Virginia State Police

Media Release

Contact: Corinne Geller, Public Relations Manager     (804) 674-2789 or corinne.geller@vsp.virginia.gov

For Immediate Release: April 1, 2005

FAIRFAX, Va. – They came from as far as away as Williamsburg and Staunton. Their ages range from 21 to 52. They are youth ministers, engineers, students and security guards. They all sought out and solicited sex from preteen girls via the Internet. They are the online sexual child predators of today.

            To counter society’s rapid explosion of online child exploitation, pornography and predators, 16 local, state and federal agencies have partnered to create the Northern Virginia-DC Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.  The results of the task force’s first investigative initiative were announced Friday, April 1, 2005, in a press conference at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Alexandria.

“The overall purpose of this task force is to create an effective, but realistic response to the problems associated with the sexual exploitation of children in the Northern Virginia and metropolitan region,” said Col. W. Steve Flaherty, Virginia State Police Superintendent. “Through specialized training, online criminal investigations and public outreach, the task force is trying to create a culture where there is a greater awareness of the problem among police, prosecutors, and, most importantly, the general public.”

            Since January, the task force has placed nine men under arrest on charges of attempting indecent liberties with a juvenile and using an electronic communications device to solicit a juvenile. An additional six cases are still pending.

            Three of the arrests took place during the task force’s two, 40 hour training sessions in January 2005. The remaining six arrests and pending cases resulted from a 10 day, special investigative initiative that concluded Thursday, March 31, 2005, and involved 13 specially- trained officers from Arlington County, the City of Fairfax, Prince William County, Stafford County, Washington, D.C., FBI, U.S. Postal Service and Virginia State Police.

            Additional training sessions and investigative initiatives will be conducted through the remainder of the year.

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