SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF 

CHILDREN OVER THE INTERNET: 

HOW THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY 

IS COMBATING CHILD PREDATORS 

ON THE INTERNET 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND 

INVESTIGATIONS 

OF THE 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND 

COMMERCE 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS 

SECOND SESSION 

JULY 10, 2006 

Serial No. 109-122 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house 

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

WASHINGTON : 2006 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office 

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 

Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 

30-531PDF 
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE 

JOE BARTON, Texas, Chairman 

RALPH M. HALL, Texas 

MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida 

 Vice Chairman 

FRED UPTON, Michigan 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio 

NATHAN DEAL, Georgia 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky 

CHARLIE NORWOOD, Georgia 

BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming 

JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois 

HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico 

JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona 

CHARLES W. “CHIP” PICKERING, Mississippi 

 Vice Chairman

VITO FOSSELLA, New York 

ROY BLUNT, Missouri

STEVE BUYER, Indiana 

GEORGE RADANOVICH, California 

CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire 

JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania 

MARY BONO, California 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

LEE TERRY, Nebraska 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

MIKE ROGERS, Michigan 

C.L. “BUTCH” OTTER, Idaho 

SUE MYRICK, North Carolina 

JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma 

TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

 Ranking Member 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California 

EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts 

RICK BOUCHER, Virginia 

EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York 

FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

BART GORDON, Tennessee 

BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois 

ANNA G. ESHOO, California 

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland 

GENE GREEN, Texas 

TED STRICKLAND, Ohio 

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado 

LOIS CAPPS, California 

MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania 

TOM ALLEN, Maine 

JIM DAVIS, Florida 

JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

HILDA L. SOLIS, California 

CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

MIKE ROSS, Arkansas 

BUD ALBRIGHT, Staff Director 

DAVID CAVICKE, General Counsel

REID P. F. STUNTZ, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS 

ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky, Chairman 

CLIFF STEARNS, Florida 

CHARLES W. “CHIP” PICKERING, Mississippi 

CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire 

GREG WALDEN, Oregon 

MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey 

MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas 

MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee 

JOE BARTON, Texas 

 (EX OFFICIO)

BART STUPAK, Michigan 

 Ranking Member 

DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado 

JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois 

JAY INSLEE, Washington 

TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin 

HENRY A. WAXMAN, California 

JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan 

 (EX OFFICIO)

(II)
CONTENTS 

Page 

Testimony of: 

Christie, Hon. Christopher J., United States Attorney, District of New Jersey, U.S. 

Department of Justice..................................................................................................... 8 

Fitzpatrick, Hon. Michael, Member, U.S. House of Representatives ............................... 27 

Rodgers, Frank, Lieutenant Colonel, New Jersey State Police .......................................... 35 

Ritter, Anthony, Lieutenant, New Jersey State Police........................................................ 40 

Forrest, Esq., Wayne J., Somerset County Prosecutor, Office of the Somerset County 

Prosecutor, State of New Jersey..................................................................................... 47 

Banks, Sergeant, Office of the Prosecutor, Union County, State of New Jersey............... 55 

Livingston, David S., Superintendent of Schools, Somerset County, New Jersey ............ 75 

Aftab, Parry, Executive Director, WiredSafety .................................................................. 81 

Sullivan, Shannon, Teen Angel, WiredSafety .................................................................... 116 

Hahn, Samantha, i-Mentor, i-Safe America........................................................................ 134 

(III) 

(1) 

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF CHILDREN 

OVER THE INTERNET: HOW THE STATE 

OF NEW JERSEY IS COMBATING CHILD 

PREDATORS ON THE INTERNET 

MONDAY, JULY 10, 2006 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 

COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS, 

Washington, DC. 

 The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:30 a.m., in 

Conference Center Room A of the Raritan Valley Community College, 

Hon. Ed Whitfield (Chairman) presiding. 

 Members present: Representatives Whitfield and Ferguson. 

 Staff present: Mark Paoletta, Chief Counsel for Oversight and 

Investigations; Kelli Andrews, Counsel; Karen Christian, Counsel; Ryan 

Ambrose, Legislative Clerk; and David Nelson, Minority Investigator. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. I would like to call this hearing to order and I 

certainly want to thank all of you for attending today. The Energy and 

Commerce Committee and the Subcommittee on Oversight and 

Investigation are convening this hearing in New Jersey on the Sexual 

Exploitation of Children over the Internet. The subcommittee has held 

four hearings on this subject. We have heard testimony from victims of 

Internet child pornography, State and Federal law enforcement agents, 

safety and Internet education experts and Internet service providers about 

the dangers the Internet can pose to children. 

 While Federal law enforcement agents actively investigate and 

pursue online predators, 70 percent of the investigations take place at the 

State and local level through the efforts of the State Internet Crimes 

Against Children Task Force and local police officers and investigators 

and prosecutors. For this reason, the subcommittee thought it would be 

important to have a hearing where we would focus on local efforts to 

deal with this significant problem. Like every other State, New Jersey is 

not immune from the dangers that the Internet presents to children. 

Today we will hear testimony from witnesses who work each day to 

combat child pornography and to keep New Jersey’s children safe from 

predators who seek to use the Internet to exploit them. 

 These hearings that we have had have been quite startling to all of 

us, to recognize and be aware of the dangers that are lurking out there for 
2

our young people who are on the Internet and come in contact with some 

very unsavory characters. Today we are going to hear from the United 

States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Chris Christie, about the 

cases brought by his office against child predators. Particularly, we will 

be interested in his RegPay case, which was a real breakthrough; I guess 

the first international breakthrough in this area. We will also hear from 

the New Jersey State and local police officers about how they developed 

their investigations against individuals who exploit children on the 

Internet and the challenges they face when they attempt to bring these 

criminals to justice. 

 Our subcommittee’s hearings have shown that every effort must be 

made to support law enforcement efforts in the war against child 

pornography, but they also have shown that we will not win this war 

unless we educate parents, teachers and children about Internet safety. 

Witnesses have repeatedly told our subcommittee that children often are 

not able and do not appreciate the risk posed to them when they meet and 

communicate over the Internet with strangers. 

 Two of our witnesses today, i-Safe Mentor, Samantha Hahn, and 

WiredSafety Teen Angel, Shannon Sullivan, have been trained to talk to 

their friends and fellow students about Internet safety. We look forward 

to learning what they believe is the most effective way to teach children 

to protect themselves against online predators. Samantha and Shannon 

are joined by Superintendent David Livingston of the Somerset County 

Schools, who will testify about how schools in his district are addressing 

Internet safety issues, as well as problems related to social networking 

sites, cyber bullying and online predators. 

 We will also be joined today by Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick of 

Pennsylvania. Congressman Fitzpatrick has introduced a bill, H.R. 5319, 

entitled “The Deleting Online Predators Act,” which requires schools and 

libraries to use technology on their computers that prevent students from 

accessing social networking sites, and we look forward to Mr. 

Fitzpatrick’s testimony when he arrives. 

 And finally, I want to thank my colleague, Mike Ferguson, who is a 

member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and certainly a 

member of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. He has been 

a real leader in this effort to address the dangers facing our children on 

the Internet and I know that he shares our interest in this issue. He has 

been dedicated to doing whatever can be done to keep the Internet safe 

for children and to ensure that criminals who use the Internet to prey on 

our children are found and prosecuted. And I want to thank him for 

arranging for this hearing today and convincing us to come to New 

Jersey to learn what, specifically, law enforcement prosecutors and 

others are doing in this area about this important issue. 
3

 So I want to thank all of you for being here and at this time I will 

recognize Mr. Ferguson for his opening statement. 

 [The prepared statement of Hon. Ed Whitfield follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. ED WHITFIELD, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE ON 

OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS

Today, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Oversight and 

Investigations, is convening a hearing in New Jersey on the sexual exploitation of 

children over the Internet. 

 Already, this subcommittee has held four hearings on this subject. We have heard 

testimony from victims of Internet child pornography, state and federal law enforcement 

agents, safety and Internet education experts, and Internet Service Providers about the 

dangers the Internet can pose to children. 

From these hearings, this subcommittee has learned that while federal law 

enforcement agents actively investigate and pursue online predators, seventy percent of 

the investigations of these criminals take place at the state and local level through the 

efforts of the state Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, or “ICACs,” and local 

police officers. For this reason, the subcommittee thought it was important to dedicate a 

hearing to how the war against child pornography and the online exploitation of children 

is being fought on the ground, by state and local law enforcement agents. 

Like every other state in the nation, New Jersey is not immune from the dangers the 

Internet presents to children. Today we will hear testimony from witnesses who work 

each day to combat child pornography and to keep New Jersey’s children safe from 

predators who seek to use the Internet to exploit them. We will hear from the United 

States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Chris Christie, about the cases brought by 

his office against child predators. We will also hear from New Jersey state and local 

police officers about how they develop their investigations against individuals who 

exploit children over the Internet, and the challenges they face when they attempt to bring 

these criminals to justice. I look forward to learning whether the witnesses believe they 

have the resources they need to not only fight the war against child pornography on the 

Internet, but to win it. As this subcommittee held a hearing only two weeks ago with 

Internet Service Providers and social networking sites, I also look forward to learning 

your thoughts about the industry’s efforts to combat online child pornography and 

whether you believe more should be required of them. Finally, because the vast majority 

of cases against online predators are prosecuted at the state and local level, I am 

interested to learn if additional federal resources would help facilitate your investigations 

and prosecutions. 

Just as our subcommittee’s hearings have shown that every effort must be made to 

support law enforcement’s efforts in the war against child pornography, they have also 

shown that we will not win this war unless we educate parents, teachers, and children 

about Internet safety. Witnesses have repeatedly told this subcommittee that children 

often are not able to appreciate the risk posed to them when they meet and communicate 

over the Internet with a stranger. Two of our witnesses today, i-Safe mentor Samantha 

Hahn and Wired Safety Teen Angel Shannon Sullivan, have been trained to talk to their 

friends and fellow students about Internet safety. I look forward to learning what they 

believe is the most effective way to teach children to protect themselves against online 

predators. Samantha and Shannon are joined by Superintendent David Livingston of the 

Somerset County Schools, who will testify about how schools in his district are 

addressing Internet safety issues as well as problems related to social networking sites, 

cyber bullying, and online predators. 
4

We are also joined today by Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. 

Congressman Fitzpatrick has introduced a bill, H.R. 5319, the Deleting Online Predators 

Act. H.R. 5319 requires schools and libraries to use technology on their computers that 

prevents students from accessing social networking sites. Thank you, Congressman 

Fitzpatrick, for making the trip to appear before us this morning to discuss your efforts to 

combat online predators. 

Finally, I would like to thank my colleague, Mike Ferguson, for welcoming us to his 

district. I know that Congressman Ferguson shares my interest in this issue, and that he is 

dedicated to doing whatever he can to keep the Internet safe for children and to ensure 

that the criminals who use the Internet to prey on children are found and prosecuted. 

Thank you. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for being 

here, very much for your welcome here in New Jersey. I am delighted to 

have you here and really pleased that we could do this hearing here in 

New Jersey. I also want to thank--we have several panels of really 

excellent witnesses. I am delighted that they are all here. I particularly 

appreciate the U.S. Attorney being here today and our Somerset County 

Prosecutor, Wayne Forrest. I appreciate you and all the other panelists 

who are going to join us here today. I think this is going to prove to be 

an excellent line-up for shedding some light on how we can combat this 

problem here in New Jersey. 

 I appreciate very much and want to personally commend some of our 

other panelists for the work that they are doing every day to combat this 

issue in our families and in our communities. Throughout the course of 

the past few months, we in Congress have held several hearings on this 

topic. We have heard from law enforcement, from Internet service 

providers, from social networking sites, from Internet education groups, 

Federal officials from the Department of Justice and other Federal 

agencies, as well as some of the victims themselves. But no matter how 

many hearings we have on this topic, it never gets any easier to hear 

about and it still shocks and sickens every one of us. 

 The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports that 

39 percent of persons caught with images of child sexual abuse had 

images of children younger than 6 years old, and 19 percent of these 

people caught had images of children under 3 years old. In all of my 

years, as a Member of Congress, as an educator and most importantly, as 

a parent, I have never been so disturbed by a topic that we have 

considered. It is beyond comprehension that we, as a society, have 

allowed this industry to flourish, sometimes even within the confines and 

protection of our own homes. And it is our responsibility, as lawmakers, 

as parents, as educators, and law enforcement, to do everything possible 

to let our children know that they are safe and that they will be protected 

at all costs. 
5

 I am not just a Member of Congress and a public servant; I am also a 

parent with four young kids. Like millions of other families, my wife 

and I talk to our kids about the great opportunities for fun and learning 

that the Internet has to offer, but we also need to protect our children 

from those who use the Internet to try and harm them. The private sector 

and government and law enforcement must work together to ensure that 

we all have the necessary tools to keep our children safe. 

 This issue is gruesome, it is heart wrenching, and it is disturbing, but 

it is not one that we can ignore. The Internet can be an extraordinary tool 

for our children, but it also harbors dangers that we must be aware of. 

The predators that lurk on the Internet take advantage of children in the 

cruelest of ways; by earning their trust and stealing their innocence, and 

this leaves a pain that no child should ever have to endure. I am proud to 

say that New Jersey has strong law enforcement programs directed 

toward, dedicated to rooting out Internet predators. 

 Today we will hear some of the success stories of the New Jersey 

Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, as well as the collaborative 

efforts with other ICACs across the country. Our educators have also 

made an effort to teach our children about the dangers of the Internet. 

Law enforcement and local schools have been teaming up to educate 

both children and parents on how to safely use the World Wide Web. 

Organizations such as i-Safe and WiredSafety have made it their mission 

to educate children about how to use the Internet safely and what 

warning signs to look out for. 

 Specifically, i-Safe has educated over 43,000 students on Internet 

safety and implemented 30 parent education programs in New Jersey 

alone. I commend these organizations for their programs and sincerely 

hope they can continue in the future. I look forward to hearing from our 

witnesses today and I hope this hearing serves to further draw attention 

to this issue, especially in a State where we have so many good people 

working on behalf of our children. 

 Again, I want to thank you, Chairman Whitfield, for allowing us to 

bring the Congress to New Jersey today. I want to thank our witnesses 

for coming to the committee today and I particularly want to thank 

Raritan Valley Community College for so graciously hosting this field 

hearing today. I appreciate all of the efforts on their behalf and on behalf 

of the committee and the subcommittee staff for their work in pulling this 

hearing together. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Mike, thank you very much and I will say that the 

interim president of Raritan Community College was here to greet us this 

morning and took us on a tour and we are all ready to move to New 

Jersey. But I appreciate your opening statement. At this time, we have 

four panels of witnesses today and at this time we will start with our 
6

second panelist and that is the Honorable Christopher Christie, who is the 

U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, U.S. Department of Justice. 

So if you wouldn’t mind coming forward, Mr. Christie. I would mention 

to you that Oversight and Investigation, when we take testimony, we do 

it under oath and under the rules of the House and certainly the rules of 

the committee, you are entitled to legal counsel, but since you are a U.S. 

attorney, I assume you don’t need legal counsel. But if you don’t have 

any difficulty testifying under oath, would you stand up and I would like 

to swear you in. 

 [Witness sworn.] 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Christie. You are now under oath 

and you are recognized for your 5-minute opening statement. 

STATEMENT OF HON. CHRISTOPHER J. CHRISTIE, UNITED 

STATES ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Mr. Chairman, thank you for coming to New Jersey, 

Congressman Ferguson. Thank you for inviting me here today to speak 

about this very important topic. Let me say, first, that here in New 

Jersey we have enormously fruitful cooperative efforts that are going on 

between Federal, State, and local law enforcement. I am sure you will 

hear from my law enforcement partners on the State and local level a lot 

about that in the testimony that will follow mine. We have great 

cooperation, cases being done federally and on the State level, and they 

are decided on whether or not to do them federally or State based upon 

where we can get the best sentence, where we can get the best possible 

result. There are no egos involved, there are no turf battles over this and 

I am proud to say that in this State, everyone is cooperating very well 

because they see how important the problem is. 

 One particular investigation, which I think deserves note this 

morning, is the one you referred to in your opening remarks, Mr. 

Chairman, the RegPay investigation. That remains the first and I think, 

most successful international attack on child pornography here from the 

Department of Justice. And let me tell you how that began. It literally 

began by an assistant United States Attorney, in my office, coming into 

my office one day and saying to me I have a new idea about how to go 

after this child porn problem. And I think it is important to note how it 

began because it is just one dedicated assistant United States Attorney 

who had an idea, came to my office, sold me on the idea and we, then, 

went about getting Federal law enforcement involved and selling them 

on the idea. It was a very resource-intense investigation, as you can 

imagine. 
7

 But the premise of the investigation was different than it had ever 

been done before. Our idea was to follow the money, using that old 

phrase. But follow the money is very, very important. This is a multibillion dollar worldwide industry. So the first thing we did was to 

approach MasterCard, Visa and American Express. Since almost all this 

Internet child pornography is processed through credit cards, we wanted 

to have real time access to the transactions that were occurring on these 

child pornography websites. After negotiation with MasterCard, Visa, 

and American Express, I think, for the first time they gave us that real 

time access. From there, we were able to trace it to what were in essence 

the money launderers here in the United States, a place called 

Connections USA, which operated out of the State of Florida. They were 

processing millions of dollars a month in transactions from these child 

pornography websites. 

 Once we were able to establish that they were getting illegal money 

from these websites, we approached them, were able to arrest them and 

then turn them to cooperate for us, and they, then, turned us to RegPay, 

which was their client in Belarus. This is where the child pornography 

was being created, this is where it was being put up onto the Internet 

websites. And there were principals that operated out of Belarus that 

were interacting on a regular basis with these folks in Florida. And as I 

said, the folks in Florida were laundering millions of dollars a month for 

these people through American banks, American credit card companies, 

back over to Belarus. 

 We were able to execute, with the help of these cooperating 

witnesses in the United States, a successful lure, and that is to lure these 

folks from Belarus to a place where we would be able to arrest and 

successfully extradite them to the United States. The lure occurred in 

Paris. We were able to tape record very incriminating conversations with 

these people from Belarus in Paris. Once all the incriminating 

conversations were taped by the cooperating witness, they were arrested, 

put in jail in Paris and extradited to the United States. 

 We have obtained guilty pleas from all the principals of the RegPay 

company in addition to the guilty pleas we got from Connections USA. 

Those people are about to be sentenced, Mr. Chairman, and they have 

presumptive sentences somewhere between 25 and 30 years. That, given 

the recent Supreme Court decision in Booker, the guidelines are no 

longer, as you know, mandatory but advisory, but we are confident that 

we will get very significant sentences and we will argue for 30-year 

sentences for these folks. 

 This case is significant, in essence, because following the money 

gets you to the people who are creating this child pornography, 

exploiting these children and putting these images up on the Internet and 
8

we were also able to get those people in between who are profiting from 

the money laundering for these folks. So this is something that can be 

done; the template is out there now for other U.S. Attorneys’ offices. We 

have worked with a lot of them in an attempt to show them how we did 

what we did. We are enormously proud of the efforts that started with 

that one assistant United States Attorney who had a different idea about 

how to go after this problem. 

 I thank you for the time. 

 [The prepared statement of Hon. Christopher J. Christie follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. CHRISTOPHER J. CHRISTIE, UNITED STATES 

ATTORNEY, DISTRICT OF NEW JERSEY, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Chairman Whitfield, Ranking Member Stupak, and distinguished members of the 

Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify before you today about my office’s 

prosecutions of cases involving the sexual exploitation of children on the Internet, 

including the RegPay case, in which we prosecuted both producers and consumers of 

child pornography. 

Introduction 

 As this Subcommittee is already no doubt aware, the advent of the Internet has led to 

a vast proliferation in the availability and prevalence of child pornography in today’s 

society. The possession and distribution of child pornography ware once relatively rare 

crimes relegated to those who would frequent certain underground adult bookstores or 

attempt to order obscure magazines from overseas. The Internet has dramatically 

changed that by making child pornography easy to produce and distribute, while also 

making it readily available to those inclined to seek out this material from their own 

home. Sadly, thousands of individuals who are sexually attracted to children now have 

ready access to images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation and molestation of 

children. Moreover, unscrupulous and opportunistic individuals both here and especially 

abroad have seized the opportunity to market access to child pornography in an industry 

that provides huge profits and relatively low overhead costs. It is probably accurate to 

say that the number of individuals in this county who have intentionally obtained access 

to or traded images of child pornography within the last six-month period outstrips the 

number for a similar six-month period from 15 years ago by at least a hundredfold. In 

addition, the Internet has also become an avenue for child predators to seek out and 

communicate with children in the seeming anonymity of chat rooms. 

 Needless to say, this sea change has created a tremendous challenge for law 

enforcement -- one that requires law enforcement to adapt quickly to a rapidly changing 

landscape and to search for innovative ways to identify and apprehend offenders. It has 

also put a premium on law enforcement officers with technological and computer 

expertise. 

 Law enforcement efforts to interdict Internet-based child exploitation crimes are 

largely dictated by the nature of the offense, which can be loosely grouped into two 

categories: child pornography offenses and child exploitation cases. The former type of 

investigation is more heavily dependent on technological expertise and forensic 

investigation, while the latter is typically dependent on the capacity of an individual agent 

to convincingly portray himself or herself as a minor who is susceptible to advances by 

on-line predators. 

 To understand child pornography offenses and the efforts of law enforcement to 

effectively investigate them, it is necessary to understand the nature of child pornography 
9

on the Internet. Much of the proliferation of child pornography can be traced to the 

existence of numerous commercial websites that offer access to child pornography for a 

monthly fee. During the past ten years, hundreds of websites, many based in Eastern 

Europe, have appeared on the Internet. These sites typically require a subscriber to 

submit various information including billing information, whether it be via credit card or 

some other on-line payment service such as E-Gold. Law enforcement efforts to interdict 

these websites and to apprehend both those who operate them and those who subscribe to 

these sites has proven a formidable task, but there have been notable successes. Foremost 

among these successes has been the RegPay investigation which represented the 

collaboration of a number of federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement (ICE), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, and the Postal 

Inspection Service, in conjunction with the United States Attorney’s Office for the 

District of New Jersey and the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the 

Department’s Criminal Division (CEOS). It is also illustrative of how the federal 

government can successfully target the commercial child pornography industry at both 

the level of the producer and the consumer. 

The RegPay Case 

 The RegPay investigation, which began in early 2003, represented the first largescale effort to target the operators of commercial websites offering access to child 

pornography over the Internet and to track the financial trail created by those who profit 

from this industry. In the early part of that year, federal agents made undercover 

purchases of monthly subscriptions to numerous child pornography websites in an effort 

to track down the producers of the material and the operators of the sites. The 

investigation revealed that a company based in Belarus, which called itself RegPay, 

operated several commercial child pornography websites and processed credit card fees 

for more than 50 other similar sites. The investigation also determined that credit card 

payments for access to these sites were being processed through a company based in Ft. 

Lauderdale, Florida known as Connections, USA. Agents also executed search warrants 

on computer servers based in Texas and Virginia that RegPay had leased, and recovered 

extensive databases documenting credit card transactions involving approximately 90,000 

customers worldwide. Armed with this informatio,n the investigation pursued two paths, 

aimed at, on the one hand, the operators of RegPay and those who processed their 

transactions, and, on the other hand, the consumers who purchased access to the site. 

 To pursue the operators of RegPay, agents first executed a search warrant at 

Connections, USA in Ft. Lauderdale. Upon executing the search warrant, agents learned 

of an ongoing financial dispute between Connections, USA and the operators of RegPay 

relating to an outstanding debt of more than one million dollars supposedly owed to 

RegPay. Agents were able to assume the role of Connections, USA to broker a meeting 

in Paris between the operators of RegPay and Connections, USA, ostensibly to resolve 

the ongoing dispute and to set the groundwork for future financial cooperation between 

the companies. This ruse led to the arrest of two Belarussians in Paris while a third 

individual was apprehended while vacationing in Spain at the same time. All three were 

extradited to New Jersey to face charges relating to the production and distribution of 

child pornography. All three pled guilty on the eve of trial in February of 2005 before the 

Honorable Dennis M. Cavanaugh of the United States District Court of New Jersey. The 

two principals of RegPay, Yahor Zalatarou and Aliaksandr Boika, are expected to be 

sentenced later this month. They face presumptive sentences in the range of 25 to 30 

years. In total, 9 individuals pled guilty in the District of New Jersey for their 

involvement in operating or supporting RegPay’s business operations, including three 

individuals from Connections, USA as well as three California-based individuals 

involved in the laundering of RegPay’s proceeds. One of these latter individuals, 
10

Yaroslav Grebenschikov, admitted that in late June 2003, he assisted individuals 

associated with Regpay in the formation of LB Systems - a company created to assist 

Regpay and others in Belarus to process credit card sales for previously approved 

transactions involving child pornography - as well as the opening of a bank account, both 

of which he used to transfer more than $200,000 in funds associated with RegPay to 

banks in Latvia. 

