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Child Pornography Victim Speaks Before Congress; Tiger Woods' Father Dies

Aired May 03, 2006 - 14:30   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: You're looking at the live pictures of the hearings that are about to get underway. It's also going to be on Pipeline all throughout the day, CNN.com/pipeline.
You'll be hearing from a young woman that we've been talking about Masha -- actually, it's a young gal. She's 13 years old now, but she was the victim of sexual abuse. Her adopted father actually had adopted her from Russia, had been abused for a number of years. And we've been following the case of this young gal and other predators out there.

Now finally these hearings are on the Hill. Our Nancy Grace will be there, testifying along with a number of other people to try and enforce new laws when it comes to our children being at risk on the Internet. So we'll take that live as soon as that begins.

Meanwhile, gas prices above $3 per barrel in many places. Fuel economy is more important than ever. Now, some states are taking a surprising step to boost gas mileage. Susan Lisovicz live from the New York Stock Exchange with all the details. Hi, Susan.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Worldwide Web, worldwide threat. For all the positive ways the Internet affects our lives, the online realm is one where criminals -- sex criminals find easy prey, and far too often anonymously, and far too often children.

On Capitol Hill today, a House panel is hearing more testimony calling for a crackdown on cyber predators. Sadly, it's too late to help Masha Allen. She is the now 13-year-old girl whose adoptive father abused her and sent pornographic photos of her across the Web. He's in jail. Masha tells her story to Congress today.

Well, we're talking about the Internet and your kids, and how to make surfing safer. You already know there are people who mislead and manipulate online to get close to those children, but their tactics and how often they succeed may surprise you.

Sergeant Paul Gillespie knows. He's a Toronto detective who worked a child porn case that could inspire new laws in Washington. Great to see you again. I know this is a very important day for you because of you and your officers. You were completely involved with Masha's case. She's one brave young girl, isn't she?

SGT. PAUL GILLESPIE, TORONTO POLICE DEPT.: Yes, hi, Kyra. Tremendous spirit, and I'm so happy to see that she's doing well and she's adjusted. And boy oh boy, I don't know if you could think of a worst-case scenario for a young person to grow up through, but she's managed to get through it, and good for her. And I'm looking forward to hearing what she has to say.

PHILLIPS: And you haven't had a chance -- you didn't prep her for the testimony or have a chance to talk to her, but one of your officers has developed a pretty good relationship with her, right?

GILLESPIE: That's correct. Bill McGary (ph), one of my officers who is a graphic artist by nature, who developed the method by which we can remove or extract victims from pictures and then reproduce the pictures, has had contact with her and her stepmother right through -- over the last year or so and maintained contact. And it's nice to have that personal touch in the office to know she's OK.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. And what has she said to Bill? Where is she finding her strength, and has he encouraged her on what she needs to do and should do, if she is, of course, mentally ready? And it looks like she is, but just the impact that she could have could be incredible.

GILLESPIE: Yes, her and her stepmother are both incredible people. I think they've drawn strength from each other. And although I'm not truthfully privy to many of the conversations, the reality is that she wants to do some tremendous things in her life.

And I think she realizes that she's in a real special place right now, and that she's pulled herself up from, you know, what would have crushed most people, and that she's determined and decided that she's going to try and make a difference now is just tremendous, and I'm so happy.

PHILLIPS: I want to warn you that in just a second, Paul, we've got to the president, OK? Matter of fact, it's less than 30 seconds away. So I'll just let our viewers know -- stay with us, Paul. We're going to continue talking to Sergeant Paul Gillespie in this case of Masha Allen, now 13, who came to the U.S. from Russia. She was sexually abused by her adoptive father. Now she'll be testifying live. We're going to listen to it.

But let's go the president right now. He's talking about energy and the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to thank the members of House and the Senate, members of both parties, for a really constructive and important dialogue.

We talked about ways to deal with America's energy problems. And we talked about them in a very constructive way. And I want to thank the members for joining us.

We talked about the need to make sure our consumers are -- they're treated fairly; that there be fairness in the marketplace. And there was common consensus that we need to hold people to account if they're not dealing squarely with the American consumer.

We talked about ways to help mitigate demand. And one way to do so is to encourage alternative automobiles like hybrid automobiles.

And there seemed to be an agreement that we ought to extend the tax credit for these kind of automobiles, to encourage our consumers to purchase the hybrid automobile.

