharing networks or peer-to-peer networks. These programs allow users to connect personally and share files without having to go through a Web site.

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The Child Predator Unit works with several resources and databases to identify the victims in images and videos and to determine if they are indeed under-age. The unit's computer forensic analysts know what they're looking for, Frederiksen said, adding that, when needed, they will use medical experts to testify about age.

While Frederiksen's department is racking up child-predator arrests, he said they often come across pornographic images of children on those predators' computers.

Agents pose as pedophiles online and search images and can use sophisticated software to trace the images to their source. Most of the cases don't involve the people who originally created and uploaded the images or videos, but those who are disseminating it, he said.

But Frederiksen said he believes that all behavior escalates for these people.

"I think it desensitizes people," Frederiksen said of child pornography. "The desire to send these photos overwhelms them."

What starts out as sexual chatting and innuendo moves into sharing nude photographs and child pornography, he said.

"The end game, we believe, is for them to meet a child physically," Frederiksen said.

The biggest case he's handled involved a child predator who approached a child online. After seizing his computer, officials found more than 600 images of child pornography, Frederiksen said.

His office will charge those in possession of child pornography with sexual abuse of children, a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum of seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Frederiksen added that his office will charge one count for each image found.

Being proactive

Four years ago, Frederiksen said, there was a "greater likelihood" that parents and children would not want to believe that child pornography was out there, or that there were people who wanted to prey on children.

It was a self-defense mechanism for them, Frederiksen said. But that's changing.

This year, several arrests in southeastern Pennsylvania were based on information from parents, Frederiksen said. His office views it as an "extremely positive step" and said it's the first time this has happened.

He added that they've also seen a "steadily increasing" number of reports made by people who are calling the hotline or using the attorney general's Web site.

Maybe it's the prevalence of the crime, the number of publicized arrests, he guesses. But more so, Frederiksen said he thinks parents are realizing just how connected to the Internet their children are and the risks that come with it.

His office works with Operation Safe Surf to educate parents and children about those risks and to encourage regular discussion of online safety.

Even if parents and children communicate openly about the issues and check the Megan's Law Web site to see if there are any registered sex offenders in the neighborhood, Frederiksen worries it's not enough.

Most child predators haven't been caught yet, so they wouldn't be on the online database, he said.

In the majority of his cases, Frederiksen said, it is the person's first offense.

Without that criminal background, possible offenders wouldn't be flagged when employers run background or fingerprint checks.

In the past four years, Frederiksen said, he's seen many types of child predators ranging in age from 18 to 69 and covering just about every profession from fast-food workers to doctors, lawyers and teachers.

The majority of these predators are married and have good careers, homes and often have children, he added.

"They're not people who, if you saw walking down the street, you'd flag them as a predator," Frederiksen said.

In some cases, a possible offender can end up working in a school or any other job or volunteer activity that gives them access to children.

"Life's tough enough for a 14-, 15-, 16-year-old," Frederiksen said. "They don't need this."

LOCAL INVESTIGATION

State police at York notified South Western School District officials April 1 that the computer of fifth-grade teacher Matthew Krapf, 31, of Glenville, had been seized. No charges have been filed as of Friday, but according to court documents, investigators believe a home computer with an Internet connection registered to Krapf was used to share child pornography on the Internet.

Cpl. Robert Erdely of the Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Computer Crimes Division, was on an online network called Gnutella on Nov. 23 when he found a computer sharing 64 files, according to the affidavit of probable cause. In the entire list of files available for upload, Erdely noted that 12 of them included known words or phrases used to describe child pornography, according to court documents.

Police said they were able to trace the computer by the Internet Protocol address, and it was registered to Krapf. The forensic investigation into the computer's content might take some time, police said, adding that there is no timeline for its completion.

ON THE WEB

For more information about online safety, visit the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General's Web site at www.attorneygeneral.gov. To report a predator, call the Child Predator Unit's hotline at (800) 385-1044 or click the link on the Attorney General's Web site.

BY THE NUMBERS

According to 2006 data:

-- Approximately one in seven youth online (10 to 17 years old) received a sexual solicitation or approach over the Internet.

-- 4 percent received an aggressive sexual solicitation - a solicitor who asked to meet them somewhere; called them on the telephone; or sent them offline mail, money or gifts.

-- 34 percent had an unwanted exposure to sexual material - pictures of naked people or people having sex.

-- 27 percent of youth who encountered unwanted sexual material told a parent or guardian. If the encounter was defined as distressing (episodes that made them feel very or extremely upset or afraid), 42 percent told a parent or guardian.

Additionally:

-- As of August 2008, Child Victim Identification Program has information on more than 1,634 child victims from around the world seen in sexually abusive images.

-- Through August 2008, CVIP analysts reviewed seized child-pornography collections from more than 14,860 investigations across the country, through the Child Recognition and Identification System. ..News Source.. by KATHARINE HARMON