 Simultaneously, in what was dubbed Operation Falcon, agents pursued the 

consumers of child pornography by following the transaction history of those who had 

gained access to the RegPay-supported child pornography websites. By comparing the 

transaction data obtained via the search warrants conducted on the servers in Texas and 

Virginia with credit card records, agents were able to seek search warrants for numerous 

individuals throughout the United States. Leads were also distributed worldwide to 

pursue those who knowingly received and possessed child pornography. Through 

February of 2006, the RegPay investigation had resulted in 341 federal, state and local 

arrests in the United States and approximately 703 additional international arrests. In the 

District of New Jersey alone, more than 50 individuals were charged federally with 

possession of child pornography. The New Jersey defendants included teachers, a 

pediatrician, a psychologist, a retired minister and, perhaps least surprisingly, several 

individuals who had been convicted of sex offenses against minors, including a former 

school principal. 

Recidivist Offenders 

 This latter category illustrates the importance of pursuing the consumers of child 

pornography because, among other reasons, the link between those who seek out child 

pornography and those who molest children is substantial and disturbing. Of the 

approximately 52 New Jersey targets charged federally in New Jersey, 5 had prior 

convictions for sexual offenses against minors. In addition, 3 other defendants, when 

confronted by ICE agents conducting searches on their computers, admitted to molesting 

a total of at least 14 children, while two defendants, including one of the convicted sex 

offenders, admitted to attempting to meet minors in on-line chat rooms. What cannot be 

known is how many others of those who were arrested had molested in the past but chose 

not to reveal this to authorities. While it is uncertain what percentage of those who gain 

access to child pornography act out upon their impulses, it is clear that a significant 

percentage do and common sense dictates that the exposure to child pornography 

encourages this behavior. For example, a study completed in 2000 by the Director of the 

Sex Offender Treatment Program at the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North 

Carolina revealed that of 54 inmates convicted of child pornography offenses, 79.6% of 

them admitted that they had also molested significant numbers of children. 

Harm to Exploited Children 

 Furthermore, the proliferation of child pornography websites and the great profits 

reaped by their operators fuels a market for the production of new and often hard-core 

child pornography. In short, the market in child pornography directly leads to the 

exploitation and molestation of children from all over the globe, often for the purpose of 

commercial gain. Many of the victims are from Eastern Europe where a substantial 

percentage of child pornography is produced. Images and videos of American children 

are encountered with great frequency, however, because once a photograph of child 

pornography makes its way on to the Internet - something that can be accomplished with 

ease in the era of digital photography - control of that image is essentially lost, and 

commercial websites may include such images in the collections they offer on their sites. 

Sadly, the victimization of children forced to become the subjects of child pornography 

thus continues as the image travels throughout the Internet. As Attorney General 

Gonzales noted recently, “[child pornography] is not a victimless crime. Most images 
11

today of child pornography depict actual sexual abuse of children. Each image literally 

documents a crime scene.” 

The Evolving Landscape and Law Enforcement’s Challenge 

 As with most sophisticated criminal enterprises, the purveyors of child pornography 

adapt to law enforcement techniques, thus forcing investigators to adjust to an everchanging landscape. The commercial child pornography industry has evolved even since 

the RegPay investigation. For instance, child pornography websites are not as easily 

located on the Internet by the uninitiated as was the case three to four years ago. While 

this may reduce the number of individuals subscribing to these sites, it also makes them 

harder for law enforcement to locate and identify. Moreover, the operators of these sites 

are increasingly sophisticated in hiding their own identities and whereabouts. They 

accomplish this both technologically - by making their operations more difficult to trace 

through the use of such software as anonymizers - and by insulating themselves through 

the use of sham Internet-based companies and other third parties through which they 

funnel their profits from the child pornography websites. Moreover, they lease server 

space typically through the use of stolen identities, and the companies that lease the space 

to them frequently do not realize the true content of the website they are helping to host. 

Perhaps the greatest challenge to bringing these individuals to justice, however, stems 

from the concentration of such operations in Eastern Europe, typically in the break-away 

Soviet republics such as Belarus. Most of these countries do not have extradition policies 

with the United States, and the knowledge of the fate of the RegPay defendants makes the 

likelihood that operators of similar sites will venture outside the relative safety provided 

by the borders of their home country remote at best. Widespread corruption amongst 

Government officials in some of these countries significantly reduces the chances that 

they will face meaningful prosecution in their homeland. 

 These obstacles mean that curbing demand for child pornography will be 

increasingly important in combating the proliferation of this material. Techniques 

including electronic surveillance and the execution of search warrants on servers both 

domestically and abroad provide a deterrence effect for those who might seek child 

pornography through online commercial websites. Law enforcement needs to send a 

clear message that individuals who subscribe to these websites and contribute to the 

molestation of children across the globe run a substantial risk of facing significant jail 

time any time they hit the “JOIN NOW” button for one of these sites. As I speak here 

today, even though child pornography websites are harder to locate than before, there are 

still thousands of Americans who attempt to subscribe to child pornography websites 

every month. Law enforcement can and will play a significant role in bringing such 

individuals to justice. 

Alternative Distribution Methods 

 While I have spoken so far primarily about the role of commercial websites in the 

proliferation of child pornography, it is important to realize that a great deal of child 

pornography gets distributed on the Internet through individuals who trade such material 

with one another. Additionally, peer-to-peer software such as Kazaa and Limewire may 

be abused by those with a mutual interest in child pornography to share their respective 

collections with one another if they belong to the same network of computers. Child 

pornography may also be distributed through attachments to e-mail. Individuals with an 

interest in child pornography may frequent certain chat rooms from which they will 

exchange collections. In addition, certain individuals may establish on their home 

computer what is known as an F-Serve on which they establish a collection of child 

pornography that can only be accessed by those who upload images of child pornography 

to the F-Serve first - thereby preventing law enforcement from gaining access while 

expanding the F-Serve operator’s own collection. 
12

 All of these methods for distributing child pornography cause many of the same 

harms as posed by commercial child pornography websites, namely, the continued 

victimization of the children depicted and the encouragement of those with pedophilic 

impulses to act upon them. Law enforcement can identify many of the individuals 

involved in these forms of distribution through a variety of techniques. For instance, 

certain programs can be run which search computers that are connected through the same 

network for a particular image as defined by its hash value. This enables law 

enforcement to identify individuals who have particular images of child pornography on 

their computers and may establish sufficient probable cause for search warrants. In 

addition, forensic examination of an individual’s computer that has been seized may 

reveal e-mail communications with other individuals who have sent and received child 

pornography from the seized computer. In this regard, traditional cooperation from a 

defendant who has distributed child pornography through these means may lead to the 

identification and arrest of numerous others. 

Interstate Traveler Cases 

 In addition to investigations involving child pornography, the FBI plays a vital role 

in preventing and even interdicting child exploitation crimes so long as there is some 

interstate nexus to provide federal jurisdiction. The best known example of this type of 

investigation is the so-called enticement or “traveler case,” which has been recently well 

documented on a series of “Dateline NBC” episodes. Across the country, too many of 

our children have been lured by child abusers through contacts in chat rooms that are 

allegedly closed to adults. Some of these interstate travelers also take pictures of the 

minors they molest and sometimes abduct, and then post the child pornography online. 

This type of investigation requires an undercover agent to enter an Internet chat room 

where older men are likely to be interacting with minors. The undercover agent will 

engage in a series of chats to determine if the other individual is an adult seeking sexual 

contact with the undercover whom he believes to be a young teenager. As the chats 

progress, the older male may decide to travel to the location of the minor in the hopes of 

renting a nearby motel room or making similar arrangements. If the older male travels 

across state lines to meet the minor, the case may be taken federally. While many 

“traveler cases” may be prosecuted at the state level, federal traveler cases are not 

uncommon. For instance, the District of New Jersey is currently prosecuting a case 

where a doctor from a prominent Philadelphia hospital traveled to Hackensack, New 

Jersey expecting to meet a 14-year old girl with whom he intended to have sexual 

relations. Such “traveler cases” often involve actual minors whom the traveler intends to 

sexually abuse. For example, the District of New Jersey recently secured a conviction of 

a Florida man who traveled to New Jersey to have sex with a 13-year old girl. ICE 

agents, who did not initially know the identity of the intended victim, trailed the 

defendant and observed him following a school bus in an effort to find the girl whom he 

had met over the Internet. The agents were able to interdict this crime before the 

defendant, who was in possession of a stun gun and alcohol, contacted the victim. It is 

likely that such crimes, however, are greatly under reported by the young and confused 

victims. 

Sex Tourism Cases 

Another, albeit less common type of child exploitation case that may involve the 

Internet arises out of sex tourism investigations wherein the defendants are individuals 

who travel overseas to have sex with minors, or who organize such trips. These trips 

frequently involve travel to southeast Asia. Sex tour operators catering to pedophiles 

tend to be discreet and are difficult to infiltrate because they are usually extremely wary 

of law enforcement. If successful, however, these cases may not only lead to the 

apprehension of the tour operator, but his prior clients as well. Because of the 
13

international nexus of these violations, ICE often acts as the primary federal law 

enforcement agency responsible for conducting such investigations. ICE has conducted 

many successful child sex tourism investigations and works closely with CEOS, the U.S. 

Attorney's Offices, as well as federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. 

The District of New Jersey is currently prosecuting one such case where the 

defendant operated a website advertising sex tourism. The website did not specifically 

advertise that its tours were catered toward minors, but it included pictures of girls in 

various states of undress, some of whom clearly appeared to be underage. The 

investigation involved undercover Internet chats followed by meets wherein undercover 

agents posed as customers seeking to have sex with underage girls upon arrival in the 

Philippines. The defendant initially indicated that he would not talk about minors until 

the group arrived in the Philippines, but he gradually opened up to the point where he 

admitted to having sex with minors himself. 

Project Safe Childhood 

 All of the investigations that I have described so far will be bolstered by the 

Department of Justice’s recently launched Project Safe Childhood initiative designed to 

coordinate the efforts of federal agencies and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices with state and local 

law enforcement. This initiative is designed to help coordinate national child 

pornography investigations, train additional federal, state and local law enforcement in 

pursuing computer-based investigations and raise community awareness of the dangers of 

the Internet for children. The initiative is also designed to increase federal involvement 

in many of these investigations, especially where state laws provide little deterrence for 

offenders. This latter point is clearly evident in New Jersey where possession of child 

pornography regularly results in sentences of 2 to 3 years if prosecuted federally but 

carries with it a presumption of a probationary sentence under state law. 

 I am proud that the District of New Jersey has been a leader in pursuing child 

exploitation offenses on a national level, as evidenced by the RegPay case, which 

represents one of the most successful child pornography investigations in the nation’s 

history. Most importantly, Project Safe Childhood will ensure that every state and every 

district has properly trained law enforcement officials who can vigorously pursue 

predators and similar offenders, when supplied with appropriate leads, and that these 

investigations will realize even greater success in the future. 

 I should also note that the District of New Jersey’s experience in pursuing RegPay 

and other similar investigations demonstrates that the number of child pornography and 

other child exploitation offenders is quite simply staggering, and that it behooves law 

enforcement offices - whether they be the prosecuting authority or the investigative 

agency - to devote greater resources and personnel to these investigations. The RegPay 

investigation demonstrates that a few well-trained and dedicated law enforcement 

officials can make a major impact and provide prosecutors and agents in their own and 

other districts with large numbers of dangerous offenders to pursue and bring to justice. 

Unfortunately, sometimes our own American youth are the victims of traffickers in this 

country who lure youth from their communities and sell them for prostitution in other 

jurisdictions, offering them for sex at truck stops, conventions, and on the streets of our 

cities. 

Human Trafficking 

 I would be remiss if I did not mention that the impact of federal law enforcement’s 

efforts to protect children is not limited to investigations focused on the Internet. One 

type of crime that frequently entails the exploitation of minors are those involving human 

trafficking, whether they involve forced labor or sex trafficking. Many of the victims of 

this type of deplorable crime are minors, and they are often sexually exploited on a 

commercial basis. Human trafficking is a crime that has been with us for many years, but 
14

continued largely unnoticed until the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 

2000, authored by a strong, committed group of legislators including Representative 

Christopher Smith, from my home state of New Jersey. That legislation recognized that 

many individuals, typically young female immigrants, were being smuggled into the 

United States and forced to work in demeaning conditions or in prostitution. Since the 

passage of that legislation, numerous trafficking cases have been brought throughout the 

United States, and the District of New Jersey has once again been one of the leaders in 

pursuing these types of cases. 

 In 2002, for example, this Office brought the case of United States. v. JimenezCalderon which led to the convictions of two women for their role in forcing several 

juvenile Mexican girls to work as prostitutes in Plainfield, New Jersey. The defendants 

received sentences of approximately 171⁄2 years each. In 2005, this office indicted the 

case of United States. v. Luisa Medrano, et al., which involved the smuggling into the 

United States of young Honduran females, some as young as fourteen, after they had 

been promised legitimate waitressing jobs to lure them into the country. Upon arrival in 

Union City, New Jersey, these girls were forced to work six or seven days per week at 

bars catering to male immigrants where they were pressured to perform sexually 

provocative dances for the customers and ply them with alcohol. The victims were also 

required to live at specific residences and had their movement greatly restricted until their 

smuggling debts were paid off in full. Many of these juveniles were sexually exploited 

during the smuggling process that brought them to New Jersey. 

 Even more recently, the District of New Jersey has brought various charges against a 

number of defendants for their involvement in prostitution activities in Hudson County 

and elsewhere. These defendants are primarily members of the Notario family from San 

Miguel Tenancingo, the trafficking capital of Mexico. The investigation has identified 

numerous trafficking victims who were put to work as prostitutes in various brothels 

along the East Coast after having been smuggled in from Mexico. Among these 

identified victims are at least three juveniles. Thus, the pursuit of human trafficking 

cases often represent yet another means by which law enforcement identifies and 

dramatically assists sexually exploited minors. 

 

Conclusion 

 In conclusion, the dangers of the Internet in the proliferation of child exploitation 

crimes cannot be underestimated. The Attorney General has recognized that “we are in 

the midst of an epidemic in the production and trafficking of movies and images 

depicting the sexual abuse of children,” and the need for law enforcement to respond 

rapidly and forcefully cannot be more clear. With proper coordination and the 

cooperation of federal, state and local authorities, the Internet can be made far safer for 

the children of this country. Law enforcement must create an environment in which 

sexual predators fear the Internet as a dangerous place that may likely land them in prison 

for a significant period of time. The RegPay investigation - especially with the advent of 

Project Safe Childhood - provides a model for law enforcement agencies throughout the 

country to pursue child exploitation cases with the knowledge that the offenders who are 

identified will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted. 

Mr. Chairman, I again thank you and the Subcommittee for the opportunity to speak 

to you today, and I would be pleased to answer any questions the Subcommittee might 

have. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, Mr. Christie, thank you very much and we 

certainly appreciate the great work you are doing here and I know there 

has been national attention on the prosecution in the RegPay case and I 

mentioned this in my opening statement, that those of us on the 
15

committee have really been shocked about exactly how widespread this 

problem of child pornography is and then those people whose sole goal is 

to meet young people and meet them physically and molest them in some 

way. I know we had this case in Texas where a couple, a married couple, 

had a 5-year-old child and they had 7,000 subscribers, 70,000 subscribers 

that were paying $30 a month and they would molest their child sexually 

on demand and their income was around $2 million a month and through 

law enforcement and the techniques that you are using, that couple was 

arrested, prosecuted and both of them are now in prison serving between 

40 and 50 years in a penitentiary. 

 But once again, I do want to commend you on the RegPay case and I 

would like you to elaborate, if you wouldn’t mind, just a little bit about, 

in some cases and some jurisdictions, there is a lack of cooperation 

between Federal and State and local officials: Do you feel comfortable 

that on this issue that you are getting cooperation at all levels? 

 MR. CHRISTIE. As I said, Mr. Chairman, in my remarks, I think in 

this jurisdiction I can speak to this one with the most knowledge. There 

is a great deal of cooperation. I think part of that is led by the fact that 

there is so much of this crime going on, that there is so much to go 

around, that people aren’t arguing over who gets what case. It is more 

trying to figure out how do we cover everything we need to cover. The 

breadth of the problem is extraordinary. As I said, it is a multibillion 

dollar industry and it branches off in a number of different directions. 

 You have the exploitation of the children, as you mentioned, who are 

in the images. And in our office, we have had cases with children as 

young as 6 months old who are being exploited sexually on these images, 

which I will tell you, I was not in law enforcement before I became the 

United States Attorney, and when I saw these images of children as 

young as 6 months old being exploited, it is the most sickening thing I 

have seen in this job, so I think the cooperation is driven by the depravity 

of the crime and also by, unfortunately, the volume of it. We all need to 

work together and there is plenty for all of us to do. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Right. Now, what about Attorney General 

Gonzalez’s Project Safe Childhood initiative? What is your view on that 

and are you pleased with that? 

 MR. CHRISTIE. I think it is a very important initiative, but one in 

New Jersey that, quite frankly, we were ahead of. When you look at 

what Project Safe Childhood is asking U.S. Attorneys offices to do, is 

ordering the U.S. Attorneys offices to do, we have already done that 4 

years ago. When I became U.S. Attorney, we set up a separate standalone unit on that which was called our Public Protection Unit that deals 

almost exclusively with crimes against children. We have seven 

assistant United States Attorneys who are working almost exclusively on 
16

that, also with violence against women and human trafficking, so the 

initiatives that the Attorney General is calling for in terms of the focus 

there, is something that we have been doing for the last 4 years. In fact, 

the chief of my Public Protection Unit is here with me today, Mark 

McCarren, and Mark has been working on these problems with me now 

for nearly the last 4 years, so I think the focus is very important. 

 In addition, I think it helps to focus the other investigative agencies, 

both inside DOJ and outside the Department on making sure they make 

these investigations a priority, so I mentioned in my remarks they are 

very resource intensive. You will have hundreds and hundreds of targets 

that you need to go after across the country and sometimes around the 

world, so you need the cooperation of the FBI, you need the cooperation 

of Immigration and Customs Enforcement out of Homeland Security to 

make sure that they put the resources on it. So I think the Attorney 

General putting a focus on it will help to make sure those other resources 

come, as well. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. What was the length of time from the beginning of 

the RegPay case until you did get a conviction? 

 MR. CHRISTIE. It was about 2 years. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Two years? 

 MR. CHRISTIE. About 2 years. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. You know, we also had, in one of our hearings, 

there was a young girl from Russia who was adopted by a gentleman 

here in Pennsylvania. She was 6 years old, and it came through a child 

adoption agency in New Jersey and this child was placed with this man 

who was not married and for a period of 6 years he sexually molested 

her, kept her chained in the basement for periods of time, taking obscene 

pictures, and putting it all over the Internet, which he was paid for that, 

as well. And through some very innovative work by law enforcement, he 

was also arrested and is serving a prison term now. We are going to have 

a hearing about some of these child adoption agencies, in which this 

agency received a fee of $25,000 and did not do any due diligence in 

placing this child. It also appears, we are going to be looking into that 

aspect, which is a little bit different than we normally think, in these 

cases. 

 At this time, I would like to recognize Mr. Ferguson for any 

questions he may have. 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Mr. Chairman, I need to say just one thing before 

Mr. Ferguson, on that point; there are many branches of this problem and 

you have just raised one of them and human trafficking is also a part of 

this problem. You can identify these people as people who exploit 

children sexually from a child pornography perspective, but also, a lot of 

these organizations are involved, especially in Eastern Europe and in 
17

Central America, in highly coordinated trafficking of individuals into the 

United States for children for this very purpose. And so I would urge the 

committee, as they go forward, to not lose sight of that aspect of this, as 

well, because the profits being made there are not as significant as in the 

pure child pornography industry, but they are significant and it is a 

growing problem here, especially in a State like New Jersey, where you 

have a real melting pot and so people can come from very different parts 

of the world and fit in here seamlessly and not be noticed. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Thank you again for being 

here with us today, Mr. Christie. We have had a number of these 

hearings. We have heard from lots of different folks, including victims. 

You talked about the volume as being a challenge, an issue that you have 

to deal with. One of the victims that we heard from in one of our first 

hearings who actually turned this into a business for himself when he 

was, himself, a minor; ended up making a lot of money. 

 He finally decided to turn over all of his information to legal 

authorities and he testified that he was--this is another part of the 

country--was very, very dissatisfied, disappointed with the pace of the 

law enforcement investigation. To his knowledge, this is some months 

or a couple of years, I think, after he had turned all this information over 

to the Department of Justice, that they hadn’t, as far as we know, hadn’t 

brought a prosecution or hadn’t had a conviction of, I don’t know, some 

1,500, I think, IP addresses and credit card information and there clearly 

are a lot of challenges for law enforcement, for folks like yourself, to try 

and get to the root of this problem and to prosecute and hold accountable 

those who need to be held accountable. 

 We are trying to address that from a legislation point of view, if that 

is necessary. What insights can you share with us? What challenges, 

what problems do you see, from a Federal law enforcement perspective? 

What challenges do you have in terms of trying to go after these folks? 

You have obviously had success, so you have overcome some 

challenges, but what other, what insights can you share with us? What 

can we be doing from our end to help work with law enforcement, 

particularly Federal law enforcement? 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Well, we have had--I don’t want to lead anybody 

astray. We have had our frustrations, too, and they surround, essentially, 

resource-type of frustrations where you really need to get people 

focused. This work is difficult work and quite frankly, Congressman, it 

is distasteful work. When you have assistant United States Attorneys 

and agents who are working day after day amidst these images, at times 

it can be inspirational because you want to try to save these children, but 

it can be very emotionally taxing and so part of what we have done is try 
18

to rotate the people that we have doing this work to try to ease the burden 

from them because it is an extraordinary burden. 

 If you sit and leaf through, as I have, notebooks of these images, it is 

extraordinarily disturbing. And as a parent, you can’t but have your 

mind wander to how horrible the reality is for these children. I think in 

terms of what can be done, I think the Attorney General’s step is a good 

one. I think we need to just make sure that law enforcement understands 

that this is a priority, that this is important work that we need to do, and 

that is about providing leadership and that is why I think the Attorney 

General’s initiative in Project Safe Childhood is so important. 

 We saw, in the first term of the Bush Administration, the focus on 

Project Safe Neighborhood and on violent crime and we had enormous 

results from that initiative. I think we can have similar type of results in 

this initiative just by the Attorney General telling every U.S. Attorney 

this now must be a priority in your office. In some offices, like mine, it 

already has been, but in others it hasn’t and so in those offices they now 

know, from the number one guy in our department, that this is a priority 

and I think anything that Congress can do to encourage and supplement 

that leadership is going to be very important because they need to know 

from the Congress that they think this is important, as well. 

 MR. FERGUSON. You talked about, sort of, this fatigue that can set in 

when dealing with a topic which is so distasteful and so horrible. I spent 

a day over at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 

meeting with the folks there who are doing this every day. They do lots 

of things there; as you know, they train law enforcement from all around 

the country, they bring them in for free and train folks, which is an 

incredible service, but they also have this Federal kind of a task force 

with all different folks from FBI and DOJ and all different folks trying to 

work together and one of the things they do is monitor all of this material 

and try and get their hands on this material and figure where it came 

from, who created it and whatnot. And it has got to be a tremendous 

strain and a mental and psychological strain for just a human being; these 

are just people that are doing this investigative work. So that sort of 

having to rotate folks through opportunities like that has got to be very 

difficult because, I mean, just thinking about it from our perspective and 

listening to testimony, it is horrible. 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Yes. 

 MR. FERGUSON. And for folks who are doing this every day, it must 

be really, really difficult. 

 MR. CHRISTIE. It is, and I think one of the things that have escalated 

that, too, through the Internet in particular, is not only the availability of 

it in everybody’s home now, but the fact that there are really two ways to 

pay for this material that are being used now. It is not only just paying 
19

through credit card, but you can pay by uploading your own images. So 

you can pay in kind, essentially, so that if you are willing to upload 30, 

60, 90, 120, they usually do it in lots of 30, original images of child 

pornography, that can help to pay for your membership to these type of 

sites, instead of paying cash. 

 We have had cases where you have people who are exploiting their 

own children in order to have access to this information, in order to make 

a profit. You have people out there, we have had cases of people 

adopting children, as you mentioned, and not just foreign adoptions, but 

domestic adoptions, where they then trade their children with other 

pedophiles and allow them to abuse their children in return for abusing 

someone else’s children. 

