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Nancy Grace

Children Lured Into Online Porn

Aired April 04, 2006 - 20:00   ET

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

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Tonight, an insidious plague infecting our homes one by one by one. Parents across the country may have no idea what`s happening just a few feet away, literally right under their noses, until now. A then-13-year-old little boy takes his story to Congress -- that`s right, Washington, D.C. -- a story of how he and thousands of other children just like him are innocently lured into the child porn business online. We can put a man on a moon, but we can`t stop this? No!
And tonight, a Vermont teen goes mysteriously missing. Do we have a break in the case of 17-year-old Brianna Maitland?

Good evening, everybody. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us tonight. Tonight, is there a break in the case of a missing Vermont teen, Brianna Maitland? She vanished about two years ago. Has this girl been spotted on a high-stakes casino video? We have the surveillance video tonight to take a look.

But first tonight, literally the boy next door, an honor student, the class president, he goes on line and ends up trapped in a world of pedophiles, this boy totally exploited by child predators, and it all started right in his own home.

Tonight, his stunning story and how danger thrives on the World Wide Web. Tonight, we are taking your calls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTIN BERRY: For five years, beginning when I was 13 years old, I operated a pornographic Web site. I was paid by more than a thousand men to strip naked, (DELETED) and even have sex with female prostitutes while on camera. My mom had used all the latest child protective software, but she was no match for the child predators.

One of these men approached me on line with a proposal. He would pay me $50 if I took off my shirt for a few minutes. Each request only went a bit further than the last. They wanted me to take off my pants, remove my underwear and eventually (DELETED) on camera. As more clothes came off, more people contacted me. The compliments were endless, the gifts, the payments terrific.

Efforts to prosecute these people are riddled with mistakes and bureaucracy. Unless something changes, hundreds or even thousands of children will be lost forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Let`s go straight out to Kelli Arena, CNN justice correspondent, joining us from Washington, D.C. Kelli, amazing to me this is such an intense plague across our country. Many people don`t even know about it. What exactly is Congress going to do about it? But Kelli, is this just another dog and pony show?

KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, there have been a lot of bills trying to protect the nation`s children, some that were introduced late last year that still haven`t passed. What this committee -- it was the House Committee on Energy and Commerce -- is trying to do is just basically educate congressmen to what is going on. And many of the experts that we spoke to said that even they were shocked to hear that this is happening, that this is one of those trends that they sort of got caught by -- got caught by surprise.

GRACE: You know, it`s incredible. And this is going on in this kid`s own home, his mom...

ARENA: That`s right.

GRACE: ... just down the hallway. Take a listen to this then-13- year-old boy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERRY: I was an honor student, and I was class president. My mom had used all the latest child protective software. She checked what was happening in my room. She occasionally took away my computer keyboard. But she was no match for the child predators, who worked hard to make sure my child porn shows continued.

For five years, beginning when I was 13 years old, I operated a pornographic Web site featuring images of myself loaded on the Internet by webcams. I was paid by more than a thousand men to strip naked, (DELETED) and even have sex with female prostitutes while on camera. My business was assisted by adult criminals, including companies that processed credit card payments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: I`m just thinking about it, age 13, Pat Lalama, investigative reporter. What is that, the 6th grade, a 6th grade boy? How did this happen?

PAT LALAMA, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: You know what, Nancy? This does not surprise me, and every law enforcements person I have ever dealt with when it comes to child predators has told me to tell parents to get the computer out of the bedroom. It can be a lethal weapon emotionally and physically.

GRACE: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. We`re showing shots of this boy. We wouldn`t normally use his name or photo...

LALAMA: Right. Right.

GRACE: ... but he has been on the front of "The New York Times."

LALAMA: Yes.

GRACE: He testified in front of Congress. And take a look at this, Kelly Arena and Pat Lalama. This is him as a little kid. And he -- what I understand that he did, Pat, is start a little Web site of his own, like...

LALAMA: Yes.

GRACE: ... Justin`s world, Hey, guys I`m having oatmeal. Hey, guys, I`m leaving for school now. I hate history. The same day he started this, you know, innocent weblog of his, he started getting hit on by predators, right, Pat?

LALAMA: Nancy, it happened immediately. Here`s a kid who comes from a dysfunctional family. He claims that he sets up the webcam because he wants to meet some kids his age, and as you say, talk about how you hate history. What happens? No one his age responds. Lots of adults respond immediately.

