8-23-2009 Colorado:
FORT LUPTON — When she gets onto a chat page on her computer, Detective Crystal Schwartz doesn't always know the men who begin communicating with her. But they believe she's a 14-year-old girl, and usually within a minute of logging on, Schwartz receives a sexual proposition.
She's actually 27 years old, with a master's degree in forensic psychology, but sometimes even she can't figure out why they do it.
Schwartz has now arrested seven men on charges of Internet sexual exploitation and luring of a child. It was more than a year ago when what was probably her biggest surprise came. In July, a man named ___ sent her a photo of himself after they'd been “talking” for two months. It showed ___ in his Colorado State Patrol uniform, standing next to his patrol car.
Two days later, Fort Lupton police — accompanied by several Colorado State Patrol troopers and Colorado Springs police officers — arrested ___ at his home.
Throughout the two months she talked with ___, he propositioned her numerous times, asking her about sex acts, about undressing him, about attending nude parties. And all the time, ___ thought she was a 14-year-old girl.
And, despite the publicity she's received by catching the suspects, the online propositions keep coming, the men continue to believe she's a naíve 14-year-old girl, and they continue to come after her.
When they ask for a photo of the imaginary 14-year-old, Schwartz sends a photo of a young-looking Fort Lupton police officer.
In some cases, the men have driven to Fort Lupton to meet with the “girl,” only to be arrested by Schwartz and other officers. Some cases take more than a year to develop. One took two hours.
A man in Idaho Springs met Schwartz's imaginary 14-year-old girl online, and he was on his way to Fort Lupton to meet her within two hours.
When he was arrested in Fort Lupton, he was driving a pickup with a bed in the back and a bag of marijuana for the “girl.”
Because of her training and experience, Schwartz knows she has to be careful when talking in the chat room with the suspects. “I can't initiate the sexual conversation,” she said, “because of entrapment problems. But I just play naive, and they keep asking questions.”
Even the meetings have to be set up by the men. If she was to lure a man into a trap, Schwartz knows she'd probably lose the case in court. So far, losing hasn't happened. Every case that's come to court so far has been pled out with a guilty plea from the men. She's only testified in one preliminary hearing.
Even with the arrests, the men seem to continue to be fooled by the 14-year-old persona. “It's a sickness,” said Fort Lupton Police Chief Ron Grannis. “I don't think they can stop themselves.”
Grannis is right, according to the professionals who treat people involved in the Internet sexual crimes.
Dr. Rick May is a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado, and with his partner operates Treatment and Evaluation Services in Aurora. It's where people who are convicted of Internet sex crimes are sent for rehabilitation.
But they can't be cured. “They can be managed with treatment,” May said. “They need to recognize that they have a problem, and they will work on it.”
And even though there are dozens of police agencies across the state that have officers posing as young girls to catch the predators, they still log on.
“Anyone with a room-temperature IQ is aware they could be talking to a cop online,” May said. “But this shows how driven they are, and how they have denial that anything bad could happen to them.”
For Schwartz, Grannis and other officers working the cases in the chat rooms, they know it needs to be done, even if they can only work it an hour or two a day. “It's very satisfying to get these guys,” Schwartz said. “To know they might not contact another girl because we caught them. I wish they could get more jail time, though.”
Schwartz will continue to work the Internet as much as she can with her other detective duties. She has attended and taught Internet crime classes, and she learned how the predators “groom” a victim to get her to say the things they want or meet them somewhere.
“It's really good to get them after going through that,” Schwartz said.
She's married — her husband works for the Weld County Sheriff's Office — and she said he understands what she goes through to apprehend someone.
And, because she knows how important it is, she wants to continue trapping the predators for as long as she can. ..Source.. by Mike Peters
August 23, 2009
CO- Fort Lupton police work to catch Internet lurers
April 15, 2009
MI- Granholm Signs Legislation Authorizing Nearly $2 Billion to Create Jobs, Protect Citizens
4-15-2009 Michigan:
Recovery funds will bolster education, job training and more
LANSING - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm has signed legislation authorizing Michigan to spend nearly $2 billion in federal Recovery Act funding to strengthen the state's efforts to help citizens during this time of economic challenge. The legislation provides funding for a variety of education, job-training, environmental protection, and public safety programs that will create jobs across Michigan.
"As the national recession continues, the Recovery Act funding will help to create jobs and protect citizens throughout the state by providing essential services," Granholm said. "We will move quickly to get these dollars into communities and accelerate our own recovery plan for Michigan."
The supplemental appropriation signed today includes:
- $900 million for public education in Michigan, including services to at-risk students, students with disabilities, and homeless students;
(eAdvocate Post)
- $248 million for sewer and drinking water infrastructure improvements and other environmental protection programs;
- $235 million for worker training across Michigan, including additional funding for the state's No Worker Left Behind program;
- $190 million for community-based service programs and food assistance to help citizens who are being directly impacted by the struggling economy;
- $244 million for weatherization programs to create jobs while helping citizens save money through energy efficiency improvements to their homes; and
- $48 million for public safety programs, including efforts to protect children from internet predators and provide services to crime victims.