 The breadth of these crimes and what I am really trying to get across 

is, the focus on the Internet is important because of its availability and its 

ability to exploit our children in our own living rooms. But we need to 

make sure that we follow all the branches of what runs off of this vein 

and it is an enormous problem and one that we are spending a lot of time, 

you know, seven--I have 130 AUSAs in my office, seven of them are 

working just exclusively on this type of work, so that is a large 

commitment of resources, from a percentage perspective, on crimes 

against children and we include human trafficking in that, as well, since 

most of the people trafficked are children, so it is a fatigue area and so I 

try to move my people out of there, except for Mark, who is, 

unfortunately, stuck there because he does it so well. But he has shown 

real leadership in that area and he has gotten a lot of new young people 

in there now that we have just put in that are really bringing an enormous 

energy to the task. 

 MR. FERGUSON. I happen to know Mark. He and I went to high 

school together many moons ago and you are fortunate, as you know, to 

have such a talented person leading the charge on that. 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Absolutely. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Mr. Chairman, I have one more topic I would like 

to cover with the U.S. Attorney. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Sure. 

 MR. FERGUSON. You talked about following the money. You talked 

about how this is paid for, largely through credit card companies and 

using that technology. How can we work with, in your opinion, with 

your experience, how can we work with the credit card companies to 

make them a full partner in this effort? It just seems to me, and this is 

another thing that has become obvious to us in other hearings, is that 

without the money, a lot of this problem, not all of it, but a lot of this 

problem is driven by money and by the ability for people to make money 

and the commerce of the issue is really, I think, perhaps at the heart of 
20

this, other than just a sickness. How did you work with the credit card 

companies in the RegPay case and how might that be a model and what 

things have we learned from that? Or what things do we need to do to 

help them to be a more active partner with us in this effort, as well? 

Because I have got to believe they have got to be a huge part of it. 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Well, they are an enormous part of it and this former 

AUSA identified that very early on and was his first foray into trying to 

set this up was meeting with the credit card companies. And I will be 

candid that initially we met with some resistance from them in terms of 

them giving us real time access to the transactions coming off these sites, 

but eventually, we were able to persuade them that this was in their 

interest. 

 And I think that anything that Congress can do to encourage both 

transparency on this topic from the credit card companies and real time 

access for law enforcement to these records, because listen, we know that 

if they are processing transactions from a child pornography website, that 

is illegal. So you have already met the threshold. This is not a free 

speech question. It is not a privacy question. These are people who we 

know are engaged in illegal conduct and they are using those credit cards 

to engage in that illegal conduct. 

 So I think to the extent that Congress can continue to prod the credit 

card companies to have transparency on this issue and give real time 

access, because the hundreds of thousands of transactions that are done, 

just in New Jersey every day on these websites, it is staggering. When 

you go across the country, you are talking about millions. So for law 

enforcement to follow those transactions, both to the people who are 

purchasing and then back to the people who are benefiting from this 

money, we need to get on top of it right away. People change credit 

cards, drop credit cards the same way that drug dealers change and drop 

cell phones, so we need to be on top of that and get that in a real time 

way because the money launderers here in the United States are also 

profiting from this, these middlemen companies who don’t have any 

direct--they are not owned by the credit card companies, but they work 

as affiliates who are processing this money. 

 They are the key, after the credit card companies. Once you get to 

them, they know who they are making these deals with around the world 

and how much they are getting paid to process this money and get it to 

foreign banks where we would have a more difficult time seizing the 

assets. So I think the credit card companies are the gateway into this 

industry and so to the extent they can continue to be held accountable for 

transparency and giving us real time access, the Congress would be 

making an enormous contribution in that regard for law enforcement, to 

make our job easier and make us more effective. 
21

 And I will tell you, these guys in the RegPay case were stunned that 

we were able to catch them, we found in debriefings afterwards, because 

no one had ever followed the money before. The traditional way law 

enforcement had done this was to just go after the purchasers. It is the 

easier way to go. And a lot of time it is important, because in this case, 

we had purchasers who were pediatricians, purchasers who were school 

bus drivers, purchasers who were athletic coaches for children. 

 You need to go after those people to get them out of circulation 

because the statistic, Congressman, you mentioned, about how apt these 

people are to be able to then act out on the abuse is they own this 

material. So both sides are important, but there had been an emphasis in 

law enforcement previously just on the purchaser side and not on the side 

of the people who are profiting from this monetarily. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Actually, I have another question. Do you mind? 

 MR. WHITFIELD. No, go ahead. 

 MR. FERGUSON. I have one more question. When it comes to ISPs, 

we have also been in conversations and heard testimony from ISPs, these 

Internet Service Providers who--there is no real industry standard right 

now for the length of time that they keep information and we have heard 

from law enforcement, the Department of Justice, and others who would 

like there to be a standard where ISPs would keep information about 

traffic and personal information from folks for up to 2 years. ISPs and 

other privacy organizations, frankly, have raised concerns with that. Do 

you have any particular personal or professional recommendation on 

where we--I mean, ideally we will come to some consensus on this and 

bring everybody together, but in the case that we may end up having to 

legislate this at some point, do you have any insights for us on how that 

might affect your ability to go after the bad guys? 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Well, without talking specifically about legislation, it 

seems to me that from a law enforcement perspective, having that 

historical information is the only way that we are going to be able to 

follow these people unless you are in a situation where you are real time 

following it in the midst of an investigation. If you want to try to do one 

of these things historically, which is most of the time the way it is going 

to be done, the RegPay case is an anomaly. Most of the time you are 

going to wind up kind of backing into one of these investigations and so 

having that historical information available to us is important, and I 

understand the privacy concerns of gathering and holding onto--for the 

ISPs, holding onto this personal information. 

 But again, it seems to me that law enforcement, in this instance, is 

only going after folks and only requesting information on folks who are 

on child pornography websites. Per se, that is illegal. I mean, we are not 

talking about people who are going on adult pornography websites, 
22

which you may or may not necessarily be illegal. We are not talking 

about obscenity in the adult obscenity sense, which some people may 

argue have some First Amendment protection. We are talking about 

children who are being exploited sexually for profit on the Internet. 

There can’t be any argument from anyone that there is a privacy 

protection, in my view, here. What is the privacy protection of people 

profiting illegally from exploiting children, both in the United States and 

around the world. 

 And so I have less sympathy for the privacy position in this 

particular context, because the underlying conduct is, per se, illegal. And 

once you have established that, it seems to me that if we establish 

probable cause to get the information and have a judge who is willing, a 

Federal judge, lifetime tenure, who is willing to sign off on a search 

warrant for us to be able to get those materials, it seems to me that the 

privacy issue is much less important and so I would be hopeful that 

Congress can help in forging a consensus among all the parties on this, 

but if not, I think it is a very important tool if we are really serious about 

going after these folks because I will tell you, they believe--when they sit 

in their living rooms--we have spoken to people who are purchasers of 

this material. When they sit in their living rooms, they believe they are 

anonymous. They believe no one knows who they are and they don’t 

grasp the fact yet that law enforcement can come and get them for doing 

this and that they are part of the problem. And I think we need to send 

very strong messages about that and that is why, in our office, we have 

been as aggressive as we have been, not only on the RegPay supplier 

side, but on the purchaser side, as well. And it is important that if 

Congress sends that type of message, I think the Federal judges will hear 

it, too, and will make sure that in this era where they now have a lot more 

discretion, will give out stiff sentences to these folks, because these are 

serious crimes. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. I think Congressman Ferguson did hit on an 

important part and that is relating to data retention and we have had a 

number of meetings with the Internet service providers and maybe not 

surprisingly, they haven’t talked a lot about privacy with us; they talk 

about cost with us. But we have told them that we think it is essential 

that they start retaining this data and I think the Chairman of our full 

committee and with Mr. Ferguson’s help and others, are probably going 

to come forward with legislation to deal with this in a broader sense, as 

well. I am also glad you mentioned the credit card things because, as I 

mentioned in my opening statement, this is our fifth hearing on this 

subject matter and we are going to have another one and we are bringing 

in the credit card companies to see what we can do with them to assist in 

a more effective way, also. 
23

 MR. CHRISTIE. I will say it is really important, Mr. Chairman, and I 

have to give MasterCard, Visa, and American Express credit on the 

RegPay case. After negotiations with them, that were good faith 

negotiations, they came forward and gave us the access and the 

information we needed to make that case, so it is available and they can 

do it if they want to do it, and in the RegPay case, they did it and they 

were enormous partners in bringing that case to a conclusion. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And I know Congressman Ferguson had also 

mentioned this young man who first got involved in this because an older 

gentleman convinced him that if he would take off his shirt with a 

webcam showing and everything, that he would send him a check for 

$50, so that was his first step down the road to being sexually exploited 

in person--by taking off his shirt and getting a check for $50. But thank 

you very much for your testimony and great leadership you are providing 

here in this area and we look forward to working with you as we 

continue down the road to take steps to reduce the exploitation of 

children on the Internet. 

 MR. CHRISTIE. Thank you. Thank you for inviting me, thank you 

for being here. I thank you for your focus on this problem. It is an 

enormous problem that really, quite frankly, when I go around our State, 

frightens more parents than almost anything because they really feel as if 

they have lost a sense of control over their children and so your 

committee’s focus, subcommittee’s focus on this is really important and I 

think gratifying. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And so many parents are way behind their children 

about the way the Internet operates, too, which makes it more difficult. 

 MR. CHRISTIE. I count myself among them, absolutely. Thank you. 

Thank you, Congressman. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. At this time, I would like to call our second 

witness, and that is Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick, who represents the 

Eight Congressional District in Pennsylvania. Congressman Fitzpatrick, 

it is great to see you here today. As I mentioned, before you came in, 

Congressman Fitzpatrick, you have introduced a bill, H.R. 5319, entitled 

“The Deleting Online Predators Act,” and I know you have been at the 

forefront on trying to deal with this issue, so we are quite excited about 

your being here today to testify. As you probably know, in Oversight 

and Investigations, we do like to take testimony under oath and I am 

assuming you have no difficulty in testifying under oath. 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. Sure. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. So if you would stand up and let me just swear you 

in, raise your right hand. 

 [Witness sworn.] 
24

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you very much and you are recognized now 

for 5 minutes, Congressman Fitzpatrick. 

STATEMENT OF HON. MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, MEMBER, 

U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. Mr. Chairman, Congressman Ferguson, thank 

you for permitting me to participate in your Oversight hearing this 

morning, allowing me to give testimony on what I feel is a new and 

emerging problem confronting our Nation’s children and their safety 

while using the Internet. Mr. Christie correctly testified, indicated that 

this is a, virtually a multibillion dollar industry where the sole product is 

the exploitation of our Nation’s children. And Chairman, you talked 

about the particular case, international adoption of a young girl, I believe 

she was from Russia, passed through an adoption agency here in New 

Jersey and ended up ultimately adopted by a single male in the western 

part of my State, I think it was Pittsburgh or Plum, Pennsylvania. His 

name is Mancuso. 

 And I remember her story, her name is Masha, and while she has 

been placed now with a real family, her innocent images, which were 

essentially stolen from her, continue widely available on the World Wide 

Web, and while Mr. Mancuso is in jail, there is legislation that has been 

introduced in the Senate, hopefully it will be introduced into the House 

soon that will give Masha private right of action against those Internet 

service providers and the providers of Internet e-mails who continue to 

profit from her innocence in her images, as I said, both were stolen from 

her, so I look forward to the introduction of that legislation, as well. 

 I want to thank the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, 

Chairman Whitfield and Congressman Ferguson, for holding this, the 

committee’s--I think you said it is the fifth hearing in addressing the 

dangers that online predators pose to our Nation’s children. Your work 

in this area is helping to shed light on the difficult challenges to both law 

enforcement and to American families, as well, and I appreciate the 

committee’s dedication to this issue. 

 As the father of six children, I know the challenges that technology 

poses to our families. In a world that moves at a dizzying pace, being a 

father gets harder all the time. Monitoring our children’s use of 

emerging technology is a huge task and the Internet remains the focus of 

many parents’ concerns. The technological breakthrough of the World 

Wide Web has been enormously beneficial to our society. The Internet 

has brought communities across the globe closer together through instant 

communication. It has enabled an unfiltered free flow of thought, ideas, 
25

and opinion. The Internet has opened a window to the world right at our 

fingertips. 

 However, this window opens both ways. The freedom to connect to 

the world anywhere, at any time brings with it the threat of unscrupulous 

predators and criminals who mask their activities with the anonymity the 

Internet provides to its users. And among its many applications, one of 

the most worrying developments of late has been the growth of what are 

known as social networking sites. Social networking sites like 

Myspace.com is one of the more famous--Friendster and Facebook are 

some of the others--have literally exploded in popularity in just a few 

short years. MySpace alone has just over 80 million users and ranks as 

the sixth most popular English language website and the eighth most 

popular in the world. 

 Anyone can use these sites. Companies and colleges, teachers and 

students, young and old all make use of social networking sites to 

connect with people electronically, to share pictures, information, course 

work, and common interests. These sites have torn down the 

geographical divide that once prevented long distance social 

relationships from forming, allowing instant communication and 

connections to take place and a virtual second life to take hold for its 

users. For adults, these sites have been fairly benign. For children, they 

open the door to many dangers, including online bullying and exposure 

to child predators that have turned the Internet into their own virtual 

hunting ground. 

 I became personally aware of the danger of the Internet and what it 

can pose after my 16-year-old daughter began using the social 

networking site in MySpace.com. I quickly realized that while my 

daughter thought she was only chatting with her friends, other people, 

some with criminal intent, could be looking in. Although age limits exist 

on many of these sites, there is almost no enforcement of these rules. 

Frequently, children under the age of 14, which is the cutoff age for 

profiles on MySpace, simply lie about their age and fake being 16 or 18 

or even older. Predators also use this anonymity to their advantage by 

profiling themselves as teenagers to more easily identify and navigate the 

profiles of their prey. 

 The dangers our children are exposed to by these sites is clear and is 

compelling. According to a study conducted by the National Center for 

Missing and Exploited Children, in 1998 there were 3,267 tips regarding 

child pornography. Since then, the number has risen by over 3,000 

percent to an astounding 106,119 tips in 2004. The Department of 

Justice recognizes child pornography as a precursor for pedophiles and is 

often linked to online predators. According to Attorney General 
26

Gonzalez, one in five children has been approached sexually on the 

Internet, one in five children. 

 Worse still, a survey conducted by the Crimes Against Children 

Research Center found that less than one in four children told their 

parents about the sexual solicitation that they received. MySpace, which 

is self-regulated, has removed an estimated 200,000 objectionable 

profiles since it began to operate in 2003. And while it is difficult to 

predict the exact number of total predators on the Internet at any one 

time, the FBI estimates that there are more than 2,400 active sexual, 

child sexual exploitation investigations under investigation at any one 

given time. 

 This problem is finally gaining the public’s attention. Look closely 

at local and national news stories and you will undoubtedly see a story of 

a crime linked to a social networking site. Recently, national news 

reports have focused on the case of Katherine R. Lester, a 16-year-old 

Michigan honor student who fled to Israel with hopes of meeting a 25-

year-old man she met on MySpace. Two months ago, in my own 

congressional district, right across the Delaware River in Bucks County, 

a 25-year-old man, Shawn Little, was arrested for posing as a teenager 

online to solicit a 14-year-old boy. Little’s communications with the 

child resulted in a sexual encounter. And NBC’s Dateline program has 

brought the threat of online predators to the televisions of millions of 

Americans through their acclaimed by disturbing “To Catch a Predator” 

series. While these high-profile cases make a splash in the headlines, 

how many other less-publicized cases of child exploitation go unnoticed? 

 While these stories have pressured many social networking sites to 

take action to improve their safety protocols, like MySpace recently has 

done, these changes, in my view, fall short of real reform and that is why 

I did introduce the bill, the Deleting Online Predators Act. Parents have 

the ability to screen their children’s Internet access at home, but this 

protection ends when their child leaves for school or the library. My 

legislation would require schools and libraries in New Jersey and 

throughout our Nation to monitor the Internet activities of minors and 

implement technology to protect their children from accessing, number 

one, social networking sites like MySpace.com and chat rooms which 

allow children to be preyed upon by individuals that seek to do our 

children harm and also protect them from visual depictions that are 

obscene. 

 Preventing access to social networking sites in these situations is not 

designed to underestimate the importance of parental supervision. 

Internet safety begins at home and that is why my legislation would 

require the FTC to design and publish a unique website to serve as a 

clearinghouse and resource for parents, teachers, and children for 
27

information on the dangers of surfing the Internet. The website would 

include detailed information about commercial networking sites. The 

FTC would also be responsible for issuing consumer alerts to parents, 

teachers, school officials, and others regarding the potential dangers of 

Internet child predators and their ability to contact children through 

MySpace.com and other sites. 

 In addition, the bill would require the FCC to establish an advisory 

board to review and report commercial sites and chat rooms that have 

been shown to allow sexual predators easy access to personal 

information of and contact with children. Make no mistake, child 

predators are on the Internet and they are a growing problem. Predators 

will look for any way to talk to children online, whether through sites 

like MySpace, instant messaging, or even online games. The best 

defense against these people is to educate parents and children of the 

dangers that come along with the Internet and by limiting access to 

certain sites during the school day. 

 And this is not all. Congress and State legislatures must also act to 

dedicate funds to law enforcement programs designed to combat child 

predators. Last month we fought for and in Congress we passed 

legislation to increase funding to the FBI’s Internet Crimes Against 

Children Task Force and the Innocent Images National Initiative, which 

serves as a hub for all the FBI’s child predator initiatives. 

 Mr. Chairman, Congressman Ferguson, there is no silver bullet 

solution to the problem of online predators. It will take the combined 

efforts of parents, children, law enforcement officials, and the legislature, 

Federal and State, to take action against these crimes. Thank you, Mr. 

Chairman, for permitting me to address the committee and Congressman 

Ferguson, for permitting me to remark on my efforts to address this issue 

together with each of you and the United States Congress. 

 [The prepared statement of Hon. Michael Fitzpatrick follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, MEMBER, U.S. HOUSE OF 

REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. Chairman, 

Thank you for inviting me to participate in today’s hearing and for allowing me to 

give testimony on what I feel is a new and emerging problem confronting our nation’s 

children and their safety while using the Internet. I am speaking of the rapid increase in 

popularity of Internet social networking sites and their use by child predators to hunt and 

harass our children at home, in schools and in our libraries. 

As the father of six children, I know very well the challenges technology poses to 

our families. In a world that moves at a dizzying pace, being a father gets harder all the 

time. Monitoring our children’s use of emerging technologies is a huge task and the 

Internet remains the focus of many parent’s concerns. 

The technological breakthrough of the World Wide Web has been enormously 

beneficial to society. The Internet has brought communities across the globe closer 
28

together through instant communication. It has enabled an unfiltered free-flow of 

thought, ideas and opinion. The Internet has opened a window to the world right at our 

fingertips. However, this window opens both ways. The freedom to connect to the world 

anywhere at anytime brings with it the threat of unscrupulous predators and criminals 

who mask their activities with the anonymity the Internet provides to its users. And 

among its many applications, one of the most worrying developments of late has been the 

growth in what are known as “social networking sites.” 

Social networking sites like Myspace, Friendster, and Facebook have literally 

exploded in popularity in just a few short years. Myspace alone has almost 90 million 

users and ranks as the sixth most popular English language website and the eighth most 

popular site in the world. 

Anyone can use these sites – companies and colleges, teachers and students, young 

and old all make use of networking sites to connect with people electronically to share 

pictures, information, course work, and common interests. These sites have torn down 

the geographical divide that once prevented long distance social relationships from 

forming, allowing instant communication and connections to take place and a virtual 

second life to take hold for its users. 

For adults, these sites are fairly benign. For children, they open the door to many 

dangers including online bullying and exposure to child predators that have turned the 

Internet into their own virtual hunting ground. I became personally aware of the danger 

the Internet can pose after my 16 year old daughter began using the social networking site 

Myspace.com. I quickly realized that while my daughter thought she was only chatting 

with her friends, other people, some with criminal intent, could be looking in. 

Although age limits exist on many of these sites, there is almost no enforcement of 

these rules. Frequently, children under the age of 16 – the cut off age for a profile on 

Myspace – simply lie about their age and fake being 16, 18 or even older. Predators also 

use this anonymity to their advantage by profiling themselves as teenagers to more easily 

identify and navigate the profiles of their prey. 

The dangers our children are exposed to by these sites is clear and compelling. 

According to a study conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited 

Children (NCMEC), in 1998 there were 3,267 tips reporting child pornography. Since 

then, the number has risen by over 3,000 percent to an astounding 106,119 tips in 2004.

The Department of Justice recognizes child pornography as a precursor for pedophiles 

and is often linked to online predators. According to Attorney General Gonzales, one in 

five children has been approached sexually on the internet. One in five. Worse still, a 

survey conducted by the Crimes Against Children Research Center found that less than 

one in four children told their parents about the sexual solicitation they received. 

Myspace, which is self regulated, has removed an estimated 200,000 objectionable 

profiles since it began operating in 2003. And while it is difficult to predict the exact 

number of total predators on the Internet at any one time, the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation (FBI) estimates that there are more than 2,400 active child sexual 

exploitation investigations under way at any given time. 

This problem is finally gaining the public’s attention. Look closely at local and 

national news stories and you will undoubtedly see a story of a crime linked to social 

networking sites. Recently, national news reports have focused on the case of Katherine 

R. Lester, a 16 year old Michigan honors student who fled to Israel with hopes of meeting 

a 25 year old man she met on Myspace. Two months ago, in my own congressional 

district, a 25 year old man, Shawn Little, was arrested for posing as a teenager online to 

solicit a 14 year old boy. Little’s communications with the child resulted in a sexual 

encounter. And NBC’s Dateline program has brought the threat of online predators to the 

televisions of millions of Americans through their acclaimed, but disturbing, “To Catch a 

Predator” series. While these high-profile cases make a splash on the headlines, how 

many other, less publicized cases of child exploitation go unnoticed? 
29

While these stories have pressured many social networking sites to take action to 

improve their safety protocols, like Myspace recently has done, these changes fall short 

of real reform. That is why I introduced the Deleting Online Predators Act. 

Parents have the ability to screen their children’s Internet access at home. But this 

protection ends when their child leaves for school or the library. My legislation would 

require schools and libraries to monitor the internet activities of minors and implement 

technology to protect children from accessing: 

1. Commercial networking sites like MySpace.com and chat rooms which allow 

children to be preyed upon by individuals seeking to do harm to our children; 

and 

2. Visual depictions that are obscene or child pornography. 

Preventing access to social networking sites in these situations is not designed to 

underestimate the importance of parental supervision. Internet safety begins at home and 

that is why my legislation would require the Federal Trade Commission to design and 

publish a unique website to serve as a clearinghouse and resource for parents, teachers 

and children for information on the dangers of surfing the Internet. The website would 

include detailed information about commercial networking sites. The FTC would also be 

responsible for issuing consumer alerts to parents, teachers, school officials and others 

regarding the potential dangers of internet child predators and their ability to contact 

children through MySpace.com and other social networking sites. 

In addition, my Bill would require the Federal Communications Commission to 

establish an advisory board to review and report commercial social networking sites like 

MySpace.com and chat rooms that have been shown to allow sexual predators easy 

access to personal information of, and contact with, children. 

Make no mistake; child predation on the Internet is a growing problem. Predators 

will look for any way to talk to children online whether through sites like Myspace, 

instant messaging, or even online games. The best defense against these people is to 

educate parents and children of the dangers that come along with the Internet and by 

limiting access to certain sites during the school day. 

This is not all. Congress and state legislatures must also act to dedicate funds to law 

enforcement programs designed to combat child predators. Last month, I actively fought 

for and Congress passed legislation to increase funding to the FBI’s Internet Crimes 

Against Children Task Forces and the Innocent Images National Initiative, which serves 

as the hub for all of the FBI’s child predator initiatives. Supporting these programs will 

send a clear signal to child predators and pedophiles that the hunters have become the 

hunted and law enforcement will not relent until these criminals are apprehended. 

There is no “silver bullet” solution to the problem of online predators. It will take 

the combined effort of parents, children, law enforcement and the legislature to take 

action against these crimes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for inviting me to address this 

committee and remark on my efforts to address this important issue. 

I yield back the balance of my time. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Congressman Fitzpatrick, thank you for your 

testimony and for your leadership. Speaking of MySpace, with 85 to 90 

million registrants on that program, I guess, Rupert Murdoch purchased 

MySpace about 6 months ago for $568 million and I know they are 

expecting some great advertising revenues, but I am glad you brought up 

this whole issue of social networking. I look forward to seeing what the 

law enforcement people say about it, but we do know that a lot of crimes 

have been committed because of information obtained through the social 
30

networking sites. And as you very correctly pointed out, there is no way 

to determine the age of a person that may be on that site and there is no 

way that can be verified. 