Then he figures out over time, he can make money from playing in their little game of, Oh, take off your shirt, 50 bucks, take off this, 100 bucks. Then it turns into -- this young man becomes an entrepreneur, and then some of the predators are actually involved with him. Ultimately, his own father gets into business with him, Nancy.

GRACE: But you know -- wait. Before we drag the father in, who started making money off his own son in Mexico, he -- you know, when his data was seized, to Kelly Arena, there were about 1,500 adult men subscribing to -- what`s the name of it, Ellie...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, that was one of them...

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He had several, Nancy.

GRACE: So Kelly, 1,500 adult men. Are they going to be prosecuted?

ARENA: Well, the problem with that is that some of the names were partial names. Some of the ISPs, Internet service providers, don`t save information past 30 days. So it is -- it is difficult sometimes to track this in the way that law enforcement would like to.

GRACE: OK. OK. I`ve got a question about that. To Harold Copus, private investigator. How about these men, these adult men -- you`ve got a 13-year-old boy victim -- that were buying him items instead of money. Some of them would buy him stuff on Amazon.com. They would use Paypal. You want to tell me those credit card records cannot be searched, Harold?

HAROLD COPUS, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Oh, they certainly can be searched, and they should have been searched. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I suspect we`re going to see a lot more of it now.

GRACE: Fifteen hundred men, as of the time the documents were seized. Take a listen to this boy. And listen, his mom was not some low-life. His mom was -- she was a counselor, a therapist, two children, a working mom in a beautiful neighborhood, a suburban area. This kid was on honor roll. Take a listen to this kid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERRY: My experience is not as isolated as you may hope. This is not the sister of a few bad kids whose parents paid no attention. There are hundreds of kids in the United States alone who are right now wrapped up in this horror. Within each of your congressional districts, I guarantee there are children who have used their webcams to appear naked on line. And I guarantee you there are also children in your district on the Internet right now being contacted and seduced by on-line sexual predators.

In my personal opinion, the law enforcement effort is no match for them, either. Until recently, I never understood why these child predators always laughed about the government. Now I know the child predators are at least partially right. They have little to fear from law enforcements. Based on my case, efforts to prosecute these people are riddled with mistakes and bureaucracy. Unless something changes, hundreds or even thousands of children will be lost forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: To Wendy Murphy, former federal prosecutor. You know what hurts? You know what really hurts? They`re right. So far, the government still has not indicted these clients. There`s only one person that`s gone to jail, that has pled guilty as a result of this. The father who made money off his own kid is still living the high life in Mexico. So the child pornographers are right. The government is sitting on its thumb!

WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Nancy, of course, it`s easy to prosecute. You make such a good point. In a case like this, where the child himself is willing to come forward and say, I was 13 at the time and it was me on the cam, and here`s the computer information you need to figure out exactly who was looking at me, that`s really a very solid case.

The toughest part in cases like this is usually figuring out how old the child is because sometimes they look close to the age of maturity, and that can be a problem. And sometimes it is hard because you don`t know where the victim is, and you sometimes need their testimony.

I don`t buy it, I don`t think it`s a lack of resources. The feds have the money to prosecute, and I think they owe Congress an explanation why aren`t they going after all these people.

But I am pleased -- I got to tell you, it seems a little weird that this is testimony is in front of the Commerce Committee, but you know what`s good about that? The Commerce Committee, if they gather enough really strong data about how this is a $20 billion -- with a "B" -- industry, far more lucrative than any other on-line industry, then maybe we can show that the impact on interstate commerce is such that Congress can regulate and fight this crime better.

GRACE: Roll it, Liz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERRY: I obtain a webcam at 13 after signing up for an account with Earthlink.net. The company, as a promotion, sent me a free Logitech webcam. As a child drawn to computers, I was enthralled. I plugged the device into my computer and then followed the instructions on the software. Within minutes, my webcam image was loaded onto a Web site called Spotlife.com (ph).

They were kind. They complimented me. They wanted to know about my day, and they were endlessly patient in listening to me. And they were generous. In no time, one of these men told me he wanted to send me a gift. He showed me how to set up a wish list on Amazon.com which allowed anyone who knew my code name to send me a present without requiring me to disclose my address. Soon I was swamped with videos, CDs and computer equipment, including better webcams, all free from my new friends.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Clark Goldband, I don`t understand how a parent can`t know what`s going on in a kid`s room right down the hall. Now, we know about the Columbine shooters. Remember them? They were cooking up bombs and they had firearms, bullets, ammo, right there in the garage, right there in their bedroom. The parents never knew a thing. And this had been going on for well over a year. How does this work?

CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE INTERNET REPORTER: Well, I think the problem is, Nancy, when you say a webcam, everyone thinks it`s this big, sophisticated equipment you have to buy. We purchased one this afternoon at Comp USA for $29, right here. It`s a little plastic camera. And this is all it takes, Nancy. Look at this, one cord, plug it into the side of your computer.

Now, why is this so scary? One in five kids sexually solicited on line. These are young kids between the age of 8 and 16. The average first porn experience is at the age of 11. Over 90 percent of kids between age 8 and 16, they`ve seen porn. Not only have they seen porn, it`s while they were doing homework.

So this is very, very -- now, I just want to say something, Nancy, we heard about a moment ago, the size of this global porn industry, $57 billion. When we say $57 billion, we don`t know what that is, $57 billion. Think of it as this. If you take Toys `R Us and Mars company -- they make Snickers and M&Ms and Milky Way -- add them together, it`s half that amount of on-line porn. ABC, NBC, CBS combined, $6 billion. That`s one tenth of the on-line porn industry. And lastly, you take the gross domestic product of Jamaica, Bermuda, Aruba, Jordan and Bahrain, that`s a little short of the GDP of the porn business.

GRACE: $57 billion, the porn business is making off kids like this one, then 13 years old. And you know what? To Pat Lalama. It didn`t end on line. What happened when he hooked up with some of these child predators?

LALAMA: Well, then things got really heated up, so to speak, both financially and in terms of his own victimization. One of the persons, he convinced to buy him -- or at least to help him lease an apartment just down the street from where he lived with his mother, so that he could continue. He set up a business with a certain person, who allegedly -- well, now we know because we know he`s in trouble, this Mr. Mitchell (ph) - - set up a business with him. And it went further. He then wanted to go down to Mexico to visit his father.

GRACE: Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

LALAMA: You don`t want me to go that far. OK.

GRACE: Pat -- Pat, wait. No, wait. I think you left something out. After he was on line, didn`t a kid in his school...

LALAMA: Oh, yes

GRACE: ... find him on line?

LALAMA: Yes. Yes.

GRACE: Tell everybody. Then all the other students started beating him up.

LALAMA: Yes, then...

GRACE: Then he tells his mom, I hate it here. He doesn`t tell his mom why. I hate it here. I want to live with Dad in Mexico.

LALAMA: Right. And see -- you know, you`re absolutely right. That`s a very critical part of this because then the whole fantasy of this money- making business this young man was lured into becomes reality. He`s becoming the butt of jokes. He`s got fewer friends. He`s really in trouble. He`s feeling the threat, and he wants to go to Mexico.

GRACE: Quick break. We`ll all be right back. These congressional hearings going down in Washington. Will our Congress act?

Very quickly, let`s go to tonight`s "Trial Tracker" -- "Case Alert." Two hundred and fifty students at North Carolina Central University rally in support of a classmate claiming gang rape by Duke University lacrosse players. The prosecutor says lacrosse team members will get their DNA test results back next week. Will those results be used at trial? The allegations still under investigation, charges yet to be filed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: A 13-year-old kid, an honor student. Was he class president, Ellie?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

GRACE: Class president, the works. Lived with his mom in a suburban area, really nice home, the mom actually a child counselor, ends up caught in a world of pedophiles on line. And it didn`t end there. He`s in Congress telling his story. Now, my question is, what are they going to do about it?

To Maureen Flatley, child advocate. Maureen, what is your take on this? What can be done?

MAUREEN FLATLEY, CHILD ADVOCATE: Well, I think it`s long past time for Congress to get involved in this issue. If we can have...

GRACE: Tell me something I don`t know, all right? Surprise me. Of course they should be involved, but how can we make them?

FLATLEY: Well, I mean, if we can censor political content in China, we can do something about this. But the bottom line is that allowing kinds to have unfettered Internet access is like letting them get in cars with strangers.

GRACE: Do you think most parents are aware of what is going on?

FLATLEY: Absolutely not.

GRACE: Absolutely not! To Andy Kahane, director of the Mayor`s Crime Victims` Office in Texas. What can parents do, Andy? And what is your take on this? Why haven`t these men been arrested yet?

