Task Force puts child predator away for 10 years

There is nothing that disgusts me more than crimes against children, or crimes against the elderly. The anonymous nature of the Internet has made it easier for criminals to distribute child pornography, as well as, for child predators to have access to our young.

I happened to see a Department of Justice (DOJ) press release about one of these predators getting 10 years in prison for being involved in child pornograpy.

On Jan. 3, 2007, Thomas Lane pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in Indianapolis to one count of possession of child pornography. The government's evidence showed that the defendant possessed images and binders with photos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The majority of the images, printed out and organized in the binders, also contained links to Internet Web site addresses. Lane had been previously convicted in 1998 for receipt of child pornography.

DOJ press release, here.

This was accomplished (investigated and prosecuted)by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC).

Apparently, it was brought about as a result of Project Safe Childhood, which was put in place by Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales in 2006.

Besides investigating this type of crime, they have a pretty good (my opinion) educational resource to educate all of us on this problem.

The DOJ website can be viewed, here.

Child pornography has been tied into organized crime, identity theft and payment card (credit/debit) card fraud. Here is a previous post, I did about how this occurs:

British citizens accused of child porn found to be fraud victims

In case you haven't seen it, the To Catch a Predator series (Dateline) made a lot of people aware of how serious a problem child predators are. Chris Hansen, who hosts the show, has a blog about the series, here.

If you suspect a crime against a child, it can be reported, here.