 But on your legislation that has been introduced, which committee is 

that? Has that been referred to Energy and Commerce? 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. It has been referred to the Energy and Commerce 

Committee and there is actually a hearing scheduled tomorrow morning 

for the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Okay, good. And under your legislation, 

what are the responsibilities that would be placed upon the libraries and 

the schools, so I can have a little bit better understanding of it? 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. In 2000 a law was passed by Congress and 

signed by President Clinton. I believe it is called the Children’s Internet 

Protection Act. And the Children’s Internet Protection Act required 

schools and libraries that are recipients of Federal funds for those 

institutions, to implement screening technology, software that would 

prohibit children from, while in school and in the library, accessing 

pornography sites. And so those schools and institutions, probably most 

of them in this district here, the 7th District of New Jersey, already have 

that technology, that software in place. 

 What this bill would do is require those institutions to expand the 

existing software, use that existing software and expand, sort of, the net 

to prohibit children from accessing social networking sites in these 

virtual chat rooms while in school or in the library, and so the technology 

is there. The social networking sites are a recent phenomenon, just 

exploding in terms of the number of users. 

 If you walk down the streets of this district, I am sure you would 

have a difficult time finding a teenager that doesn’t have a profile 

registered and as I have spoken to parents and spoken to teachers in my 

district, they are as aggravated as anybody else that kids go into the 

computer lab, they are working on a project; they know how to access 

one of these networking sites or an instant messaging system and they 

are talking to friends in other schools, in other communities, in other 

States while they are in school. And so the technology is there. But 

essentially to answer your question, what the bill would do is take the 

existing technology, expand it to preclude access to social networking 

sites like MySpace while kids are in school. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And what would be the enforcement mechanism in 

the bill or is there one? 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. Well, first, it was a question of what a social 

networking site is, so the bill lays out what a social networking site is 

and the requirement really is on the school and the library to issue a 

certification to the Federal government as a condition to proceed in 
31

receiving any Federal funds. And so the mechanism would be the same 

as what currently exists under the Child Internet Protection Act. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, thank you, Congressman Fitzpatrick, and I 

recognize Mr. Ferguson. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thanks again for being 

here and I appreciate you making the long trek across the river to join us 

here in New Jersey. And I also appreciate your leadership on this issue. 

I know your concern and passion for this issue extends beyond your 

experience as a Member of Congress; it is as a father, as you said, and it 

is a concern that many of us share. 

 Your bill is focused on schools and libraries and we know, any of us 

who are parents know it is tough enough to manage or be aware of your 

kids’ Internet use when they are at home. But of course, much of that 

control, much of that oversight kind of goes out the window when your 

kids are not in your own home. If they are at school or if they are at the 

library or at a friend’s house--what, as you worked your bill and 

developed your bill, do we have any sort of statistics or evidence of how 

much of a problem this is in schools and libraries? 

 I mean, certainly we know, anecdotally, any parent will tell you their 

level of concern goes up when their child is not right there with them in 

their home. Parents have a lot of control in their own homes, but less, a 

lot less outside of their own home. Do we have a lot of evidence or is it 

mostly, is it just a sense? Is this just a, really a proactive measure to 

take? 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. Much of the evidence is anecdotal. First of all, 

as you point out, in the home, it is difficult enough. I mean, as a parent--

we have one computer in our home that is hooked up to the Internet and 

it is in plain view and it kind of perplexes me and I saw a story on NBC 

recently with a mother shocked that her daughter was on MySpace and 

the content of what was on MySpace and the report was from the 

daughter’s bedroom, so the computer was in the child’s bedroom, the 

child goes to the bedroom, locks the door, and that is where the problem 

begins. But, as I testified, for purposes of my bill, it is the issue of the 

parents’ oversight over the child while the child is at home. 

 But the evidence is essentially anecdotal. It is stories that we have 

received, it is the criminal investigations, the affidavits and probable 

cause that further our public record and it is a growing body of evidence 

that, both from law enforcement but also from school officials, the 

children who used to have inappropriate material accessed at school, that 

is not precluded on the Children’s Internet Protection Act, who now have 

access to social networking sites while at school and in the library. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Well, I serve on the Telecommunications and 

Internet Subcommittee of this committee. 
32

 MR. FITZPATRICK. You will be there tomorrow. 

 MR. FERGUSON. We will be having a hearing on your bill tomorrow 

and I look forward to learning more about it and asking further questions 

at that time. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. Thanks for your support, Congressman, 

appreciate it. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And I am also on that Telecommunications 

subcommittee, so we look forward to hearing more about it tomorrow, as 

well. 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. Okay. Thank you. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you for being with us. 

 MR. FITZPATRICK. Thanks for the chance, Chairman. I appreciate it. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. At this time, I would like to call up the third panel 

which includes Mr. Frank Rodgers, who is the Lieutenant Colonel with 

the New Jersey State Police; Mr. Wayne Forrest, who is the Somerset 

County Prosecutor, Somerville, New Jersey; Mr. Anthony Ritter, who is 

a lieutenant with the New Jersey State Police Division Headquarters; and 

Mr. Andre Banks, who is a sergeant, Office of the Prosecutor for Union 

County in Elizabeth, New Jersey. I certainly do thank you gentlemen 

involved in law enforcement for being with us because you are the 

fellows out there on the front line and are the ones that can be most 

helpful to us who are trying to adopt policy in making sure we maximize 

our opportunity to come up with the right solutions. We recognize, also, 

that sometimes we interfere with the right solution, so hopefully you can 

lead us in the right direction, but as you have already heard, we do take 

testimony under oath and I am assuming none of you gentlemen have 

any difficulty testifying under oath, so if you would stand, I would just 

like to swear you in. 

 [Witnesses sworn.] 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you very much. You are now under oath 

and Mr. Rodgers, we will recognize you for your 5-minute opening 

statement. 

STATEMENTS OF FRANK RODGERS, LIEUTENANT 

COLONEL, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE; WAYNE 

FORREST, ESQUIRE, SOMERSET COUNTY 

PROSECUTOR; ANTHONY RITTER, LIEUTENANT, NEW 

JERSEY STATE POLICE; ANDRE BANKS, SERGEANT, 

OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR, UNION COUNTY, NEW 

JERSEY 

MR. RODGERS. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ferguson and 

members of the subcommittee. I am Lieutenant Colonel Frank Rodgers, 
33

the Deputy Superintendent of Investigations for the New Jersey State 

Police. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you how the State of 

New Jersey is combating predators on the Internet. 

 I have been a member of the New Jersey State Police for 25 years 

and involved in criminal investigations for 21 of those years. Never in 

my career have I seen criminal activities as far reaching or rapid in 

growth as Internet related crimes. Never have I witnessed crimes so 

egregious and so prevalent as those being committed against the youth of 

New Jersey and all across America right in their own homes. 

 As the Deputy Superintendent of the Investigations Branch, I am 

privileged to command 800 fine men and women assigned to the 

Intelligence Section, the Special Investigations Section, and the Office of 

Forensic Science. As the commander of this Branch, under the 

leadership of Colonel Rick Fuentes, the Superintendent of the New 

Jersey State Police, we are reshaping how law enforcement does business 

in the State of New Jersey. 

 Last year the New Jersey State Police operationalized an intelligence 

Led policing strategy. In doing so, we adopted the processes intrinsic to 

that strategy; most importantly, intelligence sharing. At present, we have 

deployed our Statewide Intelligence Management System, which is 

known as SIMS, to 300 of the State’s 600 police departments, including 

the FBI. We are currently working with our law enforcement allies to 

network this system to others around the State and region to fill in the 

holes. We have also initiated a full-time all crimes, all hazards 

intelligence fusion center at our headquarters in West Trenton. 

 That center will expand dramatically in September, when we open 

with our many allied law enforcement, intelligence, and other public 

safety partners, what will be the largest and most sophisticated 

intelligence fusion center in the country. The 55,000 square foot 

Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, known as the ROIC, 

embodies our commitment to the fundamental recommendations of both 

the 9/11 Commission and the National Intelligence Sharing Plan, unity of 

effort and true intelligence sharing. 

 The New Jersey State Police has been fighting Internet predators for 

10 years. We are proud to work with our many partners on these critical 

investigations. To give you an idea of our commitment over the last 10 

years, our team has averaged over 100 Internet related child exploitation 

investigations each year and has averaged 45 arrests a year for the 

victimization of children over the Internet. 

 We are proud and honored to be selected as the primary agency in 

New Jersey to lead the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children 

Task Force, known as ICAC. We have concentrated our mission into 

three main areas; training, outreach, and enforcement. We currently 
34

have 20 cyber investigators on our task force, 10 of which hunt Internet 

predators full time. Thanks to ICAC funding, we have been able to send 

these individuals to 120 training events over the last 18 months; technical 

training that is key to doing the job. This never would have been 

possible without ICAC funding. 

 Over the last 18 months we have conducted 310 presentations to over 

30,000 students, teachers, parents, and law enforcement officials from 

across this State. We are currently working to expand cooperation and 

information sharing through the New Jersey Department of Education, 

the New Jersey Education Association, the New Jersey Parent Teacher 

Association, and the New Jersey Association for Educational 

Technology. Educating the children must come from all fronts and it 

must come loud and often. 

 Finally, I would like to speak to you briefly about enforcement. 

These programs are working and we are making a difference. Could we 

do more? Certainly. And we ask your support in helping us get there. 

However, from the many challenges that we face, we have accumulated 

many accomplishments. Most recently, during the week of June 26, 2 

weeks ago, members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children 

Task Force, in partnership with 20 other law enforcement agencies 

around the State, arrested seven individuals for the possession and 

distribution of child pornography over the Internet. 

 The arrests were a result of a 3-month undercover investigation and 

they included an elementary school teacher, a medical intern about to 

begin his residency, and a resident of Bridgewater, New Jersey, right 

here in Somerset County. The techniques used to capture these 

individuals were provided through ICAC training. 

 On March 3 of this year, task force members, in conjunction with 

members of the FBI Innocent Images, arrested a 33-year old subject for 

sexually assaulting a 14-year old who he met through MySpace.com. 

This subject traveled to Florida while the victim was there on vacation 

with her family, sexually assaulted her, and then returned with her to 

New Jersey, knocked on the front door of the residence where the young 

lady lived and professed his love to the parents at the door. 

 This time last year, over a 9-day period, as a result of an 

investigation which we dubbed Operation Guardian, following up on 

leads provided to us by the Wyoming ICAC, the New Jersey ICAC Task 

Force members arrested 39 individuals for possession and distribution of 

child pornography over the Internet. Included in these arrests were a 

defense attorney, a high school teacher, and a pediatric neurosurgeon. 

 Finally, going back a couple years, through the results of information 

provided to us by the Dallas ICAC in conjunction with the FBI and a 

matter prosecuted by Mr. Christie’s office, a former Superior Court judge 
35

from Camden County was charged with endangering the welfare of a 

child after we executed a search warrant on two of his homes and his 

office. Following up on this ICAC evidence, during the searches we 

uncovered a videotape depicting this judge engaged in sexual activity 

with a 10-year old Russian juvenile. The subject is currently 

incarcerated in a Federal prison. 

 As you can imagine, I could go on and on with regard to these cases. 

Our experience shows us these child predators will continue to prey upon 

the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society, our children. 

We ask your continued support for our mission and we assure you that 

we remain committed to the children of New Jersey by arresting those 

individuals who are prowling the Internet every day for a new victim. 

Thank you. 

 [The prepared statement of Frank Rodgers follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF FRANK RODGERS, LIEUTENANT COLONEL, NEW JERSEY STATE 

POLICE

1. Introduction 

 a. 25 years law enforcement experience, 21 years in criminal investigations 

 b. Commander of 800 fine men and women 

2. New Direction 

 a. Leading a Branch reorganization based on intelligence led policing 

 b. Deployed a statewide intelligence management system 

 c. Initiated a full time, all crimes intelligence fusion center 

3. Resource Sharing 

 a. Must be inclusive of all local, county, state and federal law enforcement 

 partners 

 

4. New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force 

 a. Training 

 1) 20 cyber investigators on task force 

 2) Investigators have attended 120 training events in the last 18 months 

 b. Outreach 

 1) 310 presentations have been given in the last 18 months 

 2) Expanding capabilities with education partners 

 c. Enforcement 

 1) List of five case histories 

5. Conclusion 

 a. Successful track record in task force leadership 

 b. Continued commitment to the ICAC mission 

Good morning Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Stupak and members of the 

Subcommittee, I am Lieutenant Colonel Frank Rodgers, Deputy Superintendent of the 

Investigations Branch of the New Jersey State Police. I appreciate the opportunity to 

discuss with you how the State of New Jersey is Combating Predators on the Internet. 
36

I. Introduction 

 I have been a member of the New Jersey State Police for the last 25 years and have 

been involved in criminal investigations for 21 of those 25 years. Never in my career 

have I seen criminal activities as far reaching or rapid in growth as Internet related 

crimes. Never have I witnessed crimes so egregious and so prevalent as those being 

committed against the youth of New Jersey and youth all across America right in their 

own homes. 

 As Deputy Superintendent of the Investigations Branch, I am privileged to command 

the 800 fine men and women of the Intelligence Section, the Special Investigations 

Section and the Office of Forensic Science of the New Jersey State Police. As 

commander of this Branch, under the leadership of Colonel Rick Fuentes, Superintendent 

of the New Jersey State Police and with oversight and endorsements from both our 

Attorney General Zulima Farber and Governor Jon Corzine, we are reshaping how law 

enforcement does business in the State of New Jersey. 

II. A New Direction 

 Last year the New Jersey State Police operationalized an Intelligence Led Policing 

strategy. In doing so we adopted the processes intrinsic to that strategy, most 

importantly, intelligence sharing. At present we have deployed our Statewide 

Intelligence Management System (SIMS) to 300 of the state’s 600 police departments, 

including the FBI. We are currently working with our law enforcement allies to network 

this system to others around the state and region to fill in the holes. We have also initiated 

a full time all crimes all hazards intelligence fusion center at our headquarters in West 

Trenton. That center will expand dramatically in September when we open with our 

many allied law enforcement, intelligence and other public safety partners, what will be 

the largest and most sophisticated intelligence fusion center in the country. The 55 

thousand square foot Regional Operations and Intelligence Center known as the ROIC 

embodies our commitment to the fundamental recommendations of both the 911 

commission and the National Intelligence Sharing Plan, unity of effort and true 

intelligence sharing. 

III. Resource Sharing

 We have all heard the phrases “surfing the Internet” or “surfing the web” and I must 

admit it gives one the connotation of fun, freedom, adventure and excitement. Who 

wouldn’t want to “surf the net”? We all do it and we all enjoy it. Yet as we are all too 

well aware, at least those of us in this room, there are sharks in the water and riptides 

waiting to pull our children out to sea. We are committed to protecting our children from 

the dangers of the Internet and we have been very successful thus far. But like everyone 

else who takes the oath to protect and serve, we cannot do it alone, this is bigger than any 

one agency, any one state. We are a team made up of local, county, state and federal 

partners and we ask for your continued support. 

 The New Jersey State Police has been fighting Internet predators for the last ten 

years. We are a multi-faceted organization with a strong reputation, intense work ethic 

and unwavering integrity. We are proud to work with our many partners on these critical 

investigations. To give you an idea of our commitment over the last ten years, our team 

has averaged 100 Internet related investigations a year and we average 45 arrests per year 

for the victimization of children through the Internet. 

IV. New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force 

 We are proud and honored to be selected as the primary agency in New Jersey to run 

the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). We have 

concentrated our mission into three main areas: training, outreach and enforcement. 
37

A. Training 

 We currently have 20 cyber investigators on our task force, 10 of which hunt 

Internet predators full time. Thanks to ICAC funding, we have be able to send these 

individuals to 120 training events over the last 18 months, technical training that is key to 

doing the job. This would never have been possible without ICAC funding. 

B. Outreach 

 Over the last 18 months we have conducted 310 presentations to over 30,000 

students, teachers, parents and law enforcement officials across the State. We are 

currently working to expand cooperation and information sharing through the New Jersey 

Department of Education, the New Jersey Education Association, the New Jersey Parent 

Teacher Association and the New Jersey Association for Educational Technology. 

Educating the children must come from all fronts and it must come loud and often. 

C. Enforcement 

 Finally, I would like to speak to you about enforcement. These programs are 

working, we are making a difference. Can we do more? Yes of course, and we ask for 

your support in getting us there. However, through all the challenges and horrors that we 

face, we have made bold accomplishments. 

Case # 06-06

 During the week of June 26, 2006, members of the New Jersey Internet Crimes 

Against Children Task Force in partnership with 20 other law enforcement agencies 

throughout the State, arrested seven individuals for the possession and distribution of 

child pornography over the Internet. The arrests were as a result of a three month 

undercover investigation and included an elementary school teacher, a medical intern 

about to begin his residency, an enlisted member of the United States Coast Guard and a 

resident of Bridgewater, New Jersey right here Somerset County. The techniques used to 

capture these individuals were provided through ICAC training. 

Case # 06-24 

On March 3, 2006, task force members in conjunction with members from FBI 

Innocent Images arrested a 33 year old man for sexually assaulting a 14 year old girl 

whom he had met through myspace.com. He traveled to Florida while she was there on 

vacation with her family, sexually assaulted her in Florida and then traveled to New 

Jersey after they returned home, knocked on their front door in order to meet her parents 

and professed his love for their daughter. 

Case #04-39

 Over a nine day period in January, 2005 and as a result of leads from the Wyoming 

ICAC, the New Jersey ICAC task force arrested 39 individuals for possession and 

distribution of child pornography over the Internet. Arrests included a defense attorney, a 

high school teacher and a pediatric neurosurgeon. 

Case # 03-08

 In August 2003, as a result of leads from the Dallas ICAC and in conjunction with 

the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office, a former Camden County Superior 

Court Judge was federally charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child as a result of 

the execution of search warrants on his two homes and office. During the searches, 

detectives uncovered a video tape recording of the judge having sex with a Russian male 

juvenile. He is currently serving a ten year term in federal prison. 

V. Conclusion 

 As you can imagine these stories go on and on. Our experience shows us that these 

child predators will continue prey upon the most innocent and vulnerable members of our 

society. We ask that you continue to support our mission, as we remain committed to the 

children of New Jersey by identifying and arresting those who are prowling the Internet 

everyday for a new victim. 
38

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Rodgers. And Mr. Ritter, you are 

recognized for your 5-minute opening statement. 

MR. RITTER. Good morning, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Ferguson. 

I am Lieutenant Anthony Ritter, Assistant Bureau Chief of the Computer 

Crimes and High Technology Surveillance Bureau within the Special 

Investigations Section of the New Jersey State Police. I appreciate the 

opportunity to discuss with you our issues regarding combating predators 

on the Internet. I have been a member of the New Jersey State Police for 

22 years and have been involved in both technology and cyber 

investigations for the last 17 years. The Computer Crimes and High 

Technology Surveillance Bureau coordinates the efforts of the New 

Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. I would like to 

address some of the challenges that face our task force and that of cyber 

law enforcement in general. 

 First, data retention. There has been much testimony before the 

committee on the subject of data retention by Internet service providers 

and I would like to address three major concerns brought forth by the 

ISPs, generally. First, the ISPs are not clear who will be able to access 

records of someone’s online behavior. The law enforcement process 

begins with reasonable suspicion to develop required probable cause and 

operates under legal guidance and court orders. I think unauthorized 

insider access to records is of graver concern to the ISPs. 

 Second, the ISPs are not clear who would pay for the data 

warehousing of these additional records. I think everyone will bear a 

part of that cost. And third, ISPs say it is not clear that police are 

hindered by the current law as long as they move swiftly in the 

investigative process. In this case, they may be partly correct. There 

needs to be a consistent, measured approach to data retention and an 

increase in the speed of the investigative process. We both must work 

more efficiently. 

 Although we are pleased to see the ISPs moving forward voluntarily 

to address our concerns where they can, we seek to have a standard 

established for the retention of data by ISPs. All ISPs should be required 

to have the capability of isolating targeted traffic and upon the receipt of 

a court order, deliver that content to a law enforcement monitoring 

facility in a standardized manner. This capability needs to extend to all 

methods of communication services supported by this industry. 

 Quality of service. Quality of service is an industry-recognized term 

that is important to a business’s ability to maintain and increase its 

customer base. In our case, law enforcement is the customer and poor 

customer service equates to a delayed law enforcement action. These 

delays can result in an inability to continue investigative leads in a timely 

manner. Our goal here is to institute industry-wide standards to ensure 
39

the efficient and timely return of the information sought by law 

enforcement. 

 Cost. There is an explosion in technology and it is the convergence 

of telephony networks and data networks on portable data assistants, 

known as PDAs, cell phones, and other wireless devices. Current costs 

for intercepting conventional wireless devices can reach as much as 

$2,600 per intercept order. Our fear is that the cost associated with IP 

intercept will exceed the cost of conventional intercept and will price 

many law enforcement agencies out of this investigative crime fighting 

tool. 

 Personnel. The need for skilled investigators is as critical as data 

retention. Without the data we cannot investigate; without the detective, 

we cannot investigate. In New Jersey’s Peer-to-Peer initiative, we have 

over 83,000 leads. As Lieutenant Colonel Rodgers stated, we have 10 

full-time detectives with half working proactively. The other half are 

working reactively on referrals and direct complaints. And what about 

being proactive in the other areas of the Internet? Most people only 

know of browsing the Web, but there are many other ways of 

communicating across the Internet and each one could keep a whole 

squad of detectives busy 24 hours a day. 

 Tools. Additional research and development needs to be conducted 

by law enforcement, technology corporations, and institutions of higher 

learning to close the large gaps impeding our ability to fight technology 

crime against Internet predators. We need to collect technical data and 

present it in an easy to view graphical format. We need to automate the 

process of locating network log files regardless of an operating system. 

We need to overcome the obstacles of anonymizers, IP spoofing, 

encrypted data, and steganography. We need to forensically capture a 

computer’s Random Access Memory or RAM without modification or 

alteration. 

 We need to provide real time IP intercept on data networks in a 

standardized format with the ability to isolate the target and capture the 

communication inclusive of all activities, such as instant messaging, 

voice over IP phone calls, webcams, e-mail, and Web browsing. We 

need to facilitate an automated and standardized stored data handover 

interface for the return of historical records requested by subpoena or 

court order. And we need to develop tools to locate the physical position 

of devices connected to wireless networks. 

 Solutions. There have been many suggestions by the men and 

women fighting Internet crimes against children in New Jersey and ways 

to improve and streamline our mission. Here are some of their thoughts. 

Increase ISP record retention to not less than 2 years to include, but not 
40

be limited to, subscriber information, method of payment, types of 

devices connected and all in and out IP logging records. 

 Mandate that out-of-state subpoenas and warrants be recognized as 

valid legal documents. Create a website rating system much like the one 

used by the motion picture industry so parents can more easily block 

content. Sponsor a national Internet safety campaign through television 

and movie theaters. Evaluate the Counterdrug Technology Assessment 

Center’s, CTAC, technology transfer program and model a similar 

program to support agencies combating Internet predators. 

 Recognize the FCC’s Second Report and Order and Memorandum 

Opinion and Order that addresses several issues regarding the 

implementation of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement 

Act, CALEA, enacted in 1994. The primary goal of the order is to 

ensure that law enforcement agencies have all the resources that CALEA 

authorizes, particularly with regard to facilities-based broadband Internet 

service providers and interconnected voice over Internet protocol or 

VOIP providers. Although the VOIP issue has now been addressed, 

other packet-based services such as instant messaging, picture 

messaging, and a host of other Internet-based communication services 

have been excluded from CALEA standards. This needs to be corrected. 

 Endorse and support and promote the expansion and implementation 

of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), which will allow ISPs the ability to 

give every Internet accessible device its own unique static IP address and 

eliminate the nightmare of dynamic IP addressing issues. The United 

States government has specified that network backbones of all Federal 

agencies must deploy IPv6 by the year 2008. 

 With the proper resources, States can and will do much more to 

continue the fight against Internet predators. We remain committed to 

maintaining existing operations without minimization and are honored to 

be a partner in the fight against Internet child victimization. 

