Fighting Internet [Child] Porn

Goodlatte applauds Bedford's program

by Patrick Lynch

BEDFORD -- In their crackdown on the victimization of children of children, Bedford sheriff's deputies go undercover to navigate the Internet to identify pedophiles.  But they are hardly going unnoticed.

   In fact, U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Virginia, is so impressed with the Sheriff's Office work, he has invited them to Washington, D.C., to brief the Congressional Internet Caucus on Operation Blue Ridge Thunder, Bedford's "Internet Crimes Against Children" program.

   Goodlatte met with Sheriff Mike Brown and deputies yesterday to see how the operation works.  Goodlatte was shown the Web sites and "chat rooms" deputies visit when searching for pedophiles who distribute child pornography and seek children for sex on the Internet.
 

   "I think it's fantastic what you all are doing here," Goodlatte said of Operation Blue Ridge Thunder.  Goodlatte spoke at a press conference at In Mind, Inc. in Forest Thursday afternoon.  "But I also think it's shocking what's going on.  There are thousands online right now, visiting sites with names like 'kinky child sex,' and others we saw today."

   Goodlatte and Brown did not set a date for a congressional briefing, but Brown said the invitation was "official."

   Brown established Operation Blue Ridge Thunder early last year to crack down on the distribution of child pornography on the Internet, and to find pedophiles who use chat rooms and pornographic material to lure juveniles into sex.

   The program expanded after the sheriff's office received a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice in October.  The grant was awarded to only 10 police agencies in the country, Bedford being the smallest.

   Despite their size, Goodlatte, who is co-chair of the Congressional Internet Caucus, and Brown say those working on the operation are leading the way in using computers to enforcing computer crimes.

   "These people are setting precedents," Brown said.

   Since Operation Blue Ridge Thunder began, Deputy Sergio Kopelev has been posing as a 27-year-old pedophile in Internet chat rooms.  He asks for child pornography and then traces the offers he gets in return.

   The operation has resulted in the arrest of men from Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, South Carolina and West Virginia.  Men have been arrested for distributing pornographic images of children, and one man was arrested after he traveled from West Virginia to Bedford thinking he was going to meet a teenage boy for sex.

   Goodlatte also said that, after being guided to the chat rooms that are the scrutiny of Operation Blue Ridge Thunder, he believes legislation should be passed to "clear those chat rooms off the Internet."

   He said no such legislation has yet been discussed.

   Brown also introduced the operation's new website.  The site explains the scope of the child pornography problem and the purpose of the operation.

   The Web site also contains information for parents and children.  Part of the Department of Justice grant that funds the operation is allocated for the education of Internet users about child pornography.

   Brown said his office is developing an educational program to be presented in Bedford County schools this year.  He said he hopes the program will be presented throughout Virginia in 2000.

   Though the Department of Justice grant is only for one year, Brown said he has been told the program will be awarded the grant for at least the next two years.

   Goodlatte is not the only national figure who has noticed what is happening in Bedford.

   Brown and others from his office have been featured on four nationally syndicated radio shows, including Oliver North's "Common Sense Radio."  They are scheduled to be guests on Dr, James Dobson's "Focus on the Family," and G. Gordon Liddy's daily radio program.