Town hall meeting addresses internet crimes against children

Dawn Westgate, executive director of Kimberly’s Center for Child Protection, right, leads a panel discussion with, from left, Victoria Clifton, Kimberly’s Center; Nicholas Sutliff and Chase King, Marion County Sheriff’s Office; and Austin Ridge and Crystal Blanton, Ocala Police Department. The panel was part of a town hall meeting Sept. 16 at the College of Central Florida Webber Center discussing internet crimes against children. [Photo by Andy Fillmore]

Law enforcement and child protective agency officials admonished parents and guardians to be proactive and “hands on” in monitoring their kids’ electronic devices during a town hall discussion about internet crimes against children on Monday night at the College of Central Florida Webber Center

“If you don’t know what your children are doing on the internet, someone else will,” said Ocala Police Department detective Crystal Blanton, a member of the six-person panel.

Although there may be a sense of security if the child is at home, by way of the internet, the child is open to “engage with anyone” on their devices, Blanton said.

Blanton said having electronic devices and internet access is a “privilege and not a right” for kids and they should not expect to keep them private from their guardians.

Kimberly’s Center for Child Protection, the Ocala Police Department and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office have formed the Marion County Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Team, with Kimberly’s Center providing education and training. The North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, based at the Gainesville Police Department, is comprised of local and state level law enforcement, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the FBI.

Dawn Westgate, executive director of Kimberly’s Center; Blanton and OPD detective Austin Ridge; MCSO detectives Chase King and Nicholas Sutliff; and Victoria Clifton, also with Kimberly’s Center, formed the panel at the meeting and spoke on the subject of ICAC and answered questions.

Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods opened the meeting. He spoke about a recent multi-agency sting that netted the arrests of 33 people for internet related crimes against children, including one man who admitted he tried to buy a child for sexual abuse. During the operation, a detective would pose as a child to lure predators for a meeting and subsequent arrest.

“The phone is evil and good. Parents have to pay attention,” Woods said.

According to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children data at missingkids.org, there were 36.2 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation to the cyber tipline in 2023. The number one activity suspected in the tips was child pornography. Additional activity included exploitation, enticement and cyber bullying.

In Marion County in 2023, there were 1,150 child exploitation tips, of which 399 were investigated, with 82 search warrants executed and 57 arrests made.

Officials said very young children have cellphones and they are curious. Dialogue can start with parents as early as age 6 about internet usage.

Grooming, or creating a “false sense of familiarity” and “sextortion” are two more methods used by predators, according to meeting information.

According to technology nonprofit thorn.org, “more than half of all identified child victims with CSAM (child sexual abuse material, or sexually explicit content involving a child … which can include photographs, videos) in circulation online are prepubescent or younger

“Sadly, the majority of CSAM is created by people with legitimate access to the child, like parents, uncles, neighbors, and family friends. Two in three victims are abused by someone known to them in their offline communities,” the website states.

King said the internet crimes workload is a “24-hour a day” job and with “double the number of detectives we have now, we would still be behind the eight ball” as he compared investigating internet crimes against children like the never-ending war on drugs.

King indicated a high percentage (perhaps 80%) of CSAM leads to a hands-on offense. He spoke about a “sextortion” where a perpetrator might obtain a photo of a minor and then ask for gift cards as payment to not post the material online.

“Take It Down,” a free service provided by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, can help with getting explicit photos of minors removed from the internet. Learn more at takeitdown.ncmec.org

Sutliff said perpetrators of ICAC are obsessed with committing the crimes and it is their “mindset.” He said the perpetrators “cross socio-economic lines” from the trailer park to mansions and are getting “more elusive and aggressive.” These crimes are a “community” issue, he said.

Sutliff suggested parents try setting a monthly or twice monthly “maintenance schedule” of their kids’ phone to review added apps or chat rooms.

Blanton explained that some apps are “built to keep people out,” that files can be hidden and that the perpetrator may walk the victim through how to hide CSAM materials from their parents in an app.

Officials said Bark and Qustodio are apps parents can review for use as protective controls.

Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force literature states that parents should be SMART:

• Setup devices using support at apple.com or support.google.com/android
• Monitor use
• Approve apps
• Restrict with content protections and parental controls
• Talk about the issues.

For more information, go to kimberlyscenter.org, missing kids.org, cybertipline.org and ojjdp.ojp.gov/programs/internet-crimes-against-children-task-force-program