 [The prepared statement of Anthony Ritter follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANTHONY RITTER, LIEUTENANT, NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE

1. Introduction 

 a. 22 years law enforcement experience 

 b. Oversees operation of the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task 

 Force 

2. Challenges 

 a. Data Retention 

 1) Need to establish standards for data retention 

 2) Should apply to all methods of communication services 

 b. Quality of Service 

 1) Need for industry wide standards for return of information to law 

 enforcement 
41

 c. Costs 

 1) Costs for intercept of data may prove prohibitive 

 d. Personnel 

 1) There is a serious lack of skilled investigators 

 e. Tools 

 1) Development of additional investigative technology tools is needed 

3. Solutions 

 1) Increase ISP record retention without limitations 

 2) Recognition of out-of-state subpoenas and warrants 

 3) Institute a website rating system 

 4) Sponsor a national Internet Safety campaign 

 5) Empower technology transfer programs to provide needed tools 

 6) Expand CALEA to fully support all IP based communication services 

 7) Support rapid deployment of IPv6 

Good morning Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Stupak and members of the 

Subcommittee, I am Lieutenant Anthony Ritter, Assistant Bureau Chief of the Computer 

Crimes and High Technology Surveillance Bureau within the Special Investigations 

Section of the New Jersey State Police. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss with you 

our issues regarding combating predators on the Internet. 

I. Introduction

 I have been a member of the New Jersey State Police for 22 years and have been 

involved in both technology and cyber investigations for the last 17 years. The Computer 

Crimes and High Technology Surveillance Bureau which coordinates the efforts of the 

New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. 

II. Challenges 

I would like to address some of the challenges that face our task force and that of 

cyber law enforcement in general. 

A. Data Retention 

 There has been much testimony before the committee on the subject of data 

retention by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and I would like to address the three major 

concerns brought forth by ISPs generally. First, the ISPs are not clear who will be able to 

access records of someone’s online behavior. The law enforcement process begins with 

reasonable suspicion to develop required probable cause and operates under legal 

guidance and court orders. I think unauthorized insider access to records is of graver 

concern to the ISPs. Second, the ISPs are not clear who would pay for the data 

warehousing of these additional records. I think everyone will bear part of the cost. And 

third, ISPs say it is not clear that police are hindered by current law as long as they move 

swiftly in the investigative process. In this case, they may be partly correct. There needs 

to be a consistent, measured approach to data retention and an increase in the speed of the 

investigative process. We both must work more efficiently. Although we are pleased to 

see the ISPs moving forward, voluntarily, to address our concerns where they can, we 

seek to have a standard established for the retention of data by ISPs. All ISPs should be 

required to have the capability of isolating targeted traffic and upon receipt of a court 

order, deliver that content to a law enforcement monitoring facility in a standardized 

manner. This capability needs to extend to all methods of communication services 

supported by this industry. 
42

B. Quality of Service

 Quality of service is an industry recognized term that is important to a business’s 

ability to maintain and increase its customer base. In our case, law enforcement is the 

customer and poor customer service equates to a delayed law enforcement action. These 

delays can result in an inability to continue investigative leads in a timely manner. Our 

goal here is to institute industry wide standards to ensure the efficient and timely return 

of the information sought by law enforcement. 

C. Costs 

 There is an explosion in technology and it is the convergence of telephony networks 

and data networks on portable data assistants (PDA), cell phones and other wireless 

devices. Current costs for intercepting conventional wireless devices can reach as much 

as $2600 per intercept order. Our fear is that the costs associated with IP intercept will 

exceed the costs of conventional intercepts and will price many law enforcement agencies 

out of this investigative crime fighting tool. 

D. Personnel 

 The need for skilled investigators is as critical as data retention. Without the data 

we cannot investigate, without the detective we cannot investigate. In New Jersey’s 

Peer-to Peer (P2P) initiative we have over 83,000 leads and as LTC Rodgers stated, we 

have 10 full time detectives with half working proactively. The other half are working 

reactively on referrals and direct complaints. And what about being proactive in other 

areas of the Internet? Most people only know of browsing the web, but there are many 

other ways of communicating across the Internet and each one could keep a whole squad 

of detectives busy 24 hours a day. 

E. Tools 

 Additional research and development needs to be conducted by law enforcement, 

technology corporations, and institutions of higher learning to close the large gaps 

impeding our ability to fight technology crime against Internet predators. We need to: 

 - collect technical data and present it in an easy to view graphical format. 

 - automate the process of locating network log files regardless of operating 

 system. 

- overcome the obstacles of anonymizers, IP spoofing, encrypted data and 

 steganography. 

 - forensically capture a computer’s Random Access Memory (RAM) without 

 modification or alteration. 

- provide real time IP intercept on data networks in a standardized format, with 

 the ability to isolate the target and capture the communication inclusive of all 

 activities such as instant messaging, voice over IP phone calls, web cams, 

 emails and web browsing. 

- facilitate an automated and standardized stored data handover interface for the 

 return of historical records requested by subpoena or court order. 

- develop tools to locate the physical position of devices connected to wireless 

 networds. 

III.Solutions 

 There have been many suggestions from the men and women fighting Internet 

Crimes Against Children in New Jersey on ways to improve and streamline our mission. 

Here are some of their thoughts: 

A. Increase ISP record retention to not less than two years to include, but not be 

limited to, subscriber information, method of payment, types of devices 

connected and all in and out IP logging records. 

B. Mandate that out-of-state subpoenas and warrants be recognized as valid legal 

documents. 
43

C. Create a website rating system much like the one used by the motion picture 

industry so that parents can more easily block content. 

D. Sponsor a national Internet Safety campaign through television and movie 

theaters. 

E. Evaluate the Counterdrug Technology Assessment Center’s (CTAC) 

technology transfer program and model a similar program to support agencies 

combating Internet predators. 

F. Recognize the FCC’s Second Report and Order and Memorandum Opinion and 

Order that addresses several issues regarding implementation of the 

Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), enacted in 

1994. The primary goal of the Order is to ensure that Law Enforcement 

Agencies have all of the resources that CALEA authorizes, particularly with 

regard to facilities-based broadband Internet Service Providers and 

interconnected voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) providers. Although the 

VOIP issue has now been addressed, other packet based services such as instant 

messaging, picture messaging and a host of other Internet based communication 

services have been excluded from CALEA standards. This needs to be 

corrected. 

G. Endorse, support and promote the expansion and implementation of Internet 

Protocol version 6 (IPv6) which will allow ISPs the ability to give every 

internet accessible device its own unique static IP address and eliminate the 

nightmare of dynamic IP addressing issues. The United States Government has 

specified that the network backbones of all federal agencies must deploy IPv6 

by 2008. 

IV. Conclusion 

 With the proper resources, states can and will do much more to continue the fight 

against Internet predators. We remain committed to maintaining existing operations 

without minimization and are honored to be a partner in the fight against Internet child 

victimization. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Ritter. At this time, Mr. Forrest, 

you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

 MR. FORREST. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Congressman Ferguson. 

Good morning. My name is Wayne Forrest. I am the prosecutor here in 

Somerset County. New Jersey has 21 counties, 21 county prosecutors. I 

have been serving as our county prosecutor for the past 9 years. Prior to 

that I worked in the Attorney General’s office and in total I have over 30 

years in law enforcement. In addition to that, I am an adjunct professor 

here at this college where I have been teaching for the past 15 years and 

along with a colleague of mine, Prosecutor Barnes from Hunterdon 

County, we moved our regional police academy to this institution, as 

well. So we welcome you here and if you have more time, we will give 

you a tour of our police academy before the end of the day. 

 Like the rest of the country, over the past 10 years we in Somerset 

County have also experienced a dramatic increase in cases involving 

sexual exploitation of children. Our experience shows that this increase 

is due large in part to the proliferation of the Internet. In Somerset 

County in particular, I believe we have had extensive experience with 
44

this problem because Somerset County is such an affluent county. In 

fact, in the year 2000 U.S. census ranked Somerset County as the number 

one county in the country in median household income at $88,957. 

 As a wealthy county, computers are everywhere in Somerset County. 

All Somerset County children have access to the Internet, either at home, 

at school, at the library, at a friend’s house. And in addition, Somerset 

County children also have more privacy and autonomy due to the factors 

such as both parents being employed outside the home, larger homes 

with individual bedrooms for each child and frequently, a personal 

computer with Internet access in the bedrooms. Under these 

circumstances, the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet is of 

particular concern to us in Somerset County. 

 As an aside, when I came up to Somerset County from Trenton to 

become the prosecutor in 1997, I met with the then U.S. Attorney who 

introduced me, for the first time, to the Federal initiative, Innocent 

Images, which is what we have heard talked about before. As a parent, I 

was somewhat alarmed and immediately went back to the freeholders 

and said I feel the need to dedicate one of our detectives full time to this 

initiative. It is hard for local prosecutors and local freeholders to 

understand that you have to send someone elsewhere and how that is 

going to benefit your county and the economic impact on that. 

 We did that and I began learning, myself, as a parent, the dangers of 

the Internet and at the same time we sent detectives to the State Police 

initiative, which began back at the same time as the high tech crimes 

unit. We had two detectives, for a period of 6 or 7 years, outside of 

Somerset County learning, educating themselves, and at the same time 

making cases with those initiatives that came back to Somerset County. 

When I first did that, a number of my colleagues who were prosecutors at 

the time, my freeholders who finance our office, said why Somerset 

County? Why are you doing it? Why not one of the bigger counties? 

Why shouldn’t they be doing it? And the reason I gave them is what I 

just said, because in Somerset County, you come to my neighborhood, 

every house has computers on every floor. Kids have personal 

computers, laptops; they are all over the place. Far more prolific than in 

other counties. 

 Having been in law enforcement now for over 30 years, I can tell 

you that 30 years ago there were far less cases involving the sexual 

exploitation of children. At that time, pedophiles interested in sexual 

activity with children would have to leave the privacy and security of 

their own homes to physically trade child pornography with other 

likeminded individuals or lurk at the schoolyard fence and attempt to lure 

an actual child victim. Now what we have seen is that through the 

Internet, pedophiles have access to millions of images, child 
45

pornography from all over the globe without even leaving their 

bedrooms. 

 In addition, the prolonged viewing of unlimited and readily available 

child pornography leads to more and more pedophiles to take the next 

step and to attempt to meet and victimize an actual child. Our experience 

in Somerset County, small, affluent Somerset County, has taught us that 

this type of criminal behavior is happening every day and generally falls 

into one of three main categories: one, cases involving actual child 

victims who are sexually assaulted; two, cases involving undercover 

agents posing as child victims, which is the Innocent Images initiative, 

who are solicited online for sexual activity; and three, child pornography 

cases. 

 In Somerset County, while we have always had cases involving 

actual child victims who are sexually assaulted, the Internet has led us to 

an increase in cases in which the child victim willingly participates in the 

initial contact with the pedophile. Due to the pedophile’s ability to 

groom the child victim over time through repeated communications over 

the computer, our experience has shown us that the child victim will 

begin to identify with the offender and be more willing to meet with that 

offender. 

 Some examples of Somerset County cases. One example is the 

Christopher Wahler case. And what you will see in all our cases, I 

provide them in our written statement, the profile of the individual that 

we see is someone like us; middle age, 30s, 40s, 50s; usually affluent; 

usually a family man; usually a man; good job; and that is what we have 

here. I believe Defendant Wahler came from Upper Saddle River, 

another affluent community. He is a 36-year old man, met with a 14-

year old victim over the Internet. He posed as a 17-year old boy; was 

able to get her to trust him. Through repeated communications with the 

victim, he convinced the victim to meet with him, in person, at which 

time he sexually assaulted her here in Somerset County. 

 With regard to cases involving undercover agents posing as children 

who are targets of pedophiles, who engage them in graphic sexual 

communications over the Internet and subject them to images of 

pornography, we have found that pedophiles do not hesitate to travel to 

our county to meet their intended victims in person for sexual activity. 

Some of the many cases, again, that I had cited in my written statement, 

two include the Marc Balkin case and the Edward Bostonian case, 

described in greater detail in the written statement. But in addition, our 

experience shows that this type of offender often exhibits no signs of 

being a danger to children prior to their arrest, which is demonstrated by 

the fact that we have arrested professionals, teachers, and even a police 

officer for these types of offenses. 
46

 Finally, the prevalence of computers in Somerset County brings with 

it the concomitant presence of child pornography. As with any 

community in which there are computers with Internet access, there are 

individuals in Somerset County who use their computers to view, 

download, transmit or create child pornography, as evidenced by the 

cases of James Nafus, Jr. and Christopher Hickman, cases I have also 

included in my written statement. 

 After recognizing the growing nature of this problem approximately 

10 years ago, when I left the Attorney General’s office to become the 

Somerset County prosecutor, I took a number of steps to educate and 

train our police officers, system prosecutors, and most importantly, the 

parents in our county in an effort to combat this problem and protect the 

citizens of Somerset County. For example, in 1998 we created a free 

Internet safety presentation that educates parents and other concerned 

citizens on the dangers of the Internet and provides guidance for keeping 

children safe. 

 We also created and distributed free informational brochures for 

parents and children and provide rules for Internet use. We have copies, 

sample copies of the brochures for both of you, as well as a mouse pad 

that we provide to children and parents that we distributed throughout the 

schools. That is also on our website. In addition, I have sent our 

assistant prosecutors and detectives for advanced training in investigating 

and prosecuting these types of crimes so that we can stay at least one step 

ahead of individuals who commit these crimes in the constantly changing 

area of computer technology and computer crimes. 

 Finally, I created a High Tech Computer Crimes Unit within the 

prosecutor’s office to assist other law enforcement agencies in properly 

investigating these specialized crimes. Through these steps, I believe the 

Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office provides the citizens of Somerset 

County with highly trained police officers and detectives to both 

proactively and reactively investigate these more challenging crimes, 

assistant prosecutors who are better prepared to prosecute these cases, 

and the educational awareness to help prevent the sexual exploitation of 

our children over the Internet. 

 I recognize that we cannot win this war alone here in Somerset 

County. This war goes well beyond our territorial boundaries. In fact, it 

is international. You were questioning the U.S. Attorney about Federal 

jurisdiction; it is beyond that. As I said, I have been in law enforcement 

over 30 years and this is, I believe, the most challenging type of crime 

that I have ever confronted. I thank you for your interest and I thank you 

for time today. 

 [The prepared statement of Wayne J. Forrest, Esq., follows:] 
47

PREPARED STATEMENT OF WAYNE J. FORREST, ESQ., SOMERSET COUNTY PROSECUTOR,

OFFICE OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY PROSECUTOR

Dear Honorable Members of the United States House of Representatives: 

In the past ten years we here in Somerset County have experienced a dramatic 

increase in cases involving the sexual exploitation of children. Our experience shows 

that this increase is due in large part to the proliferation of the Internet. In Somerset 

County in particular, I believe we have had extensive experience with this problem 

because Somerset County is such an affluent county. In fact, the 2000 United States 

Census ranked Somerset County as the number one county in the country in median 

household income at $88,957.00. As a wealthy county, computers are everywhere in 

Somerset County. All Somerset County children have access to the Internet, either at 

home, at school, at the library, or at a friend’s house. In addition, Somerset County’s 

children also have more privacy and autonomy due to factors such as both parents being 

employed outside the home, large homes with individual bedrooms for each child, and 

frequently a personal computer with Internet access in their bedroom. In addition, 

because these crimes ordinarily require privacy and money to purchase expensive 

computer equipment, Somerset County residents, who due to their wealth generally 

possess more of each, are in a better position than the average citizen to commit these 

types of offenses. Under these circumstances, the sexual exploitation of children over the 

Internet is of particular concern to us in law enforcement in Somerset County. 

Having been in law enforcement now for over thirty years, I can tell you that thirty 

years ago, there were far fewer cases involving the sexual exploitation of children. At 

that time, pedophiles interested in sexual activity with children would have to leave the 

privacy and security of their homes to physically trade child pornography with other likeminded individuals or “lurk” at the schoolyard fence in an attempt to lure an actual child 

victim. Now, what we have seen is that through the Internet, pedophiles have access to 

millions of images of child pornography from around the globe without leaving their 

homes or workplace. For some, the ubiquity of, and ease with which they can obtain 

child pornography, feeds on itself until that interest consumes more and more of their 

daily lives. At that point, photographs cease to be enough, and the pedophile takes the 

next step and seeks out an actual child to victimize. The Internet then assists those 

pedophiles in finding an actual child victim as well. Through the Internet, a pedophile 

can search for an actual child victim, gather personal information or other intelligence on 

that victim through various search engines, and ultimately, make contact with a child 

victim under false pretenses. For example, a pedophile can now research an intended 

victim through the victim’s profile or “blog,” and determine that victim’s photograph, 

age, phone number, email address, physical address, school, employer, siblings, friends, 

interests, likes and dislikes. Then, once armed with a wealth of information about that 

victim, the pedophile can make contact with the victim through an instant message using 

an assumed identity. Instead of “Joe Child Molester,” 50 year-old registered sex 

offender, he can contact the victim as 16 year-old “Billy,” a friend of the victim’s friend 

Jessica, who saw the victim at the movies last Friday night and thinks she’s cute. 

Because the contact is not face-to-face, and because the victim now believes that she is 

communicating with a peer, she will open-up more quickly and give more information to 

the pedophile. Through this process, the pedophile can “groom” the victim, and 

ultimately exploit his knowledge of the victim to obtain an in-person meeting with the 

victim. 

Our experience in Somerset County has taught us that this type of criminal behavior 

is happening every day, and generally falls into one of three main categories: (1) cases 

involving actual child victims who are sexually assaulted; (2) cases involving undercover 

agents posing as children (“virtual victims”) who are solicited online for sexual activity, 

and (3) child pornography cases. 
48

In Somerset County, while we have always had cases involving actual child victims 

who are sexually assaulted, the Internet has led to an increase in cases in which the child 

victim willingly participates in the initial contact with the pedophile. Due to the 

pedophile’s ability to “groom” the child victim over time through repeated 

communications over the computer, our experience shows that the child victim will begin 

to identify with the offender and be more willing to meet that offender in person. One 

example of this is the Christopher Wahler case, described in detail below, in which a 36 

year-old man met a 14 year-old victim over the Internet by posing as a 17 year-old boy. 

Through repeated communications with the victim, he convinced the victim to meet him 

in person, at which time he sexually assaulted her. 

With regard to cases involving undercover agents posing as children who are the 

targets of pedophiles who engage them in graphic sexual communications over the 

Internet and subject them to images of pornography, we have found that pedophiles do 

not hesitate to travel to Somerset County to meet their intended victims in person for 

sexual activity. Some examples of these types of cases are the Marc S. Balkin and 

Edward Bostonian cases described in detail below. In addition, our experience shows 

that this type of offender often exhibits no obvious signs of being a danger to our children 

prior to his arrest, which is demonstrated by the fact that we have arrested professionals, 

teachers, and even a police officer for this type of offense. 

Finally, the prevalence of computers in Somerset County brings with it the 

concomitant presence of child pornography. As with any community in which there are 

computers with Internet access, there are individuals in Somerset County who use their 

computers to view, download, transmit or create child pornography, as evidenced by the 

James Nafus, Jr. and Christopher Hickman cases described below. 

The following case summaries are some of the investigations and prosecutions 

conducted by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office involving the sexual exploitation 

of children over the Internet over the past ten years. 

Cases with Actual Victims

State v. Christopher D. Wahler. Case No. 97-635 / Ind. No. 98-01-00039-I. In the 

fall of 1997, 36 year-old defendant Christopher Wahler met a 14 year-old Bernards 

Township girl in an America On-Line chat room. While the victim was using a friend’s 

computer, she received an instant message from “Steven,” later determined to be 

defendant. Defendant claimed to be a 17 year-old boy and developed an online 

friendship with the victim. This friendship led to telephone calls and eventually, inperson meetings. On three occasions, defendant drove to Bernards and engaged in 

vaginal, oral and anal intercourse with the victim in the back of his van in the parking lot 

of her condominium complex. On June 16, 1998, defendant pled guilty to 3 counts of 2nd

degree sexual assault and on January 8, 1999, was sentenced to six years in New Jersey 

State Prison. Defendant was paroled from Northern State Prison on September 16, 2002. 

State v. Christopher Sopko. Case No. 04-358 / Ind. No. 04-07-00483-I. In spring 

2003, 20 year-old defendant Christopher Sopko met and began communicating with a 14 

year-old Branchburg girl via America On-Line Instant Messenger. Thereafter, defendant 

Sopko met with the victim in-person and engaged in sexual intercourse with her. On 

August 23, 2004, defendant pled guilty to one count of 2nd degree sexual assault and on 

May 13, 2005 was sentenced to three years New Jersey State Prison. 

State v. Carl Niro, Jr. Case No. 05-495 / Ind. No. 05-07-00592-I. In June 2005, 22 

year-old defendant Carl Niro, Jr., met a 15 year-old victim through her “My Space” 

website. Thereafter, defendant Niro picked the victim up at her school and drove her to 

his Raritan Borough residence, where he engaged in vaginal and anal intercourse with 

her. On March 17, 2006, defendant Niro pled guilty to 3rd degree endangering the 

welfare of a child, and is currently awaiting sentencing. 
49

State v. Michael Capone. Case No. 05-518 / Ind. No. 05-07-00618-I. In summer, 

2005, 24 year-old defendant Michael Capone met a 15 year-old victim through her “My 

Space” website. In June 2005, the 15 year-old girl was reported missing by her guardian. 

The ensuing police investigation revealed that on two occasions in the summer, 2005, 

defendant Capone picked the victim up, took her to his residence, and engaged in sexual 

intercourse with her. On January 6, 2006, defendant Capone pled guilty to 2nd degree 

sexual assault and 3rd degree endangering the welfare of a child, and is currently awaiting 

sentencing. 

Cases with “Virtual” Victims

State v. Marc S. Balkin. Case No. 99-100 / Ind. No. 99-05-0290-I. In winter, 1999, 

51 year-old defendant Marc Balkin met an undercover agent posing as a 14 year-old girl 

in an online chat room entitled “barely legalf4olderm.” The defendant engaged in 

graphic sexual conversations online and transmitted lewd photographs of himself 

masturbating to the undercover agent. The defendant ultimately appeared at a 

prearranged meeting at the Bridgewater Sports Arena to engage in sexual activity with 

the girl and was arrested. On August 13, 1999, defendant pled guilty to 3rd degree 

endangering the welfare of a child and 3rd degree eluding and on January 21, 2000 was 

sentenced to three years probation with 364 days in the Somerset County Jail. 

State v. Edward Bostonian. Case No. 00-078 / Ind. No. 00-04-00196-I. In winter, 

2000, 39 year-old defendant Edward Bostonian met an undercover agent posing as a 13 

year-old girl in an online chat room entitled “barely legalf4olderm.” The defendant 

engaged in graphic sexual conversations online and gave the undercover agent detailed 

instructions on masturbation. The defendant ultimately appeared at a prearranged 

meeting at the Bridgewater Commons Mall to engage in sexual activity with the girl and 

was arrested. On June 8, 2000, defendant pled guilty to 3rd degree endangering the 

welfare of a child and on January 5, 2001 was sentenced to three years probation with 

364 days in the Somerset County Jail. 

State v. Robert T. Condon. Case No. 00-451 / Ind. No. 00-10-00547-I. In summer, 

2000, 57 year-old defendant Robert Condon met an undercover agent posing as a 13 

year-old girl in an online chat room. The defendant engaged in graphic sexual 

conversations online with the agent and gave the undercover agent detailed instructions 

on masturbation. The defendant ultimately appeared at a prearranged meeting at the 

Bridgewater Commons Mall to engage in sexual activity with the girl and was arrested. 

On September, 2003, defendant was tried and convicted of 2nd degree Attempted Sexual 

Assault and on October 29, 2004, was sentenced to an eight year period of incarceration 

in New Jersey State Prison, to be served at the Adult Diagnostic & Treatment Center at 

Avenel. 

State v. James Kane. Case No. 00-535 / Ind. No. 00-12-00717-I. In the summer of 

2000, defendant James Kane, a twenty-eight year veteran police officer with the Port 

Authority Police Department, met an undercover officer posing as a 13 year-old girl in an 

America On Line chat room. Thereafter, defendant Kane engaged in numerous graphic 

sexual conversations online with the undercover officer using AOL Instant Messenger. 

Defendant Kane gave the undercover officer detailed instructions on masturbation and 

sent pornographic images to the undercover officer over the computer. On February 9, 

2001, defendant pled guilty to 3rd degree attempting to promote obscene material and on 

February 8, 2002 was sentenced to probation with 180 days in the Somerset County Jail. 

State v. Glen P. Albright. Case No. 03-430 / Acc. No. 03-08-00465-I. In the spring 

of 2003, 47 year-old defendant Glen Albright (a teacher at Somerset County Vocational 

and Technical School in Bridgewater, New Jersey) met an undercover detective posing as 

a 14 year-old girl in an America On-Line chat room. Thereafter, defendant engaged in 

numerous online conversations with the undercover officer, including instant messages in 

which the defendant gave the undercover detective specific, detailed instructions on how 
50

to masturbate. Thereafter, defendant was arrested. On August 11, 2003, defendant pled 

guilty to 3rd degree attempted endangering the welfare of a child and 4th degree 

endangering the welfare of a child, and on January 2, 2004, was sentenced to noncustodial probation and a $2,500.00 fine. 

