Child porn task force boosts arrests in R.I.

Child porn task force boosts arrests in R.I.

March 21, 2011 By Katie Mulvaney

article describes abuse

A presentation about child pornography identified Rhode Island as the state with the highest rate of trading per capita in the country. A map of the United States showed the Ocean State blotted out with dots indicating the high volume of illicit traffic....

Authorities link Rhode Island’s high rate of child-pornography trafficking to the state’s dense population and widespread access to high-speed Internet early on. At any given lunch hour more than 100 people can be found trading child pornography over the Internet in the state, state police say. After 5 p.m., as people get home from work, that number doubles....

Often, offenders work to build collections that can be traded, authorities say. A dozen images of a 5-year-old girl might be traded for one of an infant rape, for example. It is against the law in Rhode Island to produce, possess or trade sexually explicit images of children under age 18.

And as child pornography swelled into a billion-dollar business, one of the fastest growing segments of the criminal world, its victims dropped in age, authorities say. Its scenes have grown increasingly brutal. These are not images of Lolita-esque teenagers, but rather stomach-turning depictions of toddlers....
http://www.projo.com/news/content/CHILD_PORN_TASK_FORCE_03-20-11_46MKVU6_v40.1942979.html

Utah authorities arrest dozens in child-porn investigation

Utah authorities arrest dozens in child-porn investigation
By Erin Alberty - The Salt Lake Tribune Apr 28 2011

After 114 sex crime investigations, 124 computer seizures, more than 36 million images, thousands of overtime hours and 39 arrests, Utah’s Internet crime investigators on Thursday offered a flat proclamation for their month-long, statewide child-pornography bust....

The suspected crimes range from possession of pornography to creating and disseminating child pornography.

Farnsworth said some of the 114 suspects are accused of filming or photographing their own illegal sex acts with children as young as toddlers, but she declined to discuss those cases. According to a press release, two suspects, a Utah County man and a Weber County juvenile, are accused of manufacturing child pornography.

Additionally, a Davis County man was charged with object rape and aggravated sexual abuse of a child after a federal conviction for producing pornography, and a Salt Lake County man faces two sex abuse charges along with his charge of dealing in material harmful to a minor. Farnsworth would not confirm whether those two men are suspected of committing those abuses in the creation of pornography.

Investigators will not know how many Utah children were victims in the cases until they review the images seized — the total number is estimated in excess of 36 million, according to figures provided by the Attorney General’s Office — and finish the pending investigations, Farnsworth said.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/utes/51712402-78/county-pornography-child-farnsworth.html.csp

Child porn Sweep Nets 11 - Signal of Growing Problem Authorities Say

Child porn Sweep Nets 11 - Arrests, Including 5 from Region, Signal of Growing Problem, Authorities Say by Robert Gavin, 7/25/09 Albany - State and federal authorities on Friday announced 11 arrests, including five from the greater Capital Region, in an effort to squash child pornography on the Internet they say has become an increasing problem."I perceive this problem as the crack of the 21st century," State Police Capt. Frank Pace, who commands the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, told reporters during a news conference at the State Police Academy. He was joined by, among others, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District Andrew Baxter, who cited a recent study showing that one in seven regular Internet users between ages 10 and 17 will be solicited online....A Department of Justice news release said the defendants were arrested "in connection with their online activities involving child pornography," but withheld specifics. Authorities said the cases involved Internet depictions of victims as young as toddlers....The arrests were initiated by the state Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and federal prosecutors. http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=824011