The same technology that enabled the proliferation of child pornography on the Internet is now leading police in Delaware to people who download the illicit images and view them in their homes.
In two recent cases, the computers themselves led to arrests, when men brought the units to area businesses for repairs or other work.
Sometimes, investigation of the cases has led police to more violent sex crimes. After one man was arrested this month, he told police he had raped young boys.
Such cases are examples of a vicious cycle, spawned by the Internet age, in which U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales says child pornography is becoming more widespread, more graphic and more sadistic, with younger and younger children being victimized.
Before they had access to the World Wide Web, pedophiles basically operated in secret, frequenting adult bookstores or sharing illicit Polaroid images within their own circle through the mail, officials said.
But the Web has its own safeguards, too. Internet service providers such as America Online have filters that flag child pornography identified in criminal investigations. When such an image is transmitted, federal law requires the company to notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which alerts appropriate law enforcement agencies.
Internet provider helps:
Such a chain of events led to the arrest last week of Charles W. Cobb Jr., 46, of the first block of Juniper St. in New Castle.
America Online detected an illicit attachment sent to a subscriber using the screen name "Disneywd@aol.com," and a subsequent investigation led to Cobb, who had several other screen names, including "CallDrLove," according to court records.
State and city police raided Cobb's home, confiscated his computer and retrieved seven digital photographs depicting girls under 18 performing sexual acts.
Such arrests could become more common. Gonzalez said last week in a speech at the Missing Children's Center in Alexandria, Va., that the Bush administration is working on changes to the current law that would strengthen criminal penalties for companies that don't report child pornography.
Technicians get involved:
A key part of keeping children safer and punishing child sex offenders is providing the right training to investigators and prosecutors nationwide, he said. "They need to better understand the scope and nature of this criminal activity, and they need to know how to work computer-based investigations and prosecutions."
Other recent Delaware cases, spurred by complaints from a couple of local computer technicians, show another way technology can work against sex offenders or those suspect of such crimes.
An apparent computer virus prompted 63-year-old Boy Scout leader John S. Rohrer to drop off his computer for repair earlier this month at Staples at 3200 Kirkwood Highway, near Prices Corner.
Within 10 minutes of working on the hard drive, the technician uncovered a file with 12-16 pornographic color photos of children, according to state police. The technician immediately notified his supervisor, who alerted state police.
Staples corporate spokeswoman Brianne Barrett said the company is serious about addressing questionable or potentially illegal content found when servicing PCs. Technicians who discover child pornography or other questionable items such as major building plans that could relate to terrorist activity must notify management, which works with law enforcement agencies, she said.
Rohrer, of the 100 block of Wiltshire Road in Claymont, was charged April 6 with multiple felonies, including possession of child pornography, first-degree unlawful sexual intercourse involving a victim younger than 16 and first-degree rape of a victim younger than 16 by a person of trust and authority.
Police said in court records that detectives from the state police's High Tech Crimes Unit recovered 844 still images and two video files of child pornography from Rohrer's computer.
Rohrer had been a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America for 42 years, according to police. One of the troops was based at an area church, where between 1999 and 2001, he told police, he sexually assaulted a Scout, according to court records.
State Deputy Attorney General Donald Roberts, who heads the office's sex crimes unit, said customers who take personal computers with child pornography to a store for repair should have no expectation of privacy.
"Let's face it, any business, whether a national chain or a mom-and pop-store, nobody likes kiddie porn but kiddie porn freaks," Roberts said. "What kind of idiot would take his computer to a store with that in it?"
He said although the crimes are increasing, the majority of suspects arrested tend to plead rather than go to court.
About a week ago, a computer technician at CompUSA on Concord Pike was transferring old files from a customer's hard drive onto his new $800 computer when he noticed file names such as "13-year-old, 8-year-old, Asian, Russian."
When the technician opened one of the files, images of naked prepubescent children flashed on the screen. Some of the images included children engaged in sexual activity with each other and adults, police said in court records.
A policy of cooperation:
CompUSA spokeswoman Clara Miller said the company has a policy for dealing with such situations.
"We fully cooperate with any investigations that may occur," Miller said. "This has been a longstanding policy and any kind of illegal material they would discover would be reported."
After seizing and examining the computer, state police forensic computer technicians discovered a minimum of 199 images of nude prepubescent children engaging in sexual activity with each other and adults, according to court records.
Last week, police arrested the owner, John M. Kaley, 49, of the first block of Shetland Way in New Castle, and charged him with 15 felony counts of using a computer to unlawfully depict a child engaging in a prohibited sexual act and other offenses.
"I've always been trained that adult pornography is the customer's business, but as soon as we see child pornography, we have to immediately report it to the manager," the computer technician said. Ken Jaskulski, who operates Second Source computer stores in Brandywine Hundred and Newark, said in his 20 years in business he has never uncovered any type of kiddie porn on computers.
But if he did, he said, he wouldn't think twice about calling police.
"It's kind of a fine line," Jaskulski said. "I've even talked to my attorney as far as what are our responsibilities, and he said we should err on the side of calling police. Frankly, we don't need that kind of business."
No hesitation
Greg Doughty, who operates Affordable Computer Repair near Newark, said it is not his policy to invade his customers' privacy, but should any child pornography surface, he would report the discovery to police.
Doughty, who has been working on computers for 27 years, said although he has seen plenty of adult pornography during his work, he hasn't uncovered any child pornography yet.
"Child pornography is illegal and it would be reported in a heartbeat," he said. "Child pornography is something where we don't need that person in our society."
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children spokeswoman Jennifer Lee, a program manager in the exploited child unit, said the computer technicians acted much like "mandated reporters."
While not obligated by law to do so, the two workers took the initiative to report what they found to police.
Eleven states have laws mandating that people who are asked to record, film, duplicate or develop photos of child pornography report it to police. Delaware has no such a law.
"Kudos to them," Lee said of the technicians. "They are taking a risk. Customers may not appreciate that."
But, she said, it's becoming more and more common for employees in computer and cellular telephone fields to take such risks.
State police Lt. Robert Moses, who heads the High Tech Crimes Unit, said he has seen a rise in child pornography arrests in the state in the past two years. He also thinks anyone encountering such images would report them.
"I think it's because of the education we're doing in the schools and the fact that more parents are aware of it and more law enforcement agencies have the resources to deal with it effectively," he said. "It is the worst crime you can commit ... the rape of a child. But we do have a good success rate."
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