Bedford Internet patrol gets boost

A deputy's undercover work to fight cyberspace child porn has led to the arrest of eight men.

By S.D. Harrington, The Roanoke Times

    BEDFORD -- The county's part-time cybercop will patrol the Internet full-time, thanks to a $200,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice.

    Since the first of the year, Deputy Sergio Kopelev has been posing as a 27-year-old pedophile in America Online chat rooms.  He solicits sexually explicit images of children.  And when someone transmits the images to his computer in the Bedford County Sheriff's Office, he tracks them down.

    His undercover work has led to the arrests of eight men from across the country and England.  And he has identified 60 others who could be charged.  In Virginia, transmitting child pornography is a felony, punishable by one to 10 years in prison.

    Those arrested so far include a Border Patrol agent near San Diego; a Gaffney, S.C., police officer; a Boston day-care company employee; a suburban Los Angeles man; and a suburban Philadelphia man.

    Kopelev, an administrative deputy in the Sheriff's Office, has spent about 12 hours a week doing online investigations.  With the $200,000, he will supervise a three-member Internet investigations team.  And investigations could expand beyond America Online and child pornography.  The investigators may go after people who commit fraud and deal drugs over the Internet.

    Bedford County was the smallest of the 10 law enforcement agencies nationwide that won the grants, which ranged from $111,000 to $300,000.  Between 50 and 100 agencies applied.

    During a news conference Tuesday, Sheriff Mike Brown and Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Krantz said they want to send a message to online child pornographers not to bring their business into Bedford County.
 

    "These cyberspace criminals have direct access to our children," Krantz said.  "Our simple reply to them is:  Don't do it here."

    Brown showed reporters a notebook full of sexually explicit images of children that have been sent to Kopelev's computer.

    Brown also wants the General Assembly to beef up penalties for possessing child pornography.  A first time offense for possessing it in Virginia is a misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $500.

    Bedford County became concerned with child pornography and sex crimes against children on the Internet when a mother complained that her 14-year-old daughter had been asked by a Florida man to make a pornographic movie with him.

    That investigation led police to a 15-year-old Bedford County boy with more than 500 sexually explicit computer images of children and adults.  He had received the images from adults over the Internet, Kopelev said.

    Kopelev says he also is working with Florida police to investigate the man accused of propositioning the Bedford County girl.  The 15-year-old boy is in counseling and has been cooperating with prosecutors.

    Kopelev and Brown won't say how the boy is connected to the case, because he is a juvenile.

    The case sparked Kopelev's America Online investigations.  The operation helped Bedford County secure the federal grant.

    The $200,000 grant will pay Kopelev's $25,386 salary and the $23,226 salaries of two investigators.

    The investigations team also will hire an administrative assistant.  The rest of the grant will be spent on employee benefits, travel, equipment and supplies.

    Kopelev said the investigations team will start full-time operation in November.