Child Pornography Cases

State v. Allen May. Case No. 98-620 / Ind. No. 99-03-00176-I. In fall, 1998, police 

learned that 70 year-old defendant Allen May of Bridgewater, Somerset County, 

subscribed to an Internet newsgroup dedicated to the dissemination of child pornography. 

Police investigation resulted in a search of the computer at defendant May’s residence. 

This search revealed hundreds of images of child pornography that defendant May both 

downloaded from, and posted to, the Internet. On May 15, 2001, defendant May was 

convicted of 2nd degree and 4th degree endangering the welfare of a child, and on 

September 7, 2001 was sentenced to five years incarceration in New Jersey State Prison. 

State v. James Nafus, Jr. Case No. 03-158 / Ind. No. 03-04-00236-I. In spring, 

2003, 25 year-old defendant James Nafus, Jr., a teacher at the Far Hills Country Day 

School, turned his laptop computer over to a friend because he was having problems with 

it. Defendant Nafus’ friend discovered child pornography on the computer and called he 

police, who searched the computer and found numerous images of child pornography. 

On June 6, 2003, defendant pled guilty to 4th degree endangering the welfare of a child 

and on December 19, 2003 was sentenced to probation and a $1,000 fine. 

State v. Christopher Hickman. Case No. 03-203 / Ind. No. 03-06-00323-I. In 

spring, 2003, 21 year-old defendant Christopher Hickman met and began a sexual 

relationship with a 14 year-old girl. During the course of this relationship, defendant 

Hickman engaged in sexual intercourse with the victim and participated in photographing 

her nude and while engaged in various sexual acts using his computer and web cam. On 

September 19, 2003, defendant pled guilty to 2nd degree sexual assault, 2nd degree 

endangering the welfare of a child, 3rd degree possession of psilocybin with intent to 

distribute, and 3rd degree possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. On January 9, 

2004, defendant Hickman was sentenced to four years incarceration in New Jersey State 

Prison 

State v. Robert Mascola, Case No. 05-343 / Ind. No. 05-06-00535-I; State v. 

Michael Pleban, Case No. 05-344 / Ind. No. 05-06-00543-I, and State v. Mickey Phillips, 

Case No. 05-345 / Ind. No. 05-06-00536-I. In spring, 2005, the Somerset County 

Prosecutor’s Office received information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement 

(ICE) that ICE was conducting a large scale child pornography investigation which 

revealed that several Somerset County residents had purchased child pornography over 

the Internet. Police contacted these individuals and the resulting investigations revealed 

that they possessed child pornography on their computers that they obtained via the 

Internet. All of these individuals were admitted into the PTI program on charges of 4th

degree endangering the welfare of a child (possession of child pornography). 

Steps Taken by the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office to

Combat the Sexual Exploitation of Children Over the Internet

After recognizing the growing nature of this problem almost ten years ago, when I 

left the Attorney General’s Office to become the Somerset County Prosecutor I took a 

number of steps to educate and train our police officers, assistant prosecutors, and parents 

in an effort to combat this problem and protect the children of Somerset County. For 

example, in 1998 we created a free Internet safety presentation that educates parents and 

other concerned citizens on the dangers of the Internet and provides guidance for keeping 

children safe. We also created and distributed free informational brochures for parents 

and children to provide rules for safe Internet use. In addition, I have sent our assistant 

prosecutors and detectives for advanced training in investigating and prosecuting these 
51

types of crimes so that we can stay at least one step ahead of the individuals who commit 

these crimes in the constantly changing area of computer technology and computer 

crimes. Finally, I created a High Tech Computer Crimes Unit within the Prosecutor’s 

Office to assist in properly investigating these specialized crimes. Through these steps, 

all of which are described in detail below, I believe the Somerset County Prosecutor’s 

Office provides the citizens of Somerset County with highly trained police officers and 

detectives to both proactively and reactively investigate these more challenging crimes, 

assistant prosecutors who are better prepared to prosecute these cases, and the 

educational awareness to help prevent the sexual exploitation of our children over the 

Internet. 

Internet Safety Presentation for Parents. In 1998, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s 

Office created a free Internet safety program for parents and other concerned citizens 

entitled “Danger Is Only A “Click” Away: A Parents’ Guide to Internet Safety.” The 

program covers Internet dangers, including pornography, child pornography, 

pedophiles/child exploitation, weapons/explosives, “hate” groups, theft, terroristic 

threats, narcotics and profiles/blogs, and uses examples from actual Somerset County 

cases. The program provides parents with advice on how to protect their children, 

including rules for safe Internet use, warning signs and detailed instructions on how to 

examine the computer to determine which sites your child has accessed on-line. The 

program is directed toward parents with minimal computer knowledge and is not suitable 

for minors due to graphic content. The program lasts approximately one hour with a 

question-and-answer period to follow. Anyone who attends the program receives a free 

“Internet Safety Pledge” mouse pad to assist them with teaching their children rules for 

safe Internet use. Since 1998, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office presented the 

program to every school, community and business group that requested it, thereby 

educating thousands of Somerset County residents about safe Internet usage. (See 

enclosed copy of PowerPoint presentation, attached as Exhibit A.) 

Informational Brochures. In 2001, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office created 

two informational brochures entitled “A Parent’s Guide to Internet Safety” and “Ten 

Internet Safety Tips for Kids.” The brochures provide parents and children with 

information on Internet dangers and tips for safe Internet usage, and since 2001 have 

been disseminated to the public free of charge. (See enclosed brochures, attached as 

Exhibit B and Exhibit C.) 

Advanced Training for Assistant Prosecutors. Several Somerset County Assistant 

Prosecutors who prosecute these types of cases have received advanced training on 

prosecuting crimes involving children and the computer. For example, Somerset County 

Assistant Prosecutors have attended the following courses: (1) Protecting Children Online 

for Prosecutors, 2005, at the Jimmy Ryce Law Enforcement Training Center in 

Alexandria, Virginia (sponsored by the National Center for Missing and Exploited 

Children; (2) High Tech Crimes Investigation Association Training & Conference in 

Atlantic City, New Jersey, 2002; (3) Law Enforcement and the Internet, Sponsored by the 

New Jersey Attorney General's Office at Rutgers College, New Brunswick, 2000; (3) 

Legal Issues in Computer Crimes Prosecutions, Sponsored by the US Secret Service and 

the High Tech Crimes Investigation Association, at the World Trade Center in New 

York, New York, 1999, and (4) Investigation and Prosecution of Child Sexual 

Exploitation, sponsored by the Assistant Prosecutors’ Research Institute and the National 

District Attorneys’ Association in Columbia, South Carolina, 1999. In addition, 

Somerset County Assistant Prosecutors have attended various seminars on high tech 

crimes and/or computer child pornography issues held during the general annual 

conference for the Sex Crimes Officers' Association and MAGLOCLEN, as well as 

classes on legal issues of high tech crime, sponsored by the New Jersey Division of 

Criminal Justice. 
52

Specialized Training for Detectives. After recognizing the problems for law 

enforcement presented by the Internet, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office made a 

concerted effort to ensure that its Detective Division was prepared to investigate these 

types of cases. Toward that end, since 1999, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office 

has assigned a number of detectives to various other agencies / units that specialize in 

computer investigations. Specifically, between 1999 and 2001, Detective Andrew Lippitt 

was assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigations North East Regional Child 

Exploitation Task Force (aka, “Innocent Images.”) During that time, the Task Force 

generated more than seventy undercover proactive investigations over the Internet that 

resulted in arrests of sexual predators. Since that first assignment, the Prosecutor’s 

Office assigned two other detectives to “Innocent Images” - Detective Robert Pascale, 

from January 2002 to August 2003, and Detective Sergeant Lori Rinaldi, from August 

2003 to May 2005. In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office sent Detective Lippitt and 

Detective Pascale to the New Jersey State Police High Tech Crime Unit where they 

received additional training and experience. Detective Lippitt was there from August 

2001 to February 2002, and Detective Pascale was there from August 2003 to May 2004. 

There, they conducted all types of computer and Internet related investigations, including 

computer forensic examinations and proactive “traveler” investigations. In addition, 

Detectives Lippitt and Pascale have attended numerous other courses involving computer 

investigations. 

Creation of the High Tech Computer Crimes Unit. In 1999, the Somerset County 

Prosecutor’s Office created the High Tech Computer Crimes Unit to assist in conducting 

computer investigations. The unit assists other units with the Prosecutor’s Office and 

other law enforcement agencies in all types of criminal investigations involving 

computers, including the seizure, search, and forensic examination of computers obtained 

by law enforcement personnel. In addition, the High Tech Computer Crimes Unit 

conducts computer related training for law enforcement officers, including a one-day 

Introduction to Computer Crimes Course at the Somerset County Police Academy that 

teaches law enforcement personnel to recognize and properly handle a computer crime. 

The course covers the common types of computer crimes, including sexual predators, 

child pornography, narcotics, weapons and explosives, and hate groups. Course 

attendees receive training on how to trace Internet Protocol (IP) addresses found in the 

header portion of Emails. In addition, the High Tech Computer Crimes Unit has 

participated with the FBI, ICE, the New Jersey State Police and numerous local agencies 

in conducting proactive Internet investigations regarding child exploitation and child 

pornography. The High Tech Computer Crimes Unit is currently in the process of 

developing and conducting proactive Internet investigations. 

Conclusion

While the sexual exploitation of children through the Internet is a serious and 

growing problem in Somerset County, the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office will 

continue to take all necessary measures, including the steps described herein, to protect 

our citizens from individuals looking to victimize our children. 

Respectfully submitted, 

 Wayne J. Forrest 

 Prosecutor, Somerset County 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Forrest. And Mr. Banks, you are 

recognized for 5 minutes. 
53

MR. BANKS. Mr. Chairman Whitfield and Mr. Ferguson and 

members of the subcommittee, thank you for the opportunity to testify 

here today. My name is Andre B. Banks and I am a sergeant with over 

20 years experience in law enforcement. I work in the Union County 

Prosecutor’s Office in Elizabeth, New Jersey and I am currently assigned 

to the High Tech Crimes Unit that oversees the Union County High Tech 

Task Force. The High Tech Task Force investigates all computer and 

Internet related crimes in Union County. 

 I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Kean 

University and I also have obtained an associate’s degree in Liberal Arts. 

I am a certified instructor for “The Internet and Your Child” and a 

certified i-Safe instructor, which are both education and training 

programs designed to teach parents and educators about Internet safety. 

We have given hundreds of lectures throughout Union County on 

Internet safety and cyber crime. 

 The Union County High Tech Task Force was the first New Jersey 

county to start a High Tech Task Force 6 years ago to investigate child 

exploitation cases. We work closely with Federal, State, and local 

authorities in these types of investigations. Several years ago, our office 

also received a Federal grant to be a satellite office for the Internet 

Crimes Against Children, ICAC, national task force. We have arrested 

dozens of Internet predators over the years through the efforts of ICAC. 

 I am also certified as an Encase Certified Forensic Examiner, EnCe, 

for conducting detailed computer forensic examinations of seized 

computers. This becomes very important after arresting an offender and 

examining his computer for evidence of the crime that was committed. I 

teach in-service classes to Federal, State, and local officers in Internet 

crimes at the Union County Police Academy. I am an active member of 

the High Tech Crime Investigator Association, the New York Secret 

Service Electronic Crimes Task Force, International Association of 

Computer Investigative Specialists, and the Institute of Computer 

Forensic Professionals. 

 Today, one of the many challenges law enforcement faces is 

protecting our children from the dangers of the Internet. When I first 

started investigating Internet crimes back in 1996, it was primarily cases 

involving distribution of child pornography and e-mail. Today, the 

predators that troll the Internet have many choices from which to make 

attempts to lure their victims. There are hundreds of investigations that I 

could talk about today when it involves the dangers of the Internet. One 

of the cases that I want to review with you is an investigation that I 

started a few years ago that involved a 14-year old female named Nicole. 

I say this is typical because Nicole would come home from school before 

her mother arrived home from work, between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. 
54

and would always log on to AOL’s instant messenger program called 

AIM. 

 You know about the Internet chatting programs that allow children 

or Internet users to talk in real time with people anywhere in the world? 

This teenager used the AIM program to chat with her friends. Some of 

her friends she had met online and some she knew from school. She met 

a subject online who said he was also a teenager from New Jersey and he 

went by the screen name of Lovs2playDoctr. After several weeks of 

chatting online and making secret phone calls, they became online 

buddies and Lovs2playDoctr began sending her lewd pictures and talking 

about sex. This is the grooming process that predators often do to make 

their victims feel more comfortable talking to them. 

 One day Nicole’s mother came home early from work and saw some 

disturbing chat conversations and called the Kenilworth Police 

Department. The PD called my office and I later met with Nicole and 

her mother and they agreed to allow me to take over Nicole’s screen 

name so I could continue chatting with this subject. I later found out, 

through a subpoena, that Lovs2playDoctr was actually Michael Jasinski, 

a 31-year old male from Newark, Delaware, who had a criminal record. 

 I then went in, an undercover capacity, acting online as if I was 

Nicole by using her screen name and I continued chatting with this guy, 

Lovs2playDoctr, until he made plans to meet Nicole for a sexual 

encounter. I contacted Delaware State Police through ICAC and we 

eventually arrested Jasinski and executed a search warrant at his house in 

Newark, Delaware. This case that I just reviewed with you is a scenario 

that often happens involving our children when they are home alone. 

They usually feel safe on the Internet using computers and chatting with 

strangers, even though they know it is not the right thing to do. Jasinski 

is currently serving 10 years in Delaware State prison. 

 The second scenario I want to talk about involves the popular 

website called MySpace. MySpace is a virtual meeting place on the 

Internet where children and adults can create free accounts to express 

their creativity and leave journal entries, also called blogs, on each 

other’s pages. This popular website is an awesome technology to many 

users; however, it can be a nightmare to some people who fall prey to the 

predators and evildoers who seeks to lure innocent victims. 

 A recent case in Union County that ended in a tragic death involved 

a 14-year old female named Judy Cajuste. The victim had a MySpace 

account filled with many pictures and blog entries from her friends that 

revealed personal information. The investigation is still ongoing and we 

believe there may be a link to her MySpace Web page that led to her 

death. Other MySpace problems occur when parents don’t know their 

children even have a MySpace account. Other MySpace problems occur 
55

also when schoolmates use MySpace to cyberbully other children. I 

speak to parents all the time during our lectures and also receive phone 

calls from disturbed parents about harassment that their children are 

confronted with on MySpace. 

 This is not only restricted to MySpace. There are many other Web 

blog Internet sites out there that suspects use to lure and stalk victims as 

well. I am highlighting MySpace because it is the most popular. One of 

the things I always tell parents is to become familiar with this technology 

and see what their children are doing. One incident I like to tell parents 

about is when a very upset parent called my office complaining about 

posting bad messages on her daughter’s MySpace web page. I advised 

her the proper way to file a complaint at a local police department, but I 

also educated her about the website. I asked her if she knew about the 

security settings that MySpace put in place to block unwanted comments 

and she didn’t know. I then talked her through the steps to block certain 

users and to prevent blog entries without permission. After showing her 

and many others how to activate this feature, it often solves the problem. 

 A good portion of my job at the Union County Prosecutor’s Office is 

community awareness through training classes and lectures on Internet 

safety. Many parents are clueless when it comes to navigating around on 

the Information Super Highway. That is why my office has taken an 

aggressive approach to community awareness by having Saturday classes 

called the “Internet and Your Child,” where parents can come and sit 

down at a computer terminal and learn what their kids already know 

about the Internet. We have also started the first “Train the Trainer” 

program in the State of New Jersey through i-SAFE, where members of 

our office and the Union County High Tech Task Force teach educators 

and law enforcement personnel how to give informative lectures to 

citizens in their communities. I believe this approach we have taken has 

educated a good portion of the population and has prevented more 

tragedies from occurring in Union County. 

 Thank you and I look forward to your questions. 

 [The prepared statement of Andre Banks. follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF ANDRE BANKS, SERGEANT, OFFICE OF THE PROSECUTOR, UNION 

COUNTY

Chairman Whitfield and members of the subcommittee, thank you for the 

opportunity to testify here today. My name is Andre B. Banks and I am a Sergeant with 

over 20 years experience in law enforcement. I work in the Union County Prosecutor’s 

Office in Elizabeth, NJ and I am currently assigned to the High Tech Crimes unit that 

oversees the Union County High Tech Task Force. The High Tech Task Force 

investigates all computer and Internet related crimes in Union County . I obtained my 

Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Kean University (Union, NJ) and I 

obtained an Associate degree in Liberal Arts (Walnut, Ca). I am a certified instructor for 

“The Internet & Your Child” and a certified ISafe instructor, which are both education 
56

and training programs designed to teach parents and educators about Internet safety. We 

have given hundreds of lectures through out Union County on Internet safety and Cyber 

Crime. The Union County High Tech Task Force was the first N.J. County to start a 

High Tech Task Force six years ago to investigate child exploitation cases. We work 

closely with Federal, State and local authorities in these types of investigations. Several 

years ago our office also received a Federal grant to be a satellite office for the Internet 

Crimes Against Children (ICAC) national task force. We have arrested dozens of 

Internet predators over the years through the work of ICAC. I am also certified as an 

Encase Certified Forensic Examiner (EnCE) for conducting detailed computer forensic 

examinations of seized computers. This becomes very important after arresting an 

offender and examining his computer(s) for evidence of the crime that was committed. I 

teach in-service classes to Federal, State and Local officers on Internet crimes at the 

Union County Police Academy. I am an active member of the High Tech Crimes 

Investigator Association (HTCIA), New York U.S. Secret Service Electronic Crimes 

Task Force (ECTF), International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists 

(IACIS) and the Institute of Computer Forensic Professionals (ICFP). 

Prior to working in Union County, I worked as a Patrol Officer for the Fullerton 

Police Dept. in California from 1985 to 1988. In 1988 I relocated to my home state of 

New Jersey where I was hired by the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and was 

immediately assigned to work at the Special Enforcement Unit of the Morris County 

Prosecutor’s Office as an undercover narcotic agent. I worked in that capacity until Nov. 

1995. I was then reassigned to develop the Sheriff’s office-wide network database that 

was used by the four divisions within the Sheriff’s office to manage the day to day 

operations. In July 1996 I was hired by the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office as a 

Detective in the Fraud Unit/Administration Unit. While there, I enforced crimes relating 

to fraud, theft and started the Morris County computer crime unit. I have attended many 

police training courses in my career and also other specialized courses in police 

supervision and computer investigations. 

Today, one of the many challenges law enforcement faces is protecting our children 

from the dangers of the Internet. When I first started investigating Internet Crimes back 

in 1996 it was primarily hacking cases and distribution of child pornography via email. 

Today, the predators that troll the Internet have many choices from which to make 

attempts to lure their victims. 

There are hundreds of investigations that I could talk about when it involves the 

dangers of the Internet. One of the cases that I want to review with you is an 

investigation that I started a few years ago that involved a typical 14year old female 

named Nicole. I say this is typical because Nicole would come home from school before 

her mother arrived home from work between 3pm and 5pm and would always logon to 

AOL’s instant messenger program called AIM. You know about the Internet chatting 

programs that allow Internet users to talk in real-time with people anywhere in the world? 

This teenager used the AIM program to chat with her friends. Some of her friends she 

had met online and some she knew from school. She met a subject online who said he 

was also a teenager from N.J. and he went by the screen name of Lovs2playDoctr. After 

several weeks of chatting online and making secret phone calls they became online 

buddies and Lovs2playDoctr began sending her lewd pictures and talking about sex. This 

is the grooming process that predators often do to make their victims feel more 

comfortable talking to them. One day Nicole’s mother came home early and saw some 

disturbing chat conversations and called the Kenilworth Police Dept. The PD called my 

office and I later met with Nicole and her mother and they agreed to allow me to take 

over Nicole’s screen name so I could continue chatting with the subject. I later found out 

through a subpoena that Lovs2playDoctr was actually Michael Jasinski, a 31 year old 

male from Newark, Delaware, who had a criminal record. I then went in an undercover 

capacity online acting as if I was Nicole, by using her screen name I continued chatting 
57

with Lovs2playDoctr until he made plans to meet Nicole for a sexual encounter. I 

contacted the Delaware State Police through ICAC and we eventually arrested Jasinski 

and executed a search warrant at his house in Newark, Delaware. This case that I just 

reviewed with you is a scenario that often happens involving our children when they are 

home alone. They usually will feel safe on their computers chatting with strangers even 

though they know it is not the right thing to do. Jasinski is serving 10 years in a Delaware 

State prison. 

The second scenario I want to talk about involves the popular web site called MySpace. 

MySpace is a virtual meeting place on the Internet where children and adults can create 

free accounts to express their creativity and leave journal entries, also called blogs, on 

each others pages. This popular web site is awesome technology to many users, however 

it can be a nightmare to some people who fall prey to the predators and evil doers who 

seek to lure innocent victims. A recent case in Union County that ended in a tragic death 

involved a 14 year old female named Judy Cajuste. The victim had a MySpace account 

filled with many pictures and blog entries from her friends that revealed personal 

information. The investigation is still ongoing and we believe there may be a link to her 

MySpace web page that led to her death. Other MySpace problems occur when parents 

don’t know there children even have a MySpace account or when schoolmates use 

MySpace to Cyberbully other children. I speak to parents all the time at our lectures and 

also receive phone calls from disturbed parents about harassment that their children are 

confronted with on MySpace. This is not only restricted to MySpace.com there are many 

other webblog Internet sites out there that suspects use to lure and stalk victims as well. 

I’m highlighting MySpace because it is the most popular. One of the things I always tell 

parents is to become familiar with this technology and see what their children are doing. 

One incident I like to tell parents about is when a very upset parent called my office 

complaining about people posting bad messages on her daughters MySpace web page. I 

advised her about the proper way to file a complaint at her local police department, but I 

also educated her about the web site. I asked her if she knew about the security settings 

that MySpace put into place to block unwanted comments and she didn’t know. I then 

talked her through the steps to block certain users and to prevent blog entries with out 

permission. After showing her and many others how to activate this feature it often 

solves the problem. 

Lovs2playDoctr 

REAL Picture 
58

 

How Parents can block users and prevent unwanted postings before they happen. 

This is the evil side of MySpace 

A good portion of my job at the Union County Prosecutor’s Office is community 

awareness through training classes and lectures on Internet safety. Many parents are 

clueless when it comes to navigating around on the Information Super Highway. That is 

why my office has taken an aggressive approach to community awareness by having 
59

Saturday classes called “The Internet and Your Child” where parents can come and sit 

down at a computer terminal and learn what their kids already know about the Internet. 

We have also started the first “Train the Trainer” program in the state through ISafe, 

where members of our office and the Union County High Tech Task Force teach 

educators and law enforcement personnel how to give informative lectures to citizens in 

their communities. I believe this approach we have taken has educated a good portion of 

the population and has prevented more tragedies from occurring in Union County. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, Mr. Banks, thank you and I appreciate the 

testimony of the entire panel. I am going to ask one question and then I 

am going to have to participate in a conference call, and so I am going to 

ask Congressman Ferguson to chair the hearing until I get back. 

 But, Mr. Forrest, in your testimony, although you didn’t talk about it 

in your oral testimony, but in your written testimony you made reference 

to a case, a gentleman named James Nafus, Jr., who was a teacher at, I 

think, Far Hills Country Day School, and he was involved in some 

pornographic material and so forth. And my recollection was that the 

testimony, that he paid a fined and was probated and yet he was a 

teacher. I was wondering if you could just give us an update on that 

case, what actually happened to Mr. Nafus and so forth. 

 MR. FORREST. As you said, he was a teacher in probably one of the 

most exclusive private schools in all of New Jersey, Far Hills Country 

Day School. He had a personal laptop computer that he was having 

some problems wtih. He turned it over to someone and asked them to 

see if they could fix it. And as that person was attempting to fix the 

laptop, that person noticed child pornography, what he believed to be 

child pornography. He called the police. They called our computer 

crimes unit. We went down and got the computer through legal process, 

got into the computer and discovered that he was in possession of child 

pornography. In New Jersey, our legislature makes the mere possession 

of child pornography a fourth degree crime. We have first degree being 

the highest, fourth the lowest. We don’t have felonies and 

misdemeanors. He pled guilty to a fourth degree crime without a record. 

There is a legislative presumption for third and fourth degree crimes 

against incarceration, and he was given a sentence of a probationary term 

and a thousand dollars fine. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And is he teaching now? 

 MR. FORREST. I do not know that. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. But there was a misdemeanor charge? 

 MR. FORREST. Well, we don’t have misdemeanors here, but it was a 

fourth degree, which is the lowest level of crime. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. 