ANDY KAHANE, DIR., VICTIMS` CRIME OFFICE, MAYOR OF HOUSTON: Well, first of all, there`s numerous red flags that go out there. This case again calls attention to parents not allowing unsupervised access to the computers in a child`s room. Bring that computer into a central room. And second of all, webcams -- they serve absolutely no purpose for children. I would actually look at initiating a law no allowing the sale of webcams for anyone the under age of 18. And Nancy, we don`t allow them to buy alcohol, right?

GRACE: Right.

KAHANE: What good is a webcam for a teenager? It serves absolutely no purpose. They don`t need it. Number three, we`ve got to realize that we are in a national public safety health crisis. This is an epidemic in this country, when one out of every three young girls is sexually assaulted, one out of every five young boys are sexually assaulted. We have a national drug czar. We need a national sex offender czar.

GRACE: To Clark Goldband, hand me that eyeball thing you`ve got in your hand right there.

GOLDBAND: Sure.

GRACE: This is the webcam this kid could get for 29 bucks, $29. It`s not hard. You plug this in -- even I can figure -- I`m totally computer not savvy. Even I could plug this thing in, and immediately, this eye allow me to have my own, I guess, web journal, where people can look and go, Hi, this is my bedroom. See me having cereal for breakfast. Now I`m getting dressed for school. Bye-bye. See you at 3:00 o`clock!

Take a listen to what this kid, an honor student, had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERRY: Like many young teenagers, I hoped my webcam would improve my social life. I didn`t have a lot of friends, and I was very lonely. I hoped the webcam would help me meet other teenagers on line, and hopefully, a few girls my age. That never happened. No teenager outside of the webcam pornography business ever contacted me, but I did hear from many child predators. Within minutes of appearing on Spotlife, I received an instant message from an adult male. This man I now know was a child predator. I did not understand at that time. More child predators followed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Hey, Liz, when you can, would you show a picture of this guy when he was a kid, 13? How many adult male sex partners did he end up having as a young child?

Let`s go to the lines. Christine in Tennessee. Welcome, Christine.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, Nancy. My question is that, other than involvement at the federal or state level via regulation, would that just create more bureaucratic red tape? And on that point, what would be some legitimate alternatives that would not include the government to help police the Internet and help fight this problem?

GRACE: That`s a good one. If you want to go at the state level, you could go with charges like enticing a child, contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Certain types of child molestation don`t involve physical contact. What about it, Pat Lalama?

LALAMA: Well, you know, I`m going to tell you there`s another thing you can do within the communities. Your caller is absolutely right. Bureaucracy will just get things all messed up. It`ll take forever to indict anybody. Monitor your kids. Have a group computer hour, where kids from the community can all come together, use their computers and go home. Watch what they`re doing. It starts in the home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERRY: I had formalized my webcam business. I had opened a site called Justinscam.com, where child predators could come and watch and offer me money and gifts to do what they wanted.

After my first molestation, I began to act out sexually. I was reckless. Part of me wanted to die. And every day on camera, part of me did.

As more clothes came off, more people contacted me. The compliments were endless, the gifts and payments terrific. I thought I had achieved on line what eluded me in real life, I was popular. Everyone wanted to know my thoughts. Everyone wanted to give me things. I was the king of my own universe. All I had to do in exchange was strip and (DELETED) while alone in my room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: While his mom was right down the hall watching Lifetime, no idea what was going on.

Let`s go to Roy in Florida. Hi, Roy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, Nancy. Love your show.

GRACE: Thank you, dear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My question is, is how could he -- how could he still be a victim after he profited from it?

GRACE: He was a kid.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was a kid and I knew what a sexual predator was.

GRACE: You know, that`s a very good question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he was an honor student. I wasn`t an honor student.

GRACE: Let`s go to Michael Mazzariello on that. Under the law, a child cannot consent to enter into any kind of contract. You can`t sell a kid a car. Or if you do, he can wreck it and you`re out. I mean, explain.

MICHAEL MAZZARIELLO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That`s absolutely correct. He wasn`t of the age of consent. He was being taken advantage of. And as a child, Nancy, if someone`s giving you gifts and money and you have friends and you want the attention and you need it, you`re going where people are giving you that. Absolutely.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One in five children report being sexually solicited over the Internet.

BERRY: He would pay me $50 if I took off my shirt for a few minutes while sitting in front of my Web cam.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Only 25 percent of those children that are sexually solicited online tell their parents.

BERRY: My mom had used all the latest child protective software. She was no match for the child predators, who worked hard to make sure my child porn shows continued.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The commercial enterprise of online child pornography is estimated in 2005 to be approximately $20 million; it is an industry on the rise.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: You think this kid is any different from the kid down the street, the kid next door, maybe the kid down the hall? This little boy, 13 years old, Justin Berry, was an honor student. The whole time he was in school.

He lived with his mom, a divorced mom. She had a college degree. She was actually a therapist, herself, for children, a lovely neighborhood. No problems at school.

And this kid, while doing his homework, was exposed to pornography. He ended up ultimately having his own little Web site. The moment he started it, about his daily experiences, going to school, being on honor roll, playing sports, a child predator was one of his first hits. He is now telling his story to Congress.

I want to go to former federal prosecutor Wendy Murphy. Wendy, you know, what about Roy in Florida`s question? I wonder if anybody in Congress thinks that way.

MURPHY: Yes. You know, look, the bottom line here is, Nancy: This is a money question, first and foremost. It`s a profit question. It`s not about how good or bad parents are. It`s not about getting rid of all the Web cams. It`s about getting at the profit.

If we prosecute more people, we take more people away from the industry, that`s good for kids, because it`s bad for profit. If we, for example, develop technology so that whoever clicks on child pornography gets an automatic virus in their computer, that`s expensive, prosecutors can do it, Congress can regulate that kind of activity.

Because, you know, there`s a big difference between child pornography and adult pornography. Adult pornography is actually legal. Child porn, which is half the pornography business, is always illegal. We can develop technology to target everybody who uses this stuff.

And I tell you my favorite idea: Let`s try shame for a change. How about just plain, old, simple shame? We`ve got the deadbeat dads list out there. We all see who those bums are all the time, right? How about, you know, let`s call them the pervert citizens, put them up on billboards all over the place?

Prosecuted or not, let`s put up the doctors, and the lawyers, and all the professional nice guys who contacted this kid, let`s put their faces up there, because if they`re traveling on public space, which is what the Internet is, then we can find out who they are and shame them into stopping this ridiculous behavior.

I think those are really simple things, and Congress can certainly help get that to happen.

GRACE: To defense attorney Juliane Balliro, what is the defense to just what Wendy Murphy said, exposing these people for what they really are, predators? I guess you`ve got some constitutional argument why one of them can`t be on a billboard?

JULIANE BALLIRO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, the defense is the Constitution, Nancy. You can`t make a dent in this by making a dent in the profits. The profits are simply too huge. Law enforcement has to stay one step ahead of the criminals. They have to understand where the industry is going and understand how they`re going to get into it so that they can make a dent in it that way.

GRACE: But my question is: Why not expose these predators for what they are? If we expose deadbeat dads -- prosecutions and convictions are public record -- why can`t we see their faces in the newspapers, see them on billboards? Why can`t we?

BALLIRO: Prosecutions are public, and you can. Once a conviction is established, you can do that, but you`re only going to get convictions in a very, very small number of cases. And those that are out there, the sexual predators out there are not going to be impressed by the few faces that show up on a television screen.

GRACE: You know what? It`s interesting, Wendy Murphy. This kid told Congress the predators actually laugh at the government`s prosecution -- Wendy?

MURPHY: Isn`t that nice to hear, that we actually have the bad guys laughing at how bad...

GRACE: Laughing. Laughing.

MURPHY: ... how bad -- and you know what? And this is the thing. It is not unconstitutional to shame someone; it`s actually unconstitutional...

GRACE: Absolutely not.

MURPHY: ... to lock them up without due process. Shame is not unconstitutional.

GRACE: Maureen?

MURPHY: Nothing wrong with it.

GRACE: Maureen Flatley, response?

FLATLEY: I couldn`t agree with Wendy more; she`s absolutely right. There is no expectation of privacy on the Internet. These guys need to know we`re coming to get them, their pictures, their faces are going to be out there. Shame works.

GRACE: Now, here is what this kid, Justin Berry, had to say to Congress. I hope they were listening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERRY: One man, Ken Gourlay, approached me online to discuss my interest in computers. He operated his own Web hosting company called Chain Communications. I was awed. Here was someone running a real Internet business talking to me, a 13-year-old kid, and treating me as an equal.

