The Department of Justice today announced the arrest of more than 2,300 suspected online child sex offenders during a three-month, nationwide, operation conducted by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces. The task forces identified 195 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, and 383 children who suffered recent, ongoing, or historical sexual abuse or production of child pornography.
The 61 ICAC task forces, located in all 50 states and comprised of more than 4,500 federal, state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies, led the coordinated operation known as “Broken Heart” during the months of March, April, and May 2018. During the course of the operation, the task forces investigated more than 25,200 complaints of technology-facilitated crimes against children and delivered more than 3,700 presentations on Internet safety to over 390,000 youth and adults.
“No child should ever have to endure sexual abuse,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “And yet, in recent years, certain forms of modern technology have facilitated the spread of child pornography and created greater incentives for its production. We at the Department of Justice are determined to strike back against these repugnant crimes. It is shocking and very sad that in this one operation, we have arrested more than 2,300 alleged child predators and investigated some 25,200 sexual abuse complaints. Any would-be criminal should be warned: this Department will remain relentless in hunting down those who victimize our children.”
The operation targeted suspects who: (1) produce, distribute, receive and possess child pornography; (2) engage in online enticement of children for sexual purposes; (3) engage in the sex trafficking of children; and (4) travel across state lines or to foreign countries and sexually abuse children.
The ICAC Program is funded through the Department’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). In 1998, OJJDP launched the ICAC Task Force Program to help federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative responses to offenders who use the Internet, online communication systems or computer technology to exploit children. To date, ICAC Task Forces have reviewed more than 775,000 complaints of child exploitation, which resulted in the arrest of more than 83,000 individuals. In addition, since the ICAC program’s inception, more than 629,400 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and other professionals have been trained on techniques to investigate and prosecute ICAC-related cases.
Yeah like how they state online child “sex offenders” like they were registered sex offenders already or something. I bet not one of the were RCs. Just feeding the beast. I say good. Just adds to the ever growing list….
I wonder how many of those arrested were actually sexting teens or high school Romeo-Juliet relationships.
They’re just tootin’ their horn to get more grant money! They might as well be having a war on dust because they’re playing a non-winnable game of whack-a-mole.
From the sounds of it, UC Santa Barbara is trying to ensure DOJ never runs out of fish in the barrel: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/06/13/california-university-s-website-says-its-ok-for-children-to-engage-in-sexual-play-watch-porn.html
Bomb children in foreign countries, but make sure the prisons grow ever fuller in the States.
“(4) travel across state lines or to foreign countries and sexually abuse children.”
“The task forces identified 195 offenders who either produced child pornography or committed child sexual abuse, and 383 children who suffered recent, ongoing, or historical sexual abuse or production of child pornography.”
I’m not clear about the correlation between traveling across state lines or to foreign countries, and those who commit crimes over the internet involving child pornography.
“(4) travel across state lines or to foreign countries and sexually abuse children.”
Wheres the data on this? How many were arrested traveling to a foreign country to sexually abuse children?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/21/fbi-ran-website-sharing-thousands-child-porn-images/79108346/
Two years ago, the FBI operated a huge child porn website; based on the current condition of the US DOJ and the FBI, I am quite sure that more than just a couple of agents completely enjoyed their job watching kiddie porn and entrapping a few curious people. I am curious about this article and the DOJ’s stings because there is no mention of the second largest profession arrested for sex offenses, which would be police officers. Now, if any boys in blue were snared in the trap, I wonder if the played their get out of jail free card as often happens.
Given how relentless and absolutely uncaring Session’s DOJ has been in the pursuit of deporting undocumented people (and people who look like them/get caught in the dragnet: https://news.vice.com/article/the-us-keeps-mistakenly-deporting-its-own-citizens), I’m terrified that Sessions and the DOJ will eventually shift their focus to “sex offenders”, demolish any reform or abolishment movement we’ve built, and take us to a new low. Mandatory civil confinement? Mandatory chemical/physical castration? Hell, we rip apart families fleeing violence and are building actual kiddie koncentration kamps, so anything’s possible if you ask me.