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March 04, 2005
CHILD PREDATOR ARRESTS REACH 5,000; 431 IN BAY AREA
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency announced that arrests in an operation targeting those who prey on children have surpassed 5,000 in 20 months of the ongoing effort, with more than 400 arrests in Northern California.
"Operation Predator'' is an initiative aimed at those who prey on and exploit children, including human traffickers, international sex tourists, Internet pornographers, and foreign national predators who are deportable, according to the agency.
The agency reports that more than half of the 431 people arrested in Northern California were from the Bay Area.
In December, a Kuwaiti national charged in Antioch with allegedly molesting his 6-year-old and 20-month-old stepdaughters in 2001 was taken into custody by ICE agents and is being held without bond while in immigration removal proceedings, according to the agency.
In November, San Francisco property manager Walter Schirra, 54, was arrested as he was about to board a flight to Thailand to allegedly have sex with underage boys. A search of his luggage revealed photos of shirtless Asian boys, large amounts of candy, prescription drugs and aids designed to enhance sexual pleasure, the agency reports.
Schirra was the first person in the Bay Area to be charged under the PROTECT Act, which strengthened U.S. laws against child sex tourism by modifying the burden of proof requirements to bring charges. He was charged in January and is expected to go to trial March 23.
Michael Garcia, homeland security assistant secretary for ICE, said no sexual predators will go unpunished.
"Whether the criminal is a U.S. citizen who thinks they can travel overseas to molest children or a pornographer who trades in images of child sexual abuse, or a foreign national who has lost the privilege to remain in the U.S. because of a crime against a child, ICE will identify, arrest, and, where possible, remove them,'' Garcia said in a prepared statement.
Posted by Nealus at March 4, 2005 12:12 PM
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