And in the months that followed, Ken raised the possibility of hiring me at Chain as an executive director of sales and marketing. It seemed like a dream come true.

As I was working for him, Ken recommended that I attend an elite computer camp at the University of Michigan, where I could obtain advanced certifications. My mother agreed to send me there that summer while I was still 13.

At that time, I thought it was just luck that Ken and Chain were both based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I now know that I had been sent up. Ken picked me up at camp one day to show me Chain. He took me to his home. There, I was sexually molested by Ken for what would prove to be the first of many times by him and other adult men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: This kid was 13 years old when he was first hit on by child predators online.

I want to go to J. Buzz Ornsteiner, forensic clinical psychologist. How does a seemingly star kid get sucked into this? And he was in it for years.

J. BUZZ ORNSTEINER, FORENSIC CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST: You know, it`s an interesting question. How do you raise someone`s low self-value when they don`t feel they have that in their society? And although there seems like there a lot of good things happening in this child`s life, he really didn`t have a sense of love or belonging in his life.

And so many adolescents don`t have a sense, many times, of freedom, and choice, and power, and control over their lives. And unfortunately, the Internet is a very seductive tool, and that can really pull on any adolescent.

And all of a sudden, very quickly, all of a sudden they`re getting praise, recognition. They`re getting objects that they want from strangers. It`s very fantasy-based, and it`s very addictive. I just think there`s way too many guys right now out on the Internet spending way too much time. Too much isolation. Too much isolation never does anyone any good.

GRACE: Let`s go to Elaine in Florida. Hi, Elaine.

CALLER: Nancy, I love so much.

GRACE: Thank you, dear.

CALLER: This is an honor for me. What I`d like to know -- it so angers me -- can any of these parents ever be prosecuted for any negligence, at the very least? They`ve got a computer with online in another room and they`re never looking over their shoulder?

GRACE: Wendy?

MURPHY: ... something along the lines of negligence might apply, in a certain case. But let`s talk about prosecuting the father who was selling his kid like a loaf of bread, trying to gain profit off his own son`s abuse, and rape, and exploitation.

Everybody wants to yell about the mother because she wasn`t looking at the kid 24/7. What about the guy who`s still out there having a grand, old time, having made a profit off his son`s back?

GRACE: And this occurred in Mexico.

Michael Mazzariello, we have an extradition treaty with Mexico. No one is seeking the death penalty against the father. I don`t understand why the feds are dragging their feet. What charges could be leveled against the dad?

MAZZARIELLO: The dad, for helping conspire to get this Web site up and running, and making money, and having child pornography. It`s illegal to obtain it.

Nancy, what I don`t like and what I`m not hearing tonight is the FBI does have the resources to do that. 911 occurred. They have to triage. They could definitely could set up sting operations in major jurisdictions -- Wendy Murphy knows this -- track ISP numbers, track them down.

It`s impossible to defend, Nancy. It`s impossible. You do the breakdown of the forensics of the computer. As a defense attorney, you sit there and say, "What`s the plea offer? How could I minimize jail time?" Because it`s just too easy to prosecute, Nancy.

GRACE: What about it, Pat Lalama? What can be done with the dad?

LALAMA: Well, first, let me tell you that it is my understanding that the father, through an attorney, has indicated to authorities that he would be willing to turn himself in under certain conditions. Let`s hope that that happens.

There are crimes for which this man could be prosecuted. It`s just a matter of government getting off its big, fat butt and doing something with this guy and make an example of him.

GRACE: Is that a technical legal term, getting off your big, fat butt?

LALAMA: I just made it one.

GRACE: I like it.

LALAMA: But, listen, Nancy, I got to tell you something really important. OK, here is the deal: A child predator once said to me, "Our urge to stop molesting children will stop when we`re dead." So you can talk all you want about the profit matters here. It won`t matter; they will find a way.

Another predator said to me once, "I look for the lonely child with the rounded shoulders." So no matter how good we think we are as parents, if we`re not talking to our kids and finding out what their inner demons are, then they are going to be pure prey for these kinds of people. I`m just asking parents to pay attention to that.

GRACE: To Cindy in Kentucky. Hi, Cindy.

CALLER: Nancy, how are you?

GRACE: Good, dear.

