Bedford County, state officials team up against [child] pornography

Attorney General Mark Earley's office will prosecute many of the Internet [child] pornography cases the Bedford County Sheriff's Office investigates across the state.

    Virginia's attorney general wants to crack down on child pornography in the state.  Bedford County investigators want to see more of their work end in prosecutions.

   At a meeting Monday in Richmond, they took a step toward meeting both goals.  Attorney General Mark Earley's office will prosecute many of the Internet [child] pornography cases the Bedford County Sheriff's office investigates across the state, officials said.

   "They have really pioneered some innovative investigative techniques, particularly in the area of child predators," Earley said of the Bedford County Sheriff's Office's initiative, Operation Blue Ridge Thunder.

   State police will be involved in the commonwealth's Computer Crimes Strike Force, which Earley announced July 22.  The strike force was recommended by Gov. Jim Gilmore's commission on information technology, which includes Earley.

   The unit's focus will include fraud, invasion of privacy issues and "spamming," or unsolicited e-mail.  But its primary task in the early going will be to track down and convict online predators, Earley said.

   Earley spent about two hours Monday with Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown and his lead online investigator, Sgt. Sergio Kopelev.  During the meeting, Kopelev went online, showing Earley how pedophiles contact children on the Internet and demonstrating the variety of child pornography they can access, Brown said.

   The depth of pedophiles' involvement and the amount of material they transmit and download are shocking, Earley said.

   "Most people don't realize how pervasive it is," Earley said Wednesday.  "The numbers are astonishing.  It's one of the reasons why we wanted to start our computer strike force and one of the reasons we're going to be very aggressive."

   Bedford County officials have some numbers of their own.

   In the 10 months since the county received a $200,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant to begin Operation Blue Ridge Thunder, sheriff's officials have identified and gathered information on 86 cases and closed 16 with arrests, Brown said.

   Bedford County officers have found illegal online activities and aided prosecutors in California, South Carolina and Massachusetts, he said.

   The sheriff's office was one of 10 agencies nationwide that got a grant.

   "Bedford is kind of out in front of the lot because of the early start and the money they got," [Earley] said.  "Mike and I have been talking about this for weeks and months how this office could be a part of it."

   That involvement may become a boon statewide, Brown said.

   Pedophiles run more than 10,000 web sites, and more than 300,000 children are involved in illegal sex trade in North America, said Brown, citing statistics from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and UNICEF.

   But most police and prosecutors are "woefully behind," he said.

   "Government entities, law enforcement -- they are just not familiar with it, how to prosecute it, how to work undercover cases," Brown said.

   That includes many Virginia jurisdictions, he said.  While those offices catch up, the already-seasoned Bedford investigators will find child molesters and pornographers online, the give those cases to Earley's office, which has jurisdiction in such crimes.

   The attorney general's office also will work with other state agencies.

   "If there is a jurisdiction that has the capability to work it, we'll turn it over to them," Brown said.  "If not, we'll turn it over to the attorney general's office."

   At the same time, strike force investigators will travel to Bedford occasionally for training from the Blue Ridge Thunder team and Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Krantz' office, Brown said.  Krantz' office has played a part in prosecuting at least three cases, Brown said.

   "We'll be showing them how we conduct undercover operations, what evidence we attempt to obtain," he said.  "These have been very successful prosecutions.  We have a 100 percent prosecution rate."

  Krantz was in court Wednesday and was not available for comment.

   The program eventually may spread beyond the state line, Earley said.  U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno called him the day after he announced the formation of the computer crimes unit, he said.

   "She said it was a priority issue for her and wondered if we would also be willing to work together with federal authorities," Earley said.  "We obviously welcome that."