"The funding provided through this legislation will help citizens across Michigan," said Granholm. "Whether it's putting workers back on the job improving our infrastructure, providing training opportunities to laid-off workers, or getting food assistance to families in need, all of these dollars will strengthen our communities and our economy."
The bill signed by the governor is House Bill 4258 (PA 7 of 2009) sponsored by State Representative George Cushingberry (D-Detroit). On March 31, Granholm signed legislation authorizing Michigan to spend $873 million in Recovery Act funds for a range of "shovel-ready" projects such as road-resurfacing, rehabilitation and widening, and bridge rehabilitation that will create approximately 25,000 jobs. ..News Source.. by Michigan.gov
April 10, 2009
FBI Targets Scammers Posing as Minors to Target Would-Be Pedophiles
4-10-2009 National:
Sexual predators who victimize children on the Internet are now becoming targets of a different kind of online predator – and law enforcement officials are hunting them all down.
In the past five years, federal authorities have arrested more than 11,000 "online predators," at least in part as a result of officers posing as minors on the Internet to attract would-be pedophiles. But the FBI is increasingly seeing cases of computer-savvy scammers posing as minors online to steal financial information or extort money from those would-be pedophiles.
This claim of "11,000 online predators" is misleading, read carefully, "at least in-part" which means most of the 11,000 had nothing to do with sex crimes. To understand this better folks need to know that, as to online crimes against children, the FBI is one of many agencies that form the ICAC Task Force. A recent Press Release by them explained they handle more than "Internet Sex Crimes," in fact, their Press Release shows "children who were victims of some form of abuse or neglect," neglect being a non sex crime. Further, within that 11,000 number are cases of "child pornography" who are caught by the fact that they get the CP, online, hence cases are handled by the ICAC, of which the FBI is part of. So, 11,000 online predators is clearly intended to mislead the public!
The FBI is currently investigating a man and woman in Miamisburg, Ohio, who allegedly engaged seven men, including a middle school teacher in New York, in sexually explicit conversations on the Internet and then "tricked" them into divulging personal information and financial records, according to court documents obtained by Fox News.
The man and woman also allegedly tried to extort money from some of the men by threatening to reveal the men's sexually explicit conversations online, according to the court documents.
"This is definitely not the first of its kind," one FBI official said. There have been "several instances where the same activity was done to blackmail would-be offenders into sending money to the perpetrators," he said.
Interesting, a past case of extortion, exactly as described above, was also a couple out of Ohio extorting money from sex offenders over the Internet. And, there were other cases here and here.
(eAdvocate Post)
In the Ohio case, the couple under investigation engaged "a large number" of men last year in sexually explicit conversations over the Yahoo! instant messaging service, according to court documents. The couple allegedly sent images of female models to the men, who believed they were talking to the girls in the photos. But the couple also sent files to the men that, once opened and executed, gave "full and unauthorized access to [their] computer system," according to court documents.
"The subjects had gained access to the usernames and passwords to various Web sites accessed by the target males, including eBay, PayPal, and Deutsche Bank," court documents said. "The PayPal and eBay Web sites can store information about a user's bank accounts and credit cards. By gaining access to users' PayPal and eBay usernames and passwords, a subject could access and transfer funds from users' bank accounts and credit cards."
A Latin teacher at Edward Town Middle School in Sanborn, N.Y. was allegedly one of the couple's victims. The teacher had engaged in a sexually explicit conversation with someone he thought was a minor, but he was actually talking to what court documents called an "intruder."
"The intruder threatened to send a video detailing the conversations to ... Edward Town Middle School if [the teacher] failed to comply with the subject's demands," court documents said.
Shortly after the teacher told the "intruder" he did not have "sufficient resources" to comply with the demand, someone logged on to the school's internal system — using the teacher's username and password — and posted a link to the teacher's sexually explicit conversation.
The FBI has interviewed the teacher, but no federal charges have been filed against him, according to a search of court records.
In February, FBI agents raided the couple's home, after tracking the "intruder" to the home. Fox News has decided not to name the couple. In executing a search warrant, they seized computers and "computer related equipment," according to court documents.
FBI agents returned to the home last week, taking with them a desktop computer system that had a large "cartoon girl's face" on the front of it.
Charges have yet to be filed against anyone in the home, but a law enforcement official said charges could be coming.
It's unclear whether a motive in the case would be to obtain money or to punish pedophiles. But Paul Bresson, an FBI spokesman in Washington, said extortion cases often target people who are "particularly vulnerable."
"In a case like this, I suppose exposing someone for being [involved with] child pornography fits that bill," he said.
Hey, why presume CP fits the bill, when they targeted financial account? Seems like the presumption is completly wrong, unless it is the intent of the FBI to go for a CP conviction; better headlines than financial ones.
