A former assistant attorney general and criminal prosecutor, Toby Aguillard successfully prosecuted Internet predator and child pornography cases for years.  He served as Commander of Louisiana’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and has supervised the arrests of hundreds of child predators.  Toby now spends much of his time offering IPA Internet Safety Presentations to the public and teaching law enforcement officers how to capture Internet predators.  Contact him at www.ipatoday.com

Week of 04/09/08

New Trend in Internet Predator Activity

n  New trend: Solicitors are asking children to provide sexually explicit pictures of themselves at an alarming rate

Ask any police officer who investigates Internet crimes against children and they will tell you that Internet predator and child pornography cases often go hand in hand.  You seldom have one case without the other.  

Confirming what police are seeing in their investigations, a recent study conducted by the University of New Hampshire’s, Crimes Against Children Research Center revealed that Internet predators are asking children to provided sexually explicit images of themselves at an alarming rate.

For example, the child predator who is communicating with children online will typically expose the child to sexually explicit conversation, images, and pornographic videos.  What’s new is that the predator will also request that the child use a digital camera, web cam, or cell phone to create sexually explicit images of themselves for his child pornography collection.  Many of these predators are online for the sole purpose of creating and building their child pornography collections.

What’s even more alarming is how some of these predators are getting the children to create sexually explicit images.  A recent investigation revealed that the predator convinced some teenage girls to send him topless pictures of themselves. Then he’d ask for dirtier pictures.  If they refused, he threatened to call the girl’s parents and tell them what she had done, and / or post all her personal information and pictures on the Internet.  The predator used this threat to gather sexually explicit images from dozens of girls.

This case demonstrates the ease with which sexual predators use and misuse the Internet, and it also shows the immaturity and vulnerability of children who socialize online. Our children, particularly our teenagers, are increasingly falling victim to these predatory tactics. Educating ourselves and our children about predatory trends is essential in keeping our kids safe.