U.S. Attorney’s Office Highlights Efforts to Combat Child Exploitation

Following an announcement today by Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade highlighted efforts made locally to address the growing program of child exploitation in the Eastern District of Michigan.

Ms. McQuade was joined in the announcement by Marshal Robert Grubbs, U.S. Marshal’s Service; Special Agent in Charge Brian Moskowitz, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security (ICE); Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI); Michigan State Police Commander Thomas Kish, Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children (MSP ICAC).

The strategy unveiled by Attorney General Holder provides a comprehensive threat assessment of the dangers facing children from child pornography, online enticement, child sex tourism, commercial sexual exploitation, and sexual exploitation in Indian Country, and outlines a blueprint to strengthen the fight against these crimes. The strategy builds upon the department's accomplishments in combating child exploitation by establishing specific, aggressive goals and priorities and increasing cooperation and collaboration at all levels of government and the private sector.

"Although we've made meaningful progress in protecting children across the country, and although we've brought a record number of offenders to justice in recent years, it is time to renew our commitment to this work. It is time to intensify our efforts," said Attorney General Holder. "This new strategy provides the roadmap necessary to do just that—to streamline our education, prevention, and prosecution activities; to improve information sharing and collaboration; and to make the most effective use of limited resources. Together, we are sending an important message—that the U.S. government, and our nation's Department of Justice, has never been more committed to protecting our children and to bringing offenders to justice."

“Innovations in technology, such as webcams, smart phones, and social media, have increased the opportunities for child predators to victimize children,” United States Attorney McQuade said. “We are continuing to develop strategies to make sure that we stay a step ahead of the criminals.”

“Our society has no place for those who prey on children, said Special Agent in Charge Andrew G. Arena. “The FBI and our partners in the law enforcement community are committed to stopping this terrible practice and protecting our children.”

“Child exploitation crimes are a top priority at ICE. The public can be assured that these cases will continue to be met with the same level of determination, skill and sophistication as any case we undertake," said Brian Moskowitz, ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge in Ohio and Michigan. "This office has led investigations that have resulted in significant prison time for those who mistakenly believe that the anonymity of the Internet is a refuge from justice. And we will continue to do so."

MSP Commander Kish stated, “'The Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children task force has been very successful in the identification, arrest, and prosecution of dangerous child predators. Our success comes from the continued close partnerships with law enforcement at he federal, county, and local levels as well as from the skilled prosecutors from the United States Attorney, Michigan Attorney General, and Wayne County Prosecutor's Offices. Leveraging these resources, we have come a long way toward protecting our most vulnerable citizens, Michigan's children.”

The strategy first analyzes the threat to our nation's children and describes the current efforts at all levels of the government against this threat. Since FY 2006, the Department of Justice has filed 8,464 Project Safe Childhood (PSC) cases against 8,637 defendants.

As part of the overall strategy, the U.S. Marshal’s Service is launching a nationwide operation targeting the top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant sex offenders in the nation.

In the Eastern District of Michigan the United States Attorney’s Office prosecutes child predators and the exploiters of children for a variety of offenses. Those offenses include, the producers of child pornography, who use children to create permanent memorializations of the sexual assault of children, adults who travel from outside the state of Michigan to our district for the purpose of having sex with children here, the distributors of children pornography, adults who distribute obscene material to minors, and previously convicted sex offenders who have moved to Michigan from outside the state but fail to register here as required by law. Attached is a list of notable examples of these types of prosecutions.

Despite vigorously fighting all aspects of child exploitation, the department recognized that more work remains to be done. To that end, the department's strategy lays out goals to increase coordination among the nation's investigators, better train investigators and prosecutors, advance law enforcement's technological capabilities and enhance research to inform decisions on deterrence, incarceration and monitoring. The strategy also includes a renewed commitment to public awareness and community outreach.

The United States Attorney’s Office and our agency partners provide presentations on Internet safety to a variety of organizations, including schools, religious organizations, PTA’s, and other community groups. These presentations change frequently to meet the ever-changing technological advances in online communication. These presentations involve handouts for parents and teachers, and contact information for any desired follow up information. Those organizations interested in a presentation are encouraged to contact Susan Plochinski, Paralegal for the United States Attorney’s Office at (313) 226-9193 or e-mail Sue at Susan.Plochinski@usdjo.gov.

Our agency partners in the flight against child exploitation include, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Marshal’s Service, Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC), Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Secret Service, Macomb Area Computer Enforcement (MACE), Prosecuting Attorney’s Offices from Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, as well as the Sheriff’s Departments of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.

As part of its public outreach efforts, the department today re-launched ProjectSafeChildhood.gov, the Project Safe Childhood (PSC) public website. PSC is a department initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information regarding the National Strategy to Combat Child Exploitation, Prevention and Interdiction, please visit: http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/docs/natstrategyreport.pdf.