Cyber Crimes Task Force uses technology to catch predators

BENTON, Mo. -- Pedophilia was around long before computers were invented.

But "the Internet is what brought it to the forefront," said Det. Scott Phelps, investigations coordinator for the Southeast Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

Before there were online chat rooms, predators had to physically approach children, often in public places, to lure them away from safety. Before digital images could be sent through email or downloaded from websites, child pornography collectors exchanged paper photographs and film reels.

And while technology has made things more convenient for the bad guys, the good guys are using the same technology to snare offenders and lock them up.

"I just can't say enough good things about these guys," Scott County Sheriff Rick Walter said about Phelps and the other full-time investigator on the Task Force stationed at the Poplar Bluff Police Department, Det. Greg Brainard, forensic examiner.

Walter said "it amazes" suspects when they are confronted with evidence and a search warrant.

"I think a lot of people feel like they are behind this computer screen and nobody sees what they're doing," he said. "I think they feel like they are relatively safe in their own bedroom watching this stuff when they don't know we're tracking them down."

The Scott County Sheriff's Department has two officers trained to participate in cyber crime investigations: Lt. Jerry Bledsoe and Deputy Laurie Caid. Funding from the Internet Cyber Crime Grant Program, administered through the Missouri Department of Public Safety and the Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Grant Program, has also enabled Scott County to train Bledsoe in computer forensics so the department no longer has to send computers seized as evidence off to other agencies and wait for results.

Law enforcement departments participating in the Southeast Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force designate contact officers or, like Scott County, have officers assigned to cyber crimes in addition to other duties, but Phelps and Brainard remain the only two full-time cyber crime investigators so far.

"We'd like for it to expand," Phelps said, "so more departments have the ability to contribute. This task force has been in existence for about four and a half years. The problem is getting worse, it's not getting better."

Phelps said the Task Force will, if asked, assist smaller law enforcement departments with fraud related to technology and other cyber crimes. but most Task Force efforts are related to protecting children from predators.

"I devote 100 percent of my time to 'ICAC' -- Internet crimes against children," he said. "We concentrate a large majority of our efforts to this."

Phelps said it is important not to divulge his specific investigation techniques.

"You don't want the bad guys knowing what you are doing," he said. "Currently we are conducting undercover investigations on several suspects in this region."

Phelps said he can usually find someone attempting to entice children within 20 minutes of investigation on the Internet, however.

"It's not hard to find these guys looking for underage girls online," he said. "The Internet has made it get completely out of hand."

Child pornography investigations in the Task Force's 14-county area so far have been into those possessing and distributing child porn.

"They trade with other collectors," Phelps said. "That's not to say we won't on our next search warrant find someone who is actually producing child pornography."

Walter said even if no producers of child pornography are located here, child pornography is far from being a victimless crime.

"It's exploiting children -- those are the real victims," Walter said. By collecting and viewing child pornography, "they're encouraging that and children are suffering over this. So we're going to do our part to stop it."

Phelps said any parent with concerns over an incident their child has on the Internet should contact their local law enforcement agency.

"We'll assist in any way we can," he said.