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CNN Live Today

How Investigators Bust Online Kiddie Porn

Aired March 22, 2002 - 11:20   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI expects to have at least 50 more people in custody by this weekend in a child pornography investigation dubbed "Operation Candyman." So far, charges have already been filed against more than 90 people in 26 states.

CNN's Jonathan Aiken shows us how investigators infiltrate chat rooms in search of people who prey on children.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN AIKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): (UNINTELLIGIBLE) called Candyman, which have drawn the attention of the FBI, are nothing new to Dennis Guzzy. A former Philadelphia sex crimes cop, he now trolls the Web for an anti-pedophile task force run by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office. His focus: child molesters who collect child porn and look for children in order to have sex.

Guzzy begins his cybersleuthing by posting messages where he seeks like-minded people who want to enjoy "family fun," a euphemism for incest. He usually doesn't have to wait long for a reply.

DENNIS GUZZY, CYBERCRIME INVESTIGATOR: They kind of are very quick to say what they want to do with these children. Some investigations may take as long as several weeks. Some we've done in two days.

AIKEN: This man said he couldn't wait to see his imaginary daughters in cheerleading uniforms. Another said he understood the need to be gentle with the girls.

Child porn which was exclusively backdoor trade in magazines and pulp fiction has exploded in cyberspace. One chat room alone had over 11,000 messages, offering pictures and videos.

GUIDO RUDOLPHI, INTERNET INVESTIGATOR: Two years ago, for example, it was pretty hard to find children pornography site in the Internet. Right now, you put in some search terms in the search machine and you find thousands of pages.

AIKEN: In fact, international cyberslueths will tell you some of the most popular Web sites are based in Russia, Eastern Europe, and even one doing business in Afghanistan.

Technology has changed the market for kiddie porn. This CD-ROM, seized as evidence, contains over 20,000 and sells for about $25,000.

What hasn't changed, authorities say, is the corollary that those who collect pornography involving children are also more likely to be those who molest them.

RAYMOND SMITH, U.S. POSTAL INVESTIGATOR: Since 1997, we've been trying to show the direct correlation between those who traffic in child pornography and those who actually molest kids: 35 percent of the individuals that we arrest for trafficking in child pornography are, in fact, child molesters.

AIKEN: Police have new tools to help find stashes of kiddie porn, no matter where they are. This software tracks the location of Web sites or the area where an Internet server is housed. It even matches the general location with libraries of preexisting satellite imagery of the neighborhood.

(on camera): With changes in technology come changes in the law. Starting next month, Pennsylvania becomes the first state in the nation to require Internet service providers operating within its borders to shut down Web sites and chat rooms if they contain material the state attorney general deems to be pornographic.

Jonathan Aiken, for CNN, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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