Asked whether he thought authorities should be easier on those who target pedophiles and other criminals, Bresson declined to comment, insisting, "Those are more prosecutorial decisions."
FBI officials in Washington and in other parts of the country didn't know exactly how many such cases they've worked on involving pedophiles being targeted online, but one official said "several offices" across the country have investigated similar crimes.
In 2002 the FBI arrested three men in Kentucky for extorting money from men who visited a "fake" child-pornography Web site, according to an FBI official.
The men hacked into their victims' computers and demanded money, insisting that if they didn't comply authorities would be notified that they visited a child-pornography site.
Twenty-one people from across the country sent the men money, totaling nearly $8,000 in two months, according to an Associated Press report at the time.
Attorneys for the three men said their goal was to target child pornographers and punish them. ..News Source.. by Mike Levine
November 21, 2008
NY- SPECIAL REPORT: The Man Who Preys on Predators
11-21-2008 New York:
Bill Latchford is an every day guy -- a father, a computer technician, a borough council member in hometown of Tyrone, PA.
One night, three years ago, Latchford was glued to his TV. He watched as members of a group called Perverted Justice posed as kids in online chat rooms and lure sexual predators their way. When the alleged predators show up, so does a reporter, then the cops, and then they're arrested.
“I was flabbergasted. I just couldn't believe there were guys out there who would actually do this. And the show, of course, proved it is out there,” said Latchford. “I wanted to see if there was something that my town of Tyrone had to worry about."
So Latchford set up his own profile - posing as a 13-year-old girl - and logged into a chat room.
“I do not make first contact, whatsoever. I go into a chat room and I sit there,” he said.
Latchford says the first message is usually A/S/L: age, sex, location.
He says two-thirds of the men usually walk away when the see they're talking to a kid, but others….
“If the conversation continues past there, usually that's not a good sign for the perpetrator,” said Latchford.
Latchford sets up a meeting time and location, and hands over the conversation to his local police. When the alleged perpetrator arrives, police make the arrest.
Recently, Latchford says “dstrong03" contacted him in a chat room.
Investigators say "dstrong03" is Darin Strong, a gym teacher at Ithaca High School, who they now accuse of sending sexual images of himself to Latchford, who was posing as a 13-year-old girl.
“If you look at dstrong03 as a person, you would never, ever expect this person to do such a thing,” said Latchford. “He risked a lot, gambled, and lost."
The case is now in Blair County Court, but the district attorney says the charges may not stick.
“Pennsylvania law requires an individual in a situation like this doing this kind of investigation to be a policeman or someone under 18 years of age,” said DA Rich Consiglio. “We like these things to be handled by the police, I think I can honestly say that."
Latchford responded, “You see a crime, you report it…Some people choose not to get involved, I choose to get involved."
Latchford says he may not pose as a teenage girl anymore. Instead, he's getting the word out about internet safety to parents through a website he launched called www.protectchildrenonline.org.
Latchford thinks kids should explore the internet, but with their parents supervision.
“In my opinion, it's the adults who educate themselves and inform themselves on what's going on, and then they protect their children,” he said.
Latchford says he wants to become a public speaker -- to talk to kids and their parents about the dangers on the internet.
The case against "dstrong03" and another man Latchford caught are still open in Blair County. ..News Source.. by Ted Fioraliso
November 10, 2008
MI- Grant targets sexual predators
Exactly what are they going to do with the funds from the grant? Has the journalist uncovered a misuse of funds? See notes below..
11-10-2008 Michigan:
GRAND RAPIDS -- Sexual predators beware: don't count on a city budget crunch to keep you undetected.
Grand Rapids has been awarded a $433,000 U.S. Justice Department grant to hire a computer expert and to train police officers to help catch child predators.
The program, called GRACE, or Grand Rapids Against Child Exploitation Program, will be discussed this week in City Hall.
It includes hiring a "forensic services analyst" for $125,000 a year who can investigate and recover computer evidence, Grand Rapids Police Chief Kevin Belk wrote in a report on the project. The rest of the grant is used for training investigators to catch online predators and overtime and software programs.
Grand Rapids police now try to catch predators by conducting spot checks on identified sex offenders who are in violation of registration requirements. Police have enough staff to check on 200 a year, but there are 750 registered sex offenders in the city limits, Belk said.What does checking on local sex offenders (verifying addresses) have to do with finding Internet Predators on the Internet? This one sentence, quoting the Police Chief, makes one wonder if the grant funds are going to be used to do something other than catching Internet Predators. Anyone have any ideas?
Michigan has the nation's third-highest population of registered sex offenders, according to the chief's report.
Officers also work with sheriff's deputies and state troopers to identify sex offenders, and GRACE helps that effort. Funds also will be used for community officers to offer Internet safety training and other predator awareness outreach.
"The GRACE program has the potential for significant improvement and expansion of multijurisdictional cooperation in a new area of law enforcement operations in Kent County," Belk wrote. ..News Source.. by Theresa D. McClellan The Grand Rapids Press