 MR. FORREST. First degree being the highest, fourth being the 

lowest. 
60

 MR. WHITFIELD. Yes. Okay. At this time, I am going to turn it over 

to Congressman Ferguson and I will be back as soon as I do this call. 

 MR. FERGUSON. [Presiding] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. 

Forrest, just following up on that particular case. Is there any provision 

in our New Jersey law for multiple offenders of possession or other child 

pornography? I don’t know what the law says, in terms of what our State 

law says on possession of child pornography. You said that a first-time 

offender is a fourth degree offense? 

 MR. FORREST. Well, it depends on what the crime is. And yes, there 

are provisions in our laws for repeat offenders for all crimes. Again, we 

have been doing this for about 9 years. We have not yet seen--and I 

guess that is a good thing and the State Police have more experience and 

obviously the Feds do than we do in little Somerset County. But we 

have not seen repeat offenders as of yet in our county. The profile that 

we have seen again are affluent businessmen, professionals, police 

officers, school teachers. We have not seen where they have re-offended 

in our county where we prosecuted them for any crime, let alone a crime 

involving the Internet or sexual assault or pornography. Now, but to 

answer your question, yes, if we have a repeat offender, that could 

enhance the punishment. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Whether they are a first-time offender or not, are 

there any provisions with regard to probation or other provisions in the 

law that, particularly if they are someone who works with children, this 

fellow is a teacher. 

 MR. FORREST. Yes. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Are there any provisions that say they are no longer 

able to participate in certain environments or jobs? I mean, obviously, a 

school, somebody would have to have their head examined for him to be 

hired back after being convicted of a child pornography crime. But are 

there any provisions in the law which say what someone who is 

convicted of these crimes is able to do or how--perhaps they have to stay 

away from children? 

 MR. FORREST. Yes and no. Clearly the court can impose conditions 

during the term of probation, although that will end when probation ends. 

In addition, if you are an employee in a public position, there is a 

provision for forfeiture for office and a bar from public office forever. 

That doesn’t apply to a private school, which is the case here. David 

Livingston is our county superintendent of schools. He and I formed a 

partnership 9 years ago that I thought it was one of the most important 

partnerships I had ever formed with anyone, because I think where we 

can fight the war the best from our local level is to educate parents and 

children, more so parents. Because I know from my own perspective as 

a parent, 9 years ago my kids knew more about the Internet than I did, 
61

and I found out what I was missing, that is scary. Just last night we went 

on the Internet, my kids looking for a piece of sporting equipment and 

we went on one of our local sporting goods Internet stores, and based on 

the name of this chain of sporting goods store, my son types it in and 

clicks it, it came back to a pornographic site, and so you have to be very 

careful on what words you want--what you are going to put into that 

Internet site. So as far as teachers go, most, obviously, are public school 

teachers and the penalty was obviously greater, because we do have a 

disbarment for life if you are convicted. With private school teachers, as 

in the case with Far Hills Country Day, that wouldn’t apply. 

 MR. FERGUSON. You had mentioned Pat Barnes was here-- 

 MR. FORREST. Yes, Prosecutor Barnes from Hunterdon County. 

 MR. FERGUSON. --who is a Hunterdon County prosecutor. I just 

wanted to say hello and recognize him and thank him for being here 

today and for your work in Hunterdon County. 

 MR. FORREST. Which, if I may add, is important because, for the 

same reasons that people said to me, Somerset County, why are you so 

concerned about that? We are not in one of the biggest counties in the 

State, like Union County, for example. Well, I don’t know if Mr. Banks 

can tell us how many residents of Union County have two and three and 

four computers and laptops in their homes, children that is, but we all do. 

And you go to Far Hills, where they are sending their children who--a 

very prestigious private school--these children have computers and they 

have them, unfortunately, in all the wrong places. And so working with 

David Livingston, the educational component that we put together, I 

think is one of the most important services we are providing, because 

parents are coming up to us all the time and say, I never thought of that 

and you are right, and my kid is kicking and screaming, but we are taking 

that computer out of their bedroom and putting in the kitchen or the 

family room or something like that, and something that small is that 

important. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Mr. Rodgers, you had actually referenced Rick 

Fuentes, who is the superintendent of our State Police-- 

 MR. RODGERS. Yes, sir. 

 MR. FERGUSON. --who I also want to recognize. He is an 

outstanding superintendent of the State Police we have in New Jersey 

and we are very fortunate to have him, and I appreciate your work and all 

the work of the State Police. Could you comment, and could all of you 

take a moment to comment on this issue of data retention by Internet 

service providers? A couple of you referenced in it in your oral 

testimony and some of you have referenced it in your written testimony 

as well. This is an issue which is coming up now, and if some consensus 

is not reached on this, it may require legislative action to kind of bridge 
62

this divide. We have law enforcement who are asking for longer, at least 

2 years of data retention, and some privacy organizations and ISPs 

themselves that have some issues with that. Can you comment on that 

specifically, and would you each take a moment to comment on that? 

 MR. RODGERS. I am going to speak in general terms, Mr. 

Congressman. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Could you just turn to the microphone to face you? 

 MR. RODGERS. And I am going to turn my time over to my 

lieutenant, Tony Ritter. It is a problem for us. The business relationship 

that we maintain with these ISPs, their ability to turn information around 

to us in a timely fashion, the length of time that they retain that data in 

order for us to move forward with effective investigations and 

prosecutions, is critical. And any manner that we could see that 

memorialized better in legislation to encourage these ISPs to assist us in 

doing what I believe to be God’s work is critical. If I may, I will turn it 

over to Tony to speak more in depth. 

 MR. RITTER. Congressman, one of the cases Lieutenant Colonel 

Rodgers spoke of was the Guardian case, where we arrested 39 

individuals. We actually received a hundred and ten referrals. Seventy 

of those were lost as a result of us not having the ability to retrieve 

records. 

 MR. FERGUSON. So there are 70 folks out there who you have a 

referral to perhaps prosecute, but you couldn’t do it because you didn’t 

have the information because it wasn’t retained by the ISPs, is that 

correct? 

 MR. RITTER. That is correct. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Okay. 

 MR. RITTER. And when we ask for you to stand behind CALEA, 

changes in CALEA, we are not asking for anything more than we get 

now. We are just asking that it apply to the emerging communications 

technologies. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Are there any particular ISPs that you feel are 

particularly troublesome in dealing with or not as cooperative as others? 

Is everyone cooperative? 

 MR. RITTER. We have had issues with all of them on occasion. I 

don’t want to point the finger at any particular one, but we have had, at 

times, issues with Comcast. I know they have increased their data 

retention schedule, I believe, to 180 days. I am not sure of the 

timeframe. We have had issues with AOL. AOL is one of the 

companies that does not take our legal documents. They have to be 

rewritten down in Virginia before they are processed. So you know, that 

adds a little bit of time to the process as well. There are some ISPs, some 
63

of the smaller ones, that don’t retain records at all for dynamic IP 

addressing. So I think everyone, including ourselves, need to step it up. 

 MR. FORREST. This has to be done a Federal level. Obviously we 

can’t and it has to require Federal legislation nationally. Even that won’t 

solve the problem, but the bottom line is, U.S. Attorney Christie said it, 

most of these people think they are in the privacy of their own home; 

they are not going to get caught. Most of them are right. However, 

when we do catch them, that is what we hear from them. Oh, I didn’t 

think I was doing anything wrong. Or, oh, I never thought you were 

going to find out. And the reason they think that is because either the 

ISPs don’t keep the data for a long enough period of time. We have a 

hard time getting it from them. Earlier, somebody talked about 

following the money. We need cooperation there. So in order to make a 

meaningful step in fighting this most challenging crime that I have ever 

had experience with, everybody has to cooperate, and everybody means 

whoever all the players are today or whoever may join the team later as a 

player tomorrow. And that has to be mandated by Federal legislation. 

There is no other way around it. We can’t do it in New Jersey and with 

State legislation, we can’t do it, clearly, in Somerset County. 

 And this is not my area of expertise. All I know is that the obvious is 

before us. This is going on internationally and people that are doing 

business in the United States of America have to abide by certain 

regulations, which now don’t exist, and they have to--and that would 

make our job easier. I think it would prevent people through deterrence, 

because most of the people that we have arrested in Somerset County, if I 

were to march them in here now, they are not public enemy number one. 

They are successful and liked school teachers, a police officer who is 

well thought of, other professionals. And we may be able to prevent 

them from doing something that they think they could otherwise do and 

get away with. 

 MR. BANKS. I would just like to echo what Lieutenant Ritter said. 

We have had a lot of cases where I am sending subpoenas out on a daily 

basis, over a hundred subpoenas in a year, and I would say about 25 to 

50 percent of those subpoenas come back nothing because the ISPs don’t 

keep the records. That is a big problem, whether it is-- 

 MR. FERGUSON. How many? 

 MR. BANKS. I would say about 50 percent of our subpoenas 

sometimes come back with no records, and mainly because we are 

dealing with a lot of theft cases, credit card cases, and a lot of victims 

would wait and call beyond 30 days. So the police officer would take the 

report and try and act on his investigation, but he would call me 

requesting a subpoena and we would send it out and the record would be 

not available. 
64

 MR. FERGUSON. You had mentioned you thought 2 years was a 

minimum of how long you thought ISPs should have to retain data, is 

that correct? 

 MR. RITTER. That is correct. 

 MR. FERGUSON. What is your thought? 

 MR. BANKS. I would say 2 years would be excellent. That would be 

good. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Any other thoughts from the panel? 

 MR. RITTER. Sir, we find sometimes that leads that we develop 

extend the length of the investigation, many leads on these computers, 

and by the time we say, oh, we have got somewhere we need to go, there 

is nothing to go to. 

 MR. FERGUSON. In this operation that you had mentioned before, 

you had 39 folks that you got, 70 who you couldn’t get. 

 MR. RITTER. Couldn’t get records on. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Because you couldn’t get records. And you are 

saying that 50 percent of the subpoenas that you send out on this topic, 

on this issue, can’t be responded to because-- 

 MR. BANKS. Because the record is not available. 

 MR. FERGUSON. --the records don’t exist. That is right? 

 MR. BANKS. And it is basically a dead end on that investigation. 

There is nothing else the detective can do. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Can we talk about ICAC for a little bit? Everyone 

seems to feel like ICAC is really moving the ball forward, and the 

cooperation that exists is very positive. The success of the operation is 

very good, but you have all heard about resources being stretched. 

Would you each talk about your involvement with the ICAC here in New 

Jersey? I know you talked about you have the opportunity to lead ICAC 

at the State Police. Talk about it, if you would, in terms of resources, 

what you do with the money you get through the ICAC funding, what 

you would do with more ICAC funding, if you had it, and because you 

have certain personnel assigned to ICAC, what would they be doing were 

they not on ICAC, and what is the trade-off? Do you see what I am 

saying? 

 MR. RODGERS. Yes, sir. I would like to begin by saying ICAC, to 

me, really embodies the two principal recommendations in a national 

intelligence sharing plan and in the 9/11 Report, unity of effort and true 

intelligence sharing. That is what happens every day with the folks that 

are assigned to the task force. Would it not be for the funding that is 

provided to us through ICAC specifically for training, we would not be 

able to keep our people up to speed with the technology advancements 

that are out there every day. Mr. Christie made reference to it before 

with his U.S. attorneys making light of the fact that he has one that has 
65

remained consistent and he moves the others through there, and they do 

so for good reason. The type of work that is being conducted by these 

investigators and prosecutors is very difficult, and I will leave it at that. 

It is not something that I would want to expose our personnel to for an 

extended period of time; yet the skill sets that they develop through the 

ICAC training become very difficult to replicate and become invaluable 

to moving these cases forward. Our ability to continue to get additional 

folks trained and move them for the couple years to develop the skill sets 

and then ultimately apply those skill sets and then move them out and 

bring new people in so that we don’t burn them out doing this type of 

work is critical. That is very difficult to do though, even with the 

resources that are provided to us today through ICAC. We need more. 

We need to train more people. We need to move people through here. 

As Mr. Forrest has said, in his career--and I can certainly second that, I 

have seen nothing like this, the advancements of this type of criminal 

activity. It is unprecedented. We need to bring more people into the fold 

that have these skill sets, and the only way we are going to be able to do 

that is through ICAC. 

 MR. FERGUSON. So the ICAC funding you receive goes specifically 

to what? 

 MR. RODGERS. To training our people and develop the skill sets to 

do this type of technical work. It also helps us network with our allied 

partners and train the community through different educational 

associations and law enforcement associations. 

 MR. FERGUSON. And if you had more funding, you would use it for? 

 MR. RODGERS. Well, we would be able to enlighten that many more 

officers in our organization and in others to do this type of work. Again, 

it is unique work, not your typical police work. And it is not something 

where you can train people up and leave them in there indefinitely. To 

do so you are really neglecting those individuals personally. And we 

make it a point to ensure they go through our counseling program on a 

regular basis. But to simply extend that benefit to them and leave them 

there in perpetuity would be negligent on our part. So we have to 

continue to move people through this, and to do so we need continued 

training and resources. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Does anyone have anything they want to add to 

that, because I want to move to a different topic. 

 MR. RITTER. Yes, sir, if I could, briefly. A large part of the mission 

is to expand this task force. Everyone acknowledges the need. So what 

we are trying to do is get task force members to sign up for a minimum 

of 6 months, preferably a year. We feel it takes a full 2 years of doing 

this work to even be comfortable, and even then you are not really 

comfortable. And in those 6 months, we try to get them basic computer 
66

training so they understand the technology of computers. We try to get 

them basic Internet investigative skills. We try to get them basic forensic 

skills so they know how to analyze things in the field. That is a lot for 6 

months, while they are shoulder to shoulder with our best detectives, 

going case after case. And then should they leave in 6 months or 12 

months, we try and send them with some hardware. If they don’t have 

the resource back in their agency, we help to send them back with the 

hardware and software tools so that they can continue working as an arm 

of our task force. 

 MR. BANKS. If I can just add. We received a $45,000 ICAC grant 

back in--I believe it was 2001, and that money was very, very helpful to 

our task force members. When they came to our office for 3 to 4 months 

of training they received good training. And if the money was 

continuous after the 2 years, we could have continued with the training 

and just like Lieutenant Ritter said, send some equipment back with them 

to their department. And once that funding ended, it was kind of slow 

getting members to continue coming back and working in the task force. 

 MR. FERGUSON. I want to move to a different topic. Now, Mr. 

Forrest, you had talked about, in your testimony, this term “grooming,” 

this process that happens with a potential predator and a potential victim. 

That is a term we have heard in our hearings. Can you describe a little 

bit more of what you have seen and what your team has seen in terms of 

how this “grooming” process takes place? What happens? 

 MR. FORREST. Actually, he could probably do it better than I. He 

has probably been “groomed” when he portrays a victim, by some of 

these pedophiles. You may be better to do that. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Mr. Banks, would you mind? 

 MR. BANKS. Sure. The “grooming” process is almost like a text 

book that these predators read on how to talk to children. First of all, the 

suspects do their homework. They will go onto AOL’s database and 

they will search the database for people that may interest them, children. 

So once they find several kids that interest them, they may be 13 or 14 

years old, the kids that reveal so much information. 

 MR. FERGUSON. I am sorry. What database are you talking about? 

 MR. BANKS. AOL’s. AOL has an online database for members to 

search other members to associate. 

 MR. FERGUSON. So you can just go in? I have not done that. 

 MR. BANKS. Yes. 

 MR. FERGUSON. You can go in and search for other members in 

AOL’s database that they provide to their members? 

 MR. BANKS. Exactly, yes. If you are an AOL member, you can log 

on and search-- 

 MR. FERGUSON. And look at other people’s profiles? 
67

 MR. BANKS. Exactly. So once these predators do their homework, 

they will find the kids that they want to put on their friends list, their 

buddies list, and they will start chatting with them. Now, they may start 

out slow. They will start out--they will find out from the kid’s buddy 

list, from their profile--excuse me--what their interests are. Once they 

find out what the interests are, they will start chatting with them and talk 

about those same interests. And they will eventually start to send 

pictures. They may send pictures of clothed people, and then they will 

send pictures of some partially removed clothing or they will start talking 

about sex, and this victim will feel comfortable with talking with this 

predator, because they are talking about things that their parents don’t 

talk to them about, sex. And they are curious and this intrigues their 

interest and that is how the grooming process starts, and it ends with a 

sexual encounter most times. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Would you talk a little bit more about--we have 

heard a little bit that there is--these predators are teachers or law 

enforcement, police officer I think you said. Two things. Is there a 

description of a typical predator? And also, is there a profile of a typical 

victim? Is there a certain age group? Is there a certain type of young 

person who ends up being the victim more often than not, or that is 

particularly targeted by these predators? 

 MR. BANKS. I would say that there is no particular profile of the 

predator. We haven’t determined that. There is no profile. A predator 

could be any background. That is number one. And we have not 

determined if there is a profile for a predator. The victims, I would say, 

from conducting these investigations with partners in law enforcement, I 

would say most victims would be shy children that may not have many 

friends in school, they are out of the social norm, and they are more 

subject to having online buddies, because the people at school may not 

become their friends. So they want to seek friends online, and that is 

where MySpace comes into play, the social Web portals, and a lot of the 

online programs. 

 MR. FORREST. What we have seen, Congressman, in Somerset 

County is the people that walk into the 7-Elevens and come from other 

counties, more urban areas, come here in a stolen car and stick up the 7-

Eleven, is not the same person that now has a sophisticated computer in 

their private home, because they don’t have a home and they don’t have 

a computer. The profile of the defendants that we have arrested, and I 

have given to you in the written statement, are people generally in their 

forties, generally affluent, generally successful, generally married, 

generally with children, and that is just for us. You know, we are just a 

microcosm here, and maybe throughout the State, the State Police can 
68

say they have seen something completely different. But that is what we 

have seen in our county. 

 And similarly with the victims, we have seen mostly females, 

although we have had male victims. They are mostly people who do not 

have their parents looking over their shoulders day and night. They are 

mostly young men and women who do not have the computer in the 

kitchen, in the family room, where there is a lot of traffic. There are a lot 

of children that are home alone. Predators know a good time to speak to 

them would be between getting out of school and before dinner when the 

parents get home and they may be home alone. Typically, when we have 

actually seen the children ourselves, it is generally not the cheerleader on 

the team or the captain of a team. It is someone, as Detective Banks was 

saying, that may be a little bit more looking for friendship and that is 

why they are on a computer, and that is why they are more susceptible to 

being “groomed” and more susceptible to going to the Bridgewater Mall, 

the Bridgewater Sports Arena, to meet this person. Like in Wahler’s 

case, who, if I recall correctly, initially told the victim that he was around 

14, 15 years old. Then he said, well, I am really 17 years old, and all of 

this that takes place, takes place. But it turned out that he was in his 40s, 

maybe like 48, and then sexually assaulted her. So we have seen a group 

of defendants who fit into general characteristics that I think is telling. 

Now again, I have no familiarity with what goes elsewhere in the State, 

but that is what we have seen here. 

 MR. FERGUSON. I have covered a lot of ground, Mr. Chairman. I 

yield back. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Thank you, Congressman Ferguson. Mr. 

Banks, you did mention in your testimony about a young lady named 

Judy. What was that last name, Cajuste? 

 MR. BANKS. Yes, sir. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And she lived in Union County? 

 MR. BANKS. Yes, sir. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And she was 14 years old? 

 MR. BANKS. Yes. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And she was actually murdered, is that correct? 

 MR. BANKS. Yes. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And is that an ongoing investigation? 

 MR. BANKS. Yes, it is. I can’t reveal too much information about 

the case. It is ongoing. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. But she did have a MySpace account? 

 MR. BANKS. Yes. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Now, you also mentioned and I believe Mr. 

Rodgers mentioned briefly your efforts to provide some educational 

opportunities for programs for schools and students, and I was 
69

wondering if you all could elaborate on that just a little bit, and do you 

work at all with i-MENTOR or WiredSafety, or is that something that 

you are not really involved in with those programs? 

 MR. RODGERS. May I defer to Lieutenant Ritter? Tony? 

 MR. BANKS. The two programs that we are involved with, the first 

program is the Internet and Your Child. That program was created by 

Leann Shirey. She is a sergeant at Seattle P.D. She received a Federal 

grant several years ago and that program is designed to have parents 

come into a computer lab, sit down behind a terminal, and learn what 

their kids know about the Internet. It is a 4-day course. It is free. They 

receive a three-ring binder with a bunch of material, and learn about the 

in-semester programs, MySpace and what have you. That is the first 

program and we have been doing that since early--I think it was around 

2002 we started that program. The other program is i-SAFE, which you 

all know about i-SAFE, which is an awesome program geared for law 

enforcement, educators, and concerned parents to be trained. It is an 

online training program. It also is geared for detectives or educators to 

educate people at lecture settings at PTA groups, meetings and things 

like that. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And you do a lot of that? 

 MR. RITTER. Yes, we do. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And Mr. Rodgers, you all-- 

 MR. RODGERS. We have trained over 30,000 around the State of 

New Jersey in the last number of years, and it is from the different 

educational associations and law enforcement associations. The specific 

programs, I would have to defer to Lieutenant Ritter to speak to. 

 MR. RITTER. My understanding is there are about two million 

children in the State of New Jersey, so reaching 30,000 is not a lot, 

although we think it is a lot. The ICAC Task Force does partner with 

NetSafe and they do endorse i-SAFE, and they both provide a great deal 

of very positive materials. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, you don’t have any sort of a hotline in the 

event that some young child feels like that maybe they are talking to 

someone that is not who they think they are? Do you have any sort of 

hotline? 

 MR. RITTER. Hotlines are hard to find on the Internet. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Are what? 

 MR. RITTER. They are hard to find on the Internet. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. 

 MR. RITTER. We do have a 24-hour capability. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Right. 

 MR. RITTER. However, if you have ever searched the Internet and 

you have come across anything, there isn’t a magic button to press to 
70

take you to law enforcement, or even to report it. And many times, if 

you go to websites and look for online safety materials, it takes a 

concerted effort to get there. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And that would be a useful tool to have, I would 

think. I know, in Great Britain, they do have a program like that, where 

you can go to a red button and touch and give the information, but I don’t 

think we have a national program like that in the United States. 

 MR. RODGERS. If I may, Mr. Chairman? To put in perspective here 

with cyber tips, we also--our high tech folks do that type of work, and 

how many did we receive last year, cyber tips? Sixty-five thousand, I 

believe. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Sixty-five thousand. 

 MR. RODGERS. That is cyber fraud. And as Tony had just testified 

to, we are the largest game in town and we only have 10 folks assigned 

full time to doing that. So they are doing both the Internet predator work 

and also cyber fraud. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. So everybody needs more funds and more 

manpower, really, to deal with this. 

 MR. RODGERS. It is a huge problem. 

 MR. FORREST. While you were out, Mr. Chairman, I had mentioned 

to Congressman Ferguson that one of the most important things we do is 

training for parents and children. In your packet, you were given a total 

of 80 slides. It is a PowerPoint presentation that we present to our 

various schools and parent organizations. And this is also on our 

website. And you were asking about a hotline. We have an Internet 

hotline on our website and then we also have a toll-free number as well. 

We have brochures such as this, which is also--and we will give you 

copies of all of this which we give out to parents, we give out to students, 

and then we put these in the schools and we also give them the programs 

for the parents and the students to take home. It is a mouse pad, 

obviously. And it gives the rules of the Internet. We tell the parents to 

go over this with the children. And when they are fighting with their 

kids about moving the computer out of the room they will blame it on us. 

And we will say, well, the prosecutor’s office told us we had to do it, so 

your parents aren’t the mean people, it is the prosecutor’s office, which is 

fine. So it is important to educate the public. We try to do that. We try 

to make it a priority. We get a number of tips over our Internet line, our 

website, and we also get a number of tips over our toll-free telephone 

line as well. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, I want to thank all of you for the great work 

that you are doing and the leadership that you are providing, and we 

genuinely appreciate the insights that you gave us and we look forward 
71

to working with you as we continue our efforts in this arena. So thank 

you very much. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Thank you. 

 MR. RITTER. Thank you. 

 MR. BANKS. Thank you. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. At this time, I would like to call up the fourth 

panel, and that is Mr. David S. Livingston, who is the Superintendent of 

Schools for Somerset County, New Jersey, and he is going to be 

accompanied by Mr. Mike Herrera, who is the Vice Principal of the 

Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School. 

 MR. FERGUSON. I think there is another--there is more to the panel. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Oh, there is more? Okay. I thought we had a 

separate panel, but we are going to call up some other witnesses to be a 

part of your panel, Mr. Livingston. I am also going to ask Ms. Parry 

Aftab, who is the Executive Director of WiredSafety, who is from 

Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. And then Ms. Shannon Sullivan, who 

is a Teen Angel with WiredSafety, and also from Irvington-on-Hudson, 

New York. And then Ms. Samantha Hahn, who is i-MENTOR, i-SAFE 

America, from here in New Jersey. So if you all would all come up and 

hopefully, do we have enough room for everybody? 

