Catching potential Internet sex predators

Chris Hansen Correspondent • Profile

The problem seems to be getting worse — and the profile of the suspected predators more frightening. Just this past summer, an editor for “Weekly Reader,” a newspaper for school children was arrested for using the Internet to solicit sex with a 14-year-old boy. He pleaded not guilty.

And this past spring, a New York City cop, a youth officer, was also caught attempting to meet a child online for sex. He pleaded guilty last month “to attempted use of a child in a sexual performance” and agreed to serve six months in prison.

Law enforcement officials estimate that 50,000 predators are online at any given moment. And the number of reports of children being solicited for sex is growing says Michele Collins of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

"One in five kids has been sexually solicited," she says. "In many cases the incidents were actually aggressive where the person on the other end of the computer is actually calling the child, sending things to their homes, or actually trying to meet them in person."

Her organization launched an ad campaign aimed at educating teens about this crime. "The message that really got home to the teenage girl was that if you’re in an online relationship, there’s a good chance you might be getting played," she adds.

Collins says young teens are often an easy target. "Teenagers have vulnerabilities, it just ups the ante when you bring it on to the World Wide Web and that many more people have access to knowing what’s going on in a child’s mind," she says.

Katie Tarbox is a perfect example... she recounts her story in the book “A Girl’s Life Online.”  Tarbox began an Internet relationship with a 23-year-old, an older man who convinced her he shared many of her interests.

"In my mind, I was  thinking, 'Oh my gosh, like this is my soul mate out there,'" she thought. "In actuality he was just learning my interests, probably researching them at the same time, to come back to say that he enjoyed those things too."

After months of chatting online, Katie finally agreed to a meeting at a hotel where she was competing in a swim meet.  The man turned out to be 41 years old and although they had never talked about sex, there was little doubt that’s what he had in mind.

"He leaned over, he kissed me. He groped me. He touched other parts of my body. I mean I was essentially molested," says Tarbox.

Since then, Katie, now 23, has become an advocate for Internet victims. She warns children to steer clear of Internet predators and says she has heard thousands of tragic stories from victims who did not.

"You could never put us in a room, I’m not even sure you could put us in a whole stadium," she says of the victims out there. "I think it’s very very widespread."

And even tough laws don’t seem to deter many of these predators.

Lt. Jake Jacoby of the Fairfax County Police Department says it’s a crime in Virginia for an adult to use the Internet to entice a child into having sex.  So merely by using the Internet to set up a sexual liaison with somebody who’s underage, that’s a felony.

Because so many children are at risk, and to demonstrate the disturbing reality of what goes on in some chat rooms, we enlisted the help of volunteers from a vigilante organization called Perverted-Justice. Volunteers of this controversial group are experts at pretending to be children online in order to catch and expose potential predators. And in most states soliciting a minor for sex is still a crime even if it turns out the minor is an adult.

While some in law enforcement strongly oppose any civilian group conducting sting operations, Perverted-Justice volunteers say they are often able to provide authorities — from local police to the FBI — evidence to build cases and get convictions.

Del, Perverted-Justice volunteer: At his point in taping we have 30 convictions.

Hansen: 30 convictions.

Del: I believe now 22 since the first of this year. So, we’re averaging well over two a month.

So how do Perverted-Justice operatives find potential sexual predators?  First they go into chat rooms, usually through AOL or Yahoo and set up a profile of a 12, 13 or 14-year-old... a profile that often includes a photo of a child obviously underage.

Then the decoys wait to be contacted by an adult. In order to avoid the appearance of entrapment, they never make the first contact.  But once an online chat begins the undercover operatives make it know they are open to the possibility of sex.  A few decoys even seem eager.

Hansen: How quickly do these conversations turn sexual?

Jacoby: Sometimes very quickly. As soon as the conversation is “Hi my name is, I’m 14 years or 13 years old and the gentlemen will then say “Look at this” and send you a picture or say something else. And that would be a crime right there.

While just setting up a liaison online for sex with a minor is illegal, a face-to-face meeting obviously poses a much greater danger. We wanted to know if most predators were all talk or would they really attempt to meet a child in person.

"Dateline" set up in an upscale home in a suburb of Washington, D.C.., and were ready and waiting for the knock on the door.

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