We talked about ways to -- the need to research, to spend money for research and development, to change the fuels that we use in our automobiles.

One of the great promising sources of fuel is ethanol. And we talked about ways to encourage not only the production of ethanol but the distribution of ethanol.

We talked about the need to continue research and development into new types of batteries so that the American consumer will be able to drive the first 40 miles on electricity.

We talked about the need to increase supply of energy. One of the things that is necessary to help relieve price is to increase the amount of gasoline.

We talked about regulatory relief to see to it that we can expand refining capacity and build new refineries.

If the American people want there to be a lower price of gasoline, we need more gasoline on the marketplace.

And so we talked about common sense ideas. And I really do appreciate the members from both political parties thinking strongly about how we can work together to serve the American consumer and make us less dependent on foreign sources of oil.

The prices of gasoline should serve as a wake-up call to all of us involved in public office, that we have got an energy security problem and a national security problem, and now is the time to deal with it in a forceful way.

And I'm heartened by the fact that we were able to have such a constructive dialogue and there's a commitment to get good legislation out of the Congress.

So thank you all very much for coming.

CROWD: Thank you, Mr. President.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: President of the United States there with the various leaders, talking about energy and the economy, price gauging. A lot of pressure there on the president with high gas prices right now in this country. We'll continue, of course, to stay on top of that story with business and also our White House correspondents.

Meanwhile, we want to continue our discussion now with Detective Sergeant Paul Gillespie, and what is happening on Capitol Hill today in these live hearings, pretty much centering around a young girl and a case that you've been on top of for a number of years, Paul. We're talking about Masha Allen, now 13, how brave she is to come before the public and the media and all these leaders to tell her story.

What do you hope is achieved today? Our Nancy Grace was saying that she's been pretty frustrated with Congress, because she thinks members of Congress don't enforce stricter laws and don't protect our children enough and don't enforce certain laws that would prevent these predators from getting online and doing this to kids. You know, what are your feelings to that? Do you think Congress has a chance here to do something that helps you and what you're trying to achieve?

GILLESPIE: Absolutely. I think this particular event is shining a real spotlight on some of the problems we have. There are tens or hundreds of thousands of predators out there who would use the Internet to abuse and prey upon our children. And the reality is that they're basically defenseless.

And there are certain laws in place, but what we really need to do is educate people to realize how bad it is out there. The fact that there's at least 50,000 Internet victims of these horrible pictures of, you know, these crime scene photos out there. And we know who less than 500 of them are. There's an awful lot of matches out there, and it breaks your heart.

But one of the main things we have to do is simply work together and then join forces with other law enforcement agencies around the world. And we can make a difference. But if people are watching this show, it's educating them, and that's a good thing.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk -- let's also educate our viewers on what you did as a detective and your team, and how you took these pictures -- explain what you did. You actually had an image of her in the pictures, but you were able to look at what was in the background and sort of connect the dots. This one from Disneyland was one of the ones we've been talking about for years.

GILLESPIE: Yes, there's a series of several pictures. And we can tell that some of the pictures were in the Northeast United States, and then some of them were also down in some resort areas. So we worked on the some of the pictures and cleared up the backgrounds and were able to put these pictures out once the victim was removed from the pictures. And within ten minutes, first call came in identifying a certain hotel down in Florida. So we can use some of the technology out there to help us, too. And I think that's what we need. We need people to get outside the box a little bit and try to come up with new methods.

PHILLIPS: So Masha's adopted father, Matthew Mancuso, how did you finally find him, arrest him? What's next for him?

GILLESPIE: Well, Mr. Mancuso -- I mean, the reality is that while we were looking for Masha, it turned out she had already been rescued because of a previous arrest. And when we pulled all the case together, the one thing that hadn't occurred was that he had never been charged with the original assault on her at his residence in Pennsylvania or down in Florida. So he has now been charged and convicted in Pennsylvania, and I believe was sentenced to an extra 75 years. So that is something good that certainly came out of this, allowing her that knowledge that she'll never have to face him again.

PHILLIPS: Has -- yes. Which is -- thank God for that. But with regard to Masha and what you've been able, or at least, Bill, one of your officers, by communicating with her and then of course arresting her adoptive father Matthew -- has this led you to other predators? Has this helped you? Has it had a domino effect?

