TMCnet News
Digital trails aid investigators in child porn probesAug 05, 2013 (The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- State Attorney General Kathleen Kane's office arrested 53 people this year on child pornography charges, marking a surge in arrests that parallels a nationwide increase hastened by evolving software and investigative methods. Twenty-five of the people arrested were Western Pennsylvanians -- one more than the 24 apprehended by the Attorney General's Office in this 28-county region during the past three years combined. That does not include charges filed by county or federal prosecutors. "We've virtually changed everything," said Deputy Attorney General Anthony Marmo, who in January began heading the Western Region Child Predator Unit. "We will go wherever the Internet takes us." Investigators scour social media sites and forums such as Facebook and Craigslist, as well as sites that allow peer-to-peer file sharing through specially designed software. Investigators with Kane's office in January made their first child pornography arrest using software and training provided by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, operated by the Department of Justice. It is not clear how many arrests since then can be attributed to that software, a spokeswoman said, but using the technology clearly has paid dividends. Five arrests of Allegheny County residents last week were a result of investigators discovering child pornography files on the defendants' computers via the Internet, court papers show. During a two-week period last month, agents searched homes in and around Pittsburgh because investigators followed a digital trail of underage pornography from the Web to those doorsteps. "A big difference, at this point, is that we've changed our shift in how we're working," said Marmo, 30, an Emsworth native. "We have new expertise and new technology, and we're looking in new places." Developing strategy Child pornography arrests across the county rose from 1,713 in 2000 to 5,700 in 2011, the Justice Department reports. Three major factors fueling that increase are technology, money and training of law enforcement, along with increased circulation and visibility of the contraband on the Internet, said David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire. "They've been effective at finding and taking down people who have this contraband and in making the public aware it is illegal to possess this material," Finkelhor said. "While the technology does allow the dissemination of this material, it also may inadvertently flag people who law enforcement might not have looked at in the past. They are making themselves vulnerable to these investigations and arrests." The investigative technique isn't new, though it has developed with technology, including websites and sharing software, said Rob Erdley, a retired state trooper who heads child exploitation investigations for the Indiana County District Attorney's Office. "We are doing the same thing the average user is doing to search the Internet to find these materials," said Erdley. "If someone opens up a file for sharing on their computer, we can look at it just like anyone else can." Special software allows investigators to scan peer-to-peer, file-sharing networks that users enter with a password. Once in, they can search and download material from other users. Erdley's work led to the arrest of at least one suspect in last week's roundup, as well as that of Dr. Mark Janosko, a McCandless family doctor whom the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office charged on July 19 with possessing and distributing child pornography. Agencies across the country increasingly cooperate through a network of task forces, including the Western Pennsylvania Crimes Against Children Task Force. 'A crime against humanity' Law enforcement agencies often turn child pornography cases over to federal prosecutors because federal courts mandate minimum sentences for such crimes, Finkelhor said. Investigators hope to ensure that those convicted receive harsh sentences. Federal courts enforce a five-year sentence for possession and 15 years for producing child pornography. The attorney general's office recently referred a case to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh, Marmo said. Federal child pornography cases in Western Pennsylvania have remained steady during the past five years, with about 35 cases prosecuted each year. Prosecutors charged 17 people this year. A 2000 government study of federal inmates convicted of Internet child pornography crimes found that 85 percent of offenders reported they had sexually abused minors. "I don't think people get how damaging and devastating child pornography is for kids," said Joan Mills, manager of A Child's Place at Mercy, Allegheny County's child advocacy center. "These are not the Lolita pictures or the curvaceous 15-year-olds in bikinis. That is not what we are talking about. These are children being posed nude and raped. This is a crime against humanity." Marmo hopes the work of his office and that of other agencies makes an impact. "We're trying to protect actual children from being molested or solicited," Marmo said. "It's far better to be proactive than reactive in this scenario." Jason Cato is a Trib Total Media staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7936 or [email protected]. ___ (c)2013 The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) Visit The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.) at www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib Distributed by MCT Information Services |