CALLER: Good. I`ve kind of been listening, so I now know that his dad was kind of involved in this.

GRACE: But only after several years, Cindy. He was at home with his mom, who was a working mom, had a beautiful home for this kid, was a therapist herself. It was only after he got beat up at school that he went to Mexico, and then his dad started making a profit off his online activities.

CALLER: Well, my question was, before this, I was wondering how he received the gifts and money?

GRACE: You know, that`s a really good question.

To Buzz Ornsteiner, don`t you think a parent -- if I came home with a new leather jacket or an iPod, my parent would want to know where it came from?

ORNSTEINER: No, and that`s a good question to have. The sad thing about all of this is his father, of course, encouraged all of this.

And, you know, having a father as a sociopath and then encouraging his own son to engage in prostitution, well, gosh, you know, how can you turn out well with a parent like that?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This photograph isn`t very clear, but it may be the first glimpse her family has had of Brianna Maitland in nearly two years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It`s certainly bringing some hope to them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brianna Maitland was last seen in Montgomery on March 19, 2004. Her car was found the next day, crashed at an abandoned farm. A man who had seen these posters told police he thought he saw Maitland at a casino in Atlantic City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Where is Brianna Maitland. Joining us tonight is her father. This 17-year-old girl went missing, her car found. No clue as to where she is. Has she turned up at a high-stakes casino video?

Pat Lalama, what`s the story?

LALAMA: All right, well, here`s the deal. All of a sudden, there`s the video from, I believe, Caesar`s in Atlantic City. It was a person from Vermont who was from her neighborhood who looked at her at a table playing cards, smoking cigarettes, with a balding, elderly man and thought, "Hmm, that could be that missing young lady."

So instead of telling authorities right then, he goes back home and then calls authorities. They get the tape. They`re looking at it now. The parents have seen it. They do say that there are certain mannerisms that seem like their daughter`s, but it`s just not clear -- the face is not clear enough for them to determine that it is, in fact, Brianna, who disappeared two years ago.

After work -- she was a dishwasher at a restaurant -- her car was found the next day backed in and rammed into an abandoned home. She hasn`t been seen since. There were two paychecks in her car; no one has a clue.

GRACE: Joining me here tonight is Bruce Maitland -- this is Brianna`s father. He has traveled to New York in an effort to find his girl.

What has this been like, having her gone all this time?

BRUCE MAITLAND, BRIANNA MAITLAND`S FATHER: Oh, I miss her just awful. I do. It has just been absolutely just an awful thing to go through life not knowing whether she`s alive or dead. And just the fact of missing her, too. I mean, you know, I love her a lot, and she`s just a vibrant, wonderful girl.

GRACE: Had she ever run away or disappeared before?

MAITLAND: No.

GRACE: Never?

MAITLAND: No.

GRACE: What happened that night she went missing?

MAITLAND: She was at work that night until 11:20.

GRACE: As normal.

MAITLAND: As normal. And normally, the people that -- other people that work there, they have dinner together, and then they all go home, but she had work the next day at another job, so she left. And she drove out of that parking lot, and no one`s seen her since.

GRACE: And then her car was found near a barn?

MAITLAND: Yes, it was backed into an abandoned house.

GRACE: Backed into an abandoned -- OK, and there were two paychecks in it, correct?

MAITLAND: Yes.

GRACE: That`s not like her at all.

MAITLAND: No.

GRACE: A kid that age would rush out and cash a paycheck.

MAITLAND: Yes.

GRACE: Take a listen to Brianna`s mom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLIE MAITLAND, MOTHER OF MISSING TEEN: Brianna was very self- confident. She was living with a friend. It wasn`t like she was running from our restrictions or had an argument or a problem with us. We got along wonderfully. Every few days, we`d go out and have girls` day out together.

No, Brianna didn`t run away. I`m a 100 percent sure that Brianna was abducted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Let`s go to Detective Lieutenant Brian Miller with the Vermont State Police. This is such a mystery, and people that even live with her are looking at this video aren`t sure that it`s her. Now, the family says there are some of her mannerisms. Like what?

Detective, are you with me?

DET. LT. BRIAN MILLER, LEAD INVESTIGATOR ON CASE: Yes, I am.

GRACE: What mannerisms appear to be Brianna?

MILLER: Well, her forehead appeared similar, according to Bruce and Kellie. Some of the gestures she made with her hands, the way she flipped her hair back in portions of the video, some friends said that that was definitely something that she would do and the way she held herself.