 MR. FERGUSON. Sure. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And do we have nameplates for everybody? 

 MR. FERGUSON. I am just getting them out now. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. He is getting them out. All right. And if you all 

would remain standing, as you know, we like to take testimony under 

oath with Oversight and Investigations, and I know some of you have 

been before our committee before. So if you would raise your right 

hand? 

 [Witnesses sworn] 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you. Well, you are sworn in now and, Mr. 

Livingston, we will begin with you and we will recognize you for 5 

minutes for your opening statement. 

STATEMENTS OF DAVID S. LIVINGSTON, SUPERINTENDENT 

OF SCHOOLS, SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY, 

ACCOMPANIED BY MIKE HERRERA, VICE PRINCIPAL, 

SOMERSET COUNTY VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL 

HIGH SCHOOL; PARRY AFTAB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

WIREDSAFETY; SHANNON SULLIVAN, TEEN ANGEL, 

WIREDSAFETY; AND SAMANTHA HAHN, i-MENTOR, iSAFE AMERICA 
72

MR. LIVINGSTON. Thank you very much, Congressman. I am 

pleased to be here and present information. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And if you all would move the microphone over to 

Mr. Livingston, I would appreciate that. 

 MR. LIVINGSTON. Okay. Can you hear me now? 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Yes, sir. 

 MR. LIVINGSTON. I work as a representative of the Commissioner of 

Education in this county, and we have about 55,000 students, 79 schools, 

and 19 districts, and each has its own chief school administrator or 

superintendent, business administrator as well curriculum coordinators, 

and principals. I also work with them on a regular basis. On monthly 

meetings, we meet and do trainings and so on, and my office gets 

involved in many things. We are generally doing--all kinds of issues 

come up that we get involved with. Of course, Internet issues and safety 

are one of those issues that keep cropping up and have been around for a 

long time. 

 In each of our districts there are technology coordinators. It is their 

job to assure that the hardware and software is up to date, is working, and 

that servers and systems are secure from misuse or abuse of policy. Each 

district requires every student to sign a contract, stating that they will not 

violate school policy and restrict the use of Internet to approved 

websites. Any violation will result in the loss of access to the Internet. 

And each student has his own ID number that tracks all use. There is an 

elaborate software system that blocks sites such as MySpace and 

Photobucket and all other kinds of sites that they consider obscene or in 

violation of board policy. 

 I have also attached to the testimony a copy of a letter that went out 

from one of our superintendents and it was shared with all the rest who 

did the same thing, in which they note--the major problem that I hear 

from them is a lack of monitoring by parents of their minor children’s 

activities on cell phones, personal Web pages, and the Internet at home. 

They do not indicate there is a problem with pedophiles at the school 

level. Now that is not a sample of every superintendent, but at the 

meetings we have talked about this and it has been clear that that is not 

the major issue that they face at the school level, given the fact that 

students know that it is being monitored. 

 As the prosecutor mentioned to you, Prosecutor Forrest, I have been 

in the county also 9 years, I have been in education 38 years, and we 

have done a lot of trainings together over various issues, whether it be 

weapons, harassment, bullying, and one of the trainings that we are going 

to be doing in the fall with the prosecutor’s office is Internet safety. That 

has cropped up because of what you are hearing today, in an attempt to 

bring to focus conscious-level thinking what superintendents, principals, 
73

all kinds of technology people and teachers are dealing with and how to 

deal better with problems of Internet safety at the school level and also in 

terms of students--and better educate students in terms of Internet safety. 

 So not only will I be doing Internet safety, but bullying and 

harassment and other abuses are also going to be covered in this 

workshop, because there are requirements in New Jersey for bullying 

policies and implementation of trainings for all teachers. There were 

also memoranda of agreements that are annually updated and reinforced 

between law enforcement and school officials that every New Jersey 

district must implement. These contain agreements and protocols 

between law enforcement and educators so as to create better 

understanding of how to deal with an arrest or how to deal with a 

violation or possibly how to cooperate in apprehending criminal 

behavior. 

 In short, the recommendations that in the short time I had to 

research, were that we make available training lessons on Internet safety 

protocols for parents and school districts to use with teaching staff. And 

as I mentioned, we are planning to do that this fall with the prosecutor’s 

office. They are well trained and well equipped, as you heard, and have 

been working with parents for a number of years on this problem. Also, 

one of the things that I guess I don’t know if you can do anything about, 

but I hear it over and over again, is to make parents and guardians 

responsible for monitoring minor children’s Web pages and e-mail 

correspondence in their homes. It is very easy to say; it is not very easy 

to do. And one of the things that isn’t mentioned here but is, 

unfortunately, in these trainings that do occur, whether it be done by the 

prosecutor’s office or by the school, very few parents turn out for those 

trainings, and so they are unaware. In many cases you are preaching to 

the choir of those people that come out to do it. Some districts are doing 

this on back-to-school nights in an effort to get at the audience, a bigger 

audience, if they can and they will include it in that setting and that is not 

a bad idea. 

 The other thing that I hear a lot about are freedom of speech 

concerns raised by such groups as the ACLU. And parents having easy 

access to sites their children may be abusing. Restrictions on access do 

hamper some police investigations as well. We hear that. The problem 

of monitoring proxy sites in the school setting is ongoing, also, I am told 

by technology coordinators. Students use a proxy server such as 

vtunnel.com and can gain access to sites not picked up or filtered by the 

district’s software. So as a result, technology coordinators nightly are 

updating their filters with new words, new words that may be very 

innocuous, that you would never think would lead to an obscene website. 
74

 So coordinators and school officials I talk with really have no 

recommended legislation other than to require districts to have signed 

contracts between parents, guardians, minors and the school, agreeing 

not to violate school policy, and such contracts should be routinely 

collected annually from all students using the school Internet services. 

And I have attached newspaper articles, also. The headlines talk about 

“Kids: Site Only As Dangerous As The User,” and that is a recent article, 

May 14, talking about the problems with MySpace; and a second one 

which is two different people from Howell Township, a rather large 

district in Mercer County. Tom Letson mentions that students--he says 

the problem is when kids have access to the Internet without any 

supervision, you get abuses. And if you are not going to monitor the 

computer, he says, then don’t let youngsters have their own access. Of 

course the other person mentioned in the article is a technology manager 

in that district, and he says it all comes back to mom and dad or the 

guardians. Don’t permit the computer to be located in the bedroom. 

Don’t allow pictures to be posted. 

 So I think, from our standpoint, we are really aggressively going to 

look at training and what we can do with training in terms of our 

administrators and teachers and principals using the partnership with the 

prosecutor’s office, because they are much more expert in terms of all of 

the problems that occur. Thank you. 

 [The prepared statement of David S. Livingston follows:] 
75

PREPARED STATEMENT OF DAVIS S. LIVINGSTON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS,

SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
76
77

 

MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Livingston. And Mr. Herrera, I 

understand that you are not going to give an opening statement, is that 

correct? 

 MR. HERRERA. I can if-- 
78

 MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. And keep in the 5 minutes because we are 

running out of time. 

 MR. HERRERA. Okay. 

Members of the committee, my name is Mike Herrera, Assistant 

Principal of Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School and 

father of three children. I graduated from Seton Hall University through 

the Seton Worldwide Program in Educational Leadership. Seton 

Worldwide is an online program that provided me with the opportunity 

to learn anytime, anywhere. My cohorts included educators from 

Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rome, Italy. As a school 

administrator, I am familiar with the paradigm of removing the walls of 

the classroom while setting up barriers to protect my students. 

 I would like to talk about how our district views our role as surrogate 

parents. Students are provided with a proactive, therapeutic approach to 

the Internet and bullying and harassment. The Somerset County 

Vocational High School is fortunate to have a school-based onsite 

program that includes various community services such as a conflict 

resolution specialist through Richard Hall Mental Health Community 

Center, and a school resource officer through the sheriff’s departments, 

and various other community resources. We have taken advantage of the 

State Police’s high-tech crimes unit on Internet safety. We chose to 

focus on our instructors for the initial presentation. It is my belief and 

hope that our close-knit faculty can positively influence the behavior and 

character of our students. It has been my experience that a majority of 

parents are not spending enough meaningful conversation with their 

children, as Mr. Rodgers referenced earlier. Most of the information is 

coming from peer-to-peer or over the social network sites. We hope to 

combat this problem with members of our close-knit faculty. 

 Prosecutor Forrest discussed grooming earlier of students in negative 

terms. The Somerset County Vocational and Technical High School 

faculty is proactive in identifying students to groom in such areas as 

confidence, conflict resolution, and encouragement. 

MR. WHITFIELD. Thanks so much, Mr. Herrera. And Ms. Aftab, 

you are recognized for 5 minutes. 

MS. AFTAB. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and welcome to 

the State of New Jersey. I appreciate the opportunity to testify again 

before the subcommittee and it is nice to do it from home. We were 

identified as being from Irvington-on-Hudson, that is our legal address 

for WiredSafety, but we actually operate out of New Jersey. And when I 

used to earn money as an Internet privacy and security lawyer, I used to 

be able to afford to live in Hunderdon County. Now I can’t, so I live in 

Bergen, which is an interesting State. I am an Internet privacy and 

security lawyer. I have dedicated the last almost 10 years of my life to 
79

protecting children online. It started when I saw an image of a three and 

a half year old being raped; it changed my life. I describe it often as 

having a branding iron applied to your brain. After I vomited and cried 

for a while, I ended up selling a very expensive home and emptying my 

bank accounts and my retirement accounts, thinking that the corporations 

that used to hire me, Yahoo, AOL, Disney, would happily take our 

advice for free. I have 11,000 volunteers in WiredSafety. We are all 

unpaid. We are in 76 countries around the world, but most of my 

volunteers, the ones I rely on the most to operate are here in New Jersey, 

because I see them. You will be meeting Shannon again. Shannon is 

one of our Teen Angels. I have Teen Angels in your district, Mr. 

Ferguson, but they are on vacation this week, so you have a substitute 

Teen Angel here. 

 The problem here in New Jersey is not a new one. The first case that 

we followed on prosecution here in New Jersey was the Paul Brown case 

in 1996, where the U.S. Attorney, the Department of Justice prosecuted a 

man from Ohio who was in his 40s. He weighed about 400 pounds; he 

was an out-of-work postal worker; he lived in the basement of his exwife’s house. He had found a young girl from Cedar Grove, New Jersey, 

which is in Essex County, met her online and promised her special 

access to celebrities. It was a boy band at the time and actually it was 

probably NSYNC, and some earlier issue, none of us knew what 

NSYNC was at that time. But he said he knew this boy band and if she 

would send him pictures, he would get it to the boy band. She did. He 

asked for sexier ones and they became sexier and sexier. Her mother, 

ironically, was a teacher. She was a single parent, which is a classic, 

classic profile of a typical victim. When she found out who he was, this 

was turned over and he was prosecuted and went to jail. It was one of 

the very first cases reported anywhere in the United States; that was 10 

years ago, and it started here in New Jersey. 

 We actually recognized over the years--I have been doing this for a 

very long time--that an awful lot of the cases come from New Jersey. 

We are wired. We live in a world where parents have two jobs, either 

because they are fortunate enough or because they have to. The kids 

have easy access to superhighways. People can get in and out of the 

State very easily. These are all things that can lead to trouble. When 

you had asked previously about a typical profile of a victim, actually 

there are two profiles. The profile that had been testified to is--the 

wonderful man from Union County--about the loner is the typical profile 

we thought existed until 4 years ago. Those are the cases that are 

reported, and the big problem here is, as we are looking at these issues, 

we really don’t know anything more than what is reported. It is all 

anecdotal. Even the brilliant work done by National Center for Missing 
80

and Exploited Children, or the ICACs, or Innocent Images. None of us 

really know. We only know what the kids have reported. So the kids 

who report are 11 and a half to 15. Now that has aged up a little bit 

because of social networks. Now it is 11 and a half to 16. They are the 

loners. They come from dysfunctional homes, although that seems to be 

most of the households in the United States these days. Often singlefamily homes or broken homes, even if the parent has remarried. They 

are wired somewhere at home. They engage in communications, 

sometimes thinking it is a cute 14-year-old boy, sometimes knowing that 

they are dealing with an adult. Those are the kids who, when something 

bad happens, report it. 

 The other kids surprised us. Four years ago, in May, a young girl 

named Christina Long was killed. It was the first confirmed death by an 

Internet sexual predator in the United States. She was from Danbury, 

Connecticut; she was 13; she was co-captain of the cheerleading squad; 

she was a National Honor Society member; very dysfunctional family, 

not a very good family life at all. She was now living with her aunt, who 

was trying to get things worked out, but she was not classically the 

victim. People Magazine called and asked me to be the expert on the 

piece and I said, I don’t understand it. We have been talking about the 

victim being these loners and telling the parents, if your kids aren’t the 

loners, you can relax. And now what have we done wrong? What we 

found is that those kids who are high-risk, they may also come from a 

dysfunctional family. But those who are high-risk are drinking too 

much, taking too many drugs, driving too fast, doing high-risk activities, 

and Internet sexual predator communications are just one of those highrisk activities, and those kids don’t report unless they are killed or 

kidnapped. 

 So as we look at all of these issues, it is important that we recognize 

the important and crucial work that this committee has done. I have to 

tell you that I have learned as much as I have tried to share. And in New 

Jersey, here the committee can learn that we have one of the best cyber 

crime units. The New Jersey State Police is one of the best and one of 

the first in the world that has done this. They will be recognized in our 

hearing at First Today with our Wired Cops award. And this committee, 

and you are hearing this for the first time today, will be receiving our 

Internet Superheroes award, which will be given to you by Spiderman in 

the fall, because you have done incredible-- 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, we look forward to it. I have never met 

Spiderman. 

 MR. FERGUSON. I have never met Spiderman, either. 

 MS. AFTAB. Well, you will now. And he is a real marvel, 

Spiderman. But as we look at these issues, we all have to work together. 
81

And I am here in New Jersey and I want everyone in the audience that is 

going to hear this to remember that. The 201 area code is New Jersey, 

not Washington. So we are here to help. 

 [The prepared statement of Parry Aftab follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF PARRY AFTAB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WIREDSAFETY

SUMMARY 

Our children are online. They do their homework, entertain themselves, 

communicate with each other and us, research things, buy and compare prices online. 

They need the Internet for their education, their careers and for their future. Of all the 

risks our children face online, only one is certain. If we deny our children access to these 

technologies, we have guarantees that they are hurt. All other risks are avoidable through 

a combination of awareness, supervision and parental control and other technologies. 

More and more children being lured and stalked by online predators who gather 

information about them from chatrooms, instant messaging, e-mails, websites and the like 

and use this information to become close to them. 

With our children walking around with Internet access in their backpacks and 

pocketbooks, we can no longer rely on parents watching whatever they do from a central 

location computer. Our children need to learn to use the "filter between their ears" and 

"ThinkB4TheyClick." This requires that we get them involved in framing solutions and 

educating each other. It also requires that we find new ways of building good cybercitizenship and helping the kids and parents spot risks in new technologies and protect 

themselves online. 

But we also need to recognize that in most cases our children are putting themselves 

in harm's way. They are intentionally sharing risky information online in profiles, blogs 

and on websites. They post their cell numbers on their public away messages when using 

IM technologies. And even when they are careful about protecting their own privacy, 

their close friends may expose personal information about them by posting photos and 

information on their profiles. They are also, in greater and greater numbers meeting 

people offline that they met online. Family PC Magazine reported that 24% of the teen 

girls they polled and 16% of the teen boys they polled admitted to meeting Internet 

strangers in real life. Our children go willingly to offline meetings with these people. 

They may think they are meeting a cute fourteen year old boy, but find that they are 

meeting a 47- year old child molester instead. This has to stop. 

Smart kids are sharing sexual images online with people they don't know, or emailing them to others they have a crush on and hope to entice. And with the newer 

video-chats and technologies, the predators have moved to luring our kids into posing and 

engaging in sexually explicit activities. 

Yet, the actual statistics are lacking. Everything we know is largely anecdotal. In 

1999, the FBI's Innocent Images (charged with investigating crimes against children 

online) opened 1500 new cases of suspects who were attempting to lure a child into an 

offline meeting for the purposes of sex. Based upon my estimates, about the same number 

of cases were opened by state and local law enforcement agencies that year. The same 

year, approximately 25 million minors used the Internet in the U.S., Now, with more than 

75 million young Internet users in the U.S. we don't know if the number of instances have 

increased, decreased or remain flat, given the growth. The crime reporting forms don't 

collect information about the use of the Internet is child sexual exploitation crimes, or 

any other crimes. That has to change. 

We also need to recognize the real risks and what is hype. Notwithstanding media 

reports to the contrary, to my knowledge, law enforcement is not aware of anyone who is 

using the information children provide online to seek them out offline, by hiding behind a 
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bush or grabbing them on their way home from school. They currently agree to meetings 

(even if they don't admit it to the police when things go wrong.) But it’s only a matter of 

time before this happens, since universal access to the Internet means that even violent 

sexual offenders who are online can use it for their own horrible purposes. 

WiredSafety.org operates from the computers of its volunteers, but its offices are 

maintained in New Jersey. Our programs began here and our deepest roots run here. 

Sadly, one of the first cases of Internet sexual predators also arose here, with a young 

victim from Cedar Grove communicating with a 46 year old predator from Ohio. One of 

the few deaths linked to Internet sexual predators also has occurred in New Jersey. As a 

lifetime resident of New Jersey and a longtime resident of Oldwick, testifying here today 

means more than any other hearing I have attended. With a state of children who are 

wired at home, at school and in their backpacks, it is essential that we deliver education 

and innovative programs to families and young people themselves. Let's start here. 

OPENING STATEMENT 

SNAPSHOT OF U.S. MINORS ONLINE, IN NEW JERSEY AND HOW 

PREDATORS REACH THEM 

It is estimated that approximately 75 million minors in the Unites States access the 

Internet either from home, schools, community centers and libraries or from some newer 

Internet-capable device. This is up more than ten-fold since 1996, when only 6 million 

U.S. minors were online. Now our children are using cell phones with Internet and textcapability, interactive gaming devices (such as X-Box Live and Sony Playstation 

Network) with voice over Internet and live chat features, handheld devices with 

Bluetooth and other remote-communication technology (such as PSP gaming devices and 

mobile phones) and social networking profiles (such as MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, YFly 

and others) where they can advertise their favorite things, where they live and pictures of 

themselves and their friends to anyone who wants to see them. 

Ten years ago, when I first wrote my safety tips telling parents to put the computer 

in a central location, that made sense. It was a central point, where parents could get 

involved and supervise their children's interactive communications and surfing activities. 

Now, where they take their communication technologies with them in their pockets, 

backpacks, and purses, it is not longer as relevant as it once was. Now, instead of 

expecting parents to watch everything their children are doing online from the comfort of 

their familyrooms, or kitchen counter, we have to do more. Now, we have to teach our 

children to use the "filter between their ears" and exercise good judgment and care when 

using any interactive device. While teaching parents how to supervise their children 

online was a challenge (I have written the leading books, worldwide, for parents on 

Internet safety), teaching children to "ThinkB4uClick" is much harder. 

When I was growing up (in the days before electricity and indoor plumbing, when 

we had to walk up hill, both ways!, in blizzards to get to school ), parents used to blame 

us for not behaving. We were disciplinary problems. Now pediatric neuro-psychologists 

tell us that preteens and young teens are hardwired, through immature brain development, 

to be unable to control their impulses at this age. Either way, we recognize that preteens 

and teens take risks, don't appreciate the consequences of their actions and act before they 

think. When their audience was their school friends, family and neighbors, the risks were 

containable. When they act out where 700 million Internet users can see, it takes on a 

much deeper significance. 

Putting Their Heads into the Lion's Mouth 

Now, I will share something very controversial. While educators and child 

psychologists understand this, most parents will be shocked at the suggestion that their 
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preteens and teens are in control of their safety online and putting themselves at risk, 

often intentionally. But unless we accept this, and direct our attentions at solutions aimed 

at this reality, we are all wasting our time. We will focus on the much smaller segments 

of preteens and teens who are being victimized through not fault of their own - those who 

are targeted at random. All others need to change their online behaviors. And that's where 

we need to devote all our attentions. 

For this to happen, you need to understand the truth. For years we have told parents 

and minors not to share too much personal information online. "You can be tracked down 

in real life," we told them. But, notwithstanding anything to the contrary reported in the 

media and by some local law enforcement officers, to my knowledge, to this date, no 

preteen or teen has been sexually-exploited by someone who tracked them down from 

information they posted online. In each and every case, to my knowledge, to teens and 

preteens have gone willingly to meet their molester. They may have thought they were 

meeting someone other than the 46 year old who is posing as a teen, but they knew they 

didn't know this person in real life. They are willingly agreeing to meet strangers offline. 

What does this mean? It means we can do something about this. It means we can 

educate teens and preteens about the realities of meeting people in real life they only 

know in cyberspace. It means we can create solutions. It means that this is, at least for the 

time being, 100% preventable. It means that what we do today will have an immediate 

impact on the safety of our youth. It means we have to join together and work on things 

that are effective and abandon those that are not. 

But we have to act quickly. When I testified before the U.S. House Of 

Representatives, Committee On Commerce, Subcommittee On Telecommunications, 

Trade, And Consumer Protection on October 11, 2000, I cautioned: 

Law enforcement is not aware of anyone who is using the information children 

provide online to seek them out offline, by hiding behind a bush or grabbing them 

on their way home from school. But it’s only a matter of time before this happens, 

since universal access to the Internet means that even violent sexual offenders who 

are online can use it for their own horrible purposes. (See Testimony of Parry Aftab, 

Esq. U.S. House Of Representatives, Committee On Commerce, Subcommittee On 

Telecommunications, Trade, And Consumer Protection on October 11, 2000.) 

Luckily, while our young people are sharing much more information online than 

ever before, to my knowledge, predators aren't using it to hunt down our children offline. 

They are like vampires. They need to be invited in. Sadly, our teens and preteens are too 

often doing just that. They are inviting them to offline meetings, phone calls and 

videochats. But, as an expert in cyberrisk management, I can tell you that this is good 

news. Because we have a single point of risk - our children, preteens and teens. If we stop 

their risky and unsafe behaviors, and teach them when to reach out for help, we can 

manage this risk. We can keep our children safe. 

Our children are mainly at risk because of their own actions. Some are intentional. 

Others are inadvertent. They may willingly engage in communications with people they 

don't know in real life "RL," agree to meet them offline or send them sexuallyprovocative images or perform sex acts on webcams they share with people they 

encounter online. They cyberbully each other by advertising their victims for sexual 

services, posting real or manufactured sexually explicit images of them online or by 

passing online rumors able their sexual preferences or activities. 

Preteens and Teens at Risk: Most of the high risk preteens and teens fall into three 

categories: those who are naive and looking for love and affection (typically the "loners" 

and "shy" preteens and teens), those who already engage in other high risks activities, 

such as drug and alcohol abuse, driving too fast or doing risky things for the thrill of it 

(often the student leaders, athletes, cheerleaders and very competitive teens, the risks 

takers and thrill seekers looking to let off steam or impress their peers) and those who 

don't realize that what they do online is real, the ones who are looking to appear older, 
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cooler, more fun and more popular (most of the teens and especially preteens fall into this 

category at least once). Sadly, most of our preteens and teens fit one of these categories. 

Sadder still is the fact that in recent years we have learned that most preteens and teens 

are potential victims. 

Naive, loners and socially-shy preteens and teens: Some believe that they are 

communicating with a cute 14 year old boy, who they later discover isn't cute, isn't 

fourteen and isn't a boy. Most of the reported cases fall into this category, and until the 

death of Christina Long four years ago this May, experts all believed that all victims fell 

into this category. They are conned, and easy to spot online. Predators can seek them out, 

and find their vulnerabilities. They are groomed with care, and often fall in love with 

their molesters. Sadly, when the molestation finally occurs, not only are their bodies 

broken, their hearts and trust are too. 

They need to understand how the predators work online. Too often they tell me that 

they can "tell" how old someone is online. They can't. No one can. Many predators spend 

years cultivating the right tone and language to look like a fellow teen online. 

These preteens and teens are sitting ducks. While they may have learned not to fall 

for the "help me find my puppy" ploy offline, they need to learn how that same ploy 

(appeal for assistance) works online. They need to know how to spot the risks and the 

predators, when online everyone can look like a cute 14 year old boy. They need to learn 

that romance shouldn't occur only in cyberspace, and that parents can get involved to help 

them meet their soul-mate, assuming they really are. So, if they aren't, and turn out to be 

a 46 year old child molester, they can come home safely and help put that molester 

behind bars where they deