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September 29, 2005
Internet boosts Delaware child porn cases
Arrests for child pornography possession have been on the rise in Delaware since 1994, largely fueled by the growth of the Internet -- which has facilitated transmittal of pornography -- and public outrage at the crime, experts said.
Delaware police charged 14 people with possession of child pornography in 2004, compared with just one person in 1994, state data show. Also, offenders now face an average of nine charges each, compared with just one or two in the mid-1990s.
Through its Innocent Images enforcement effort, the FBI investigated 2,370 child pornography cases nationwide in 2002, up from 113 cases in 1996.
In the most recent Delaware incident, New Castle County Police on Tuesday charged an Ogletown man with 20 counts of possessing child pornography.
Police said more charges could follow, as the investigation continues and authorities spend the next several weeks viewing about 3,000 videos and photographs seized from James A. Burgoon's apartment.
"We have tons of images that need to be developed," police spokesman Cpl. Trinidad Navarro said.
Burgoon did not have a computer in his apartment, police said. But Lt. Robert Moses, who leads the Delaware State Police high-technology crimes unit, said the Internet has made it easier for people to find and collect child pornography. They can connect with people anywhere in the world who share their sexual interest in children, he said.
Web aids police
The Internet has made it easier for police to catch people who traffic in child pornography, too, Moses said. Internet service providers are required by law to notify police when they see child pornography, and police can intercept the images electronically, he said.
"Before the Internet, these people dealt with underground magazines and newspapers," Moses said. "It's a lot more accessible now and easier to find people who are doing it."
That same accessibility has prompted many tips from average citizens who stumble onto pornography on the Internet or in e-mail, Moses said.
Burgoon has not been charged with sexually abusing a child, and police said they have no evidence that he had physical contact with children. According to court documents, Burgoon told police he used pictures of children to obtain a mental image that would give him sexual gratification.
Generally speaking, though, experts say people who collect and view child pornography often act out their sexual fantasies with children.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which investigates child pornography sent through the mail, found that about a third of the people charged with possession of child pornography between 1997 and 2004 also were child molesters.
The figures are similar in Delaware. Between 1994 and 2004, police charged 71 people with child pornography possession, according to data from the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System, a state agency that tracks criminal charges from arrest through prosecution and punishment.
Twenty-one of those people, or 30 percent, also were charged with second-degree unlawful sexual contact, which involves victims younger than 16.
According to the American Prosecutors Research Institute, a nationwide nonprofit organization, pedophiles often use child pornography to make sex between adults and children appear normal and fun. Also, they use the images to suggest ideas to their young victims, the institute found.
Pedophile or child molester?
John Humphrey, a former police child abuse investigator who now runs the nonprofit Children's Advocacy Center of Delaware, and other experts often make a distinction between a child molester and a pedophile. Molesters, they said, might use a child for sexual gratification because of convenience, even though they normally are attracted to adults.
"The pedophile doesn't want the mature, sexy woman," Humphrey said. "That doesn't turn him on. The only thing that presses his buttons is that child."
Humphrey said he and his staff help train police cadets on the topic of child sex abuse. He said he long ago gave up trying to understand a pedophile's mind.
"You'll never understand them," Humphrey said he tells cadets. "Just accept that they're out there."
Moses said the growth of child pornography has stretched police resources. There are only seven investigators in Delaware who are trained to deal with computer-based crimes, which includes financial crimes and other offenses.
Delaware is one of 10 states that does not have a federally funded Internet Crimes Against Children task force, which provides extra money and resources to deal with the problem. Delaware officials have lobbied Congress to establish a task force here but have not been successful, Moses said.
Posted by Nealus at September 29, 2005 06:16 PM