Her nose is fairly close to the nose that Brianna has. So there are certainly many characteristics that really made us think that...

(CROSSTALK)

GRACE: Hold on just a second, Lieutenant Detective.

Mr. Maitland, look at that. I mean, you`re seeing a profile on her. What do you think?

MAITLAND: You know, I mean, I do think that some of the profile is the same. I mean, the lieutenant`s right. It looks a lot like her forehead.

I don`t think the nose looks like Brianna`s. And I don`t think the chin looks like Brianna`s, but it`s been two years. And, you know, if this is Brianna, we don`t know what she`s been through, we don`t know whether she`s been beaten, or certain things, you know -- sometimes when you look at the video, you think, "Oh, that girl looks older," and sometimes it`s very difficult.

GRACE: To our psychologist, J. Buzz Ornsteiner, can someone be conditioned to remain captive?

ORNSTEINER: Well, yes, they can. The other thing is: There may be some cognitive impairment. There may be some emotional damage, where she is not clear about her short-term or long-term memory.

And, hopefully, if anyone is watching this, whoever that individual is -- maybe it isn`t her -- they`ll make contact and let these parents know. Or maybe this will reactivate people in Vermont to make contact.

GRACE: Right.

To Detective Lieutenant Miller, can the video be enhanced any further?

MILLER: We have done some enhancement, as far as lightening it, but the problem is, is just the particular shots there are, I mean, you could enlarge it all you want, but as far as -- you know, she`s still not looking into the camera at certain points.

So we have done some work on enhancements. We will do more work on it. But it`s very rare that you actually have a sighting and then can go back, "Actually, we can pull a video of the sighting."

GRACE: Exactly. Exactly.

MILLER: So that`s pretty unique. We are doing all we can to enhance that.

GRACE: To Brianna`s father, if you could speak to her tonight, what would you say?

MAITLAND: Brianna, we just -- we love you so much. If you`re alive, just please let us know somehow. I mean, it doesn`t matter any of the circumstances that you`ve been through the last few years.

GRACE: Just come home.

MAITLAND: Just come home or contact us or something, because we just love and care about you, and so many of us are...

GRACE: With us tonight, the father of 17-year-old Brianna Maitland. She has now been missing for two years. Has she been spotted on casino video?

We`ll be right back with Brianna`s story. Remember, live coverage of a Milwaukee police on trial for a civilian beating, 3:00 to 5:00 Eastern, Court TV.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Tonight, we pause to remember Army Sergeant First Class Lance S. Cornett, 33, London, Kentucky. He died fighting enemy services, Iraq. Cornett entered the Army 1991 to serve in the infantry. He leaves behind a widow and three little children. Lance S. Cornett, an American hero.

Tonight, we are trying our best to find Brianna Maitland. She disappeared, age 17. Her father with us. Was she captured on casino video?

What is disturbing you tonight, in addition to her disappearance, is the t-shirt her companion was wearing. Explain quickly.

MAITLAND: Well, it has a -- it`s sort of an upside-down eagle with the wings smooth at the top and kind of fingers as the feathers on the bottom and then a head. And it`s a very distinct emblem, and we`re hoping that that emblem could be the key to finding out who the companion was.

GRACE: Keep taking a look, everyone, at this video. Keep rolling it, Liz. An upside-down eagle?

MAITLAND: Yes, it`s sort -- the wings are upside down.

GRACE: Was on his t-shirt.

MAITLAND: Was on his coat. It`s a jacket.

GRACE: Everyone, you are seeing video from a casino. We are hoping this may be Brianna Maitland.

If you could reach out to her, what would you say?

MAITLAND: Brianna, please, we love you. We just love so you much. And everyone misses you. It`s just been so difficult just to continue life without your wonderful, beautiful, smiling face with us, and we just want you to just call, let us know somehow if it`s you, and somehow get in touch with us.

GRACE: And there is a $20,000 reward for information about Brianna Maitland, 802-878-7111. Please help her father and mother bring her home.

Thank you to Brianna`s father and to all of our guests tonight. But our thank you, as always, is to you for being with us, inviting all of us and our legal stories into your home.

Coming up, headlines from all around the world. I`m Nancy Grace signing off tonight. And a special good night for my parents here in the studio in New York, Mac and Elizabeth.

I`ll see you right here tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friend.

END