GILLESPIE: It has in that it's forced us to have a look at how we do business, and the fact that we weren't, prior to this, doing some things well. And we're now working a little closer with other agencies and trying to share ideas. And some of the things that we did during this case and some of the success that we did learn, we have used it on other cases. And the fact is, it's starting to make a difference. And we just have to sort of keep thinking about new ways of doing things and then working with other agencies around the world. It is one of our few successes, but it's certainly been fun to build on it and realize other ones, as well.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's been an honor and pleasure to follow your work. And it's great to see the hearings going on today and actually getting a chance to hear from Masha. Detective Seargant Paul Gillespie, thanks so much for your time.

GILLESPIE: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, a military family's heartbreaking loss, compounded by outrage. A mother fights to get her dead son's money back. You're not going to believe this story.

The news keeps coming, we'll keep bringing it you. More LIVE FROM next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead entertainment news with A.J. Hammer of "Showbiz Tonight."

A.J., great to see you are back.

A.J. HAMMER, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT HOST: Nice to be back. Nice to be with you here today, Kyra.

There's some controversy over a film in Hollywood. Big surprise there. Well, we are going to tell you what one of the movie's stars had to say.

Also, a desperate housewife who says she's done eating burnt toast. I'll explain. I have more on those stories when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we're just getting word that golfer Tiger Woods, his father, Earl Woods, has passed away. He's been suffering from cancer for a long time now. And Tiger has talked openly about that within the past couple of months. He's even talked about how it's been really hard to concentrate on his game because he's been thinking so much about his father.

Even during the Masters a lot of reporters asked him about his father, was he watching him play? Was he talking with his father? And of course, he was in close contact with Earl Woods every day.

Earl Woods, 74 years old. We are getting word now he passed away. He's been a tremendous influence in Tiger Woods's life. He has made that very well known, Tiger has throughout the years.

And our Larry Smith had an opportunity to put together a look back at his father.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Earl Woods was the rock upon which Tiger Woods built his career. From the age of two, when the nation first got a glimpse of Tiger on "The Mike Douglas Show," Earl Woods knew his son was destined for greatness.

EARL WOODS, FATHER OF TIGER WOODS, HAS DIED: I saw the total package. I saw his intelligence. I saw his personality. I saw his creativity. I saw his athleticism. I saw his ability to learn so fast and rapidly, and his desire, his competitiveness. He had all that stuff when he was two.

SMITH: And it was with that knowledge and belief, that Earl Woods dedicated himself to turning Tiger into a golfing prodigy. The elder Woods was an athlete in his own right, as a scholarship baseball player for Kansas State University. He was also the first African- American to play baseball in the former big 8 conference.

Upon graduating in 1953, Earl joined the Army and did two tours of duty in Vietnam with the Green Berets. He used his military training to toughen up Tiger, physically and mentally. Criticized for being an overbearing parent, Earl said he never had to push Tiger into golf. As the championships mounted, the criticism died down.

E. WOODS: I don't need to feel vindicated. It is sufficient for me to know that other people now know what I knew all along.

SMITH: Once a fixture at Tiger's tournament, Earl Woods became less and less visible, as Tiger's career progressed and his own health declined. In addition to having diabetes and two quadruple bypass surgeries, Earl was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1998. The effect his absence had on Tiger came into full view during the trophy presentation for Tiger's fourth Master's title in 2005.. TIGER WOODS, GOLFER: Every year that I've been lucky enough to have won this tournament, my dad's been there to give me a hug. And he wasn't there today. I can't wait to get home and see him to give him a big bear hug.

E. WOODS: Yes, when I talk about Tiger sometimes I do get emotional. That's the deep personal love that we have for each other, the respect and trust that we have, and we've earned it. It's just a bond.

SMITH: It was a bond that helped turn Tiger Woods into the best golfer in the world.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Tiger Woods just released this statement. You can actually go onto his Web site, tigerwoods.com.

It says, "I'm very saddened to share the news of my father's passing at home early this morning. My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I'll miss him deeply. I'm overwhelmed when I think of all the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn't be where I am today without him, and I'm honored to continue his legacy of sharing and caring. Thanks to all of you who are sending condolences to my family and our foundation. We're truly blessed to have so many people who care during this difficult time."

Earl Woods passed away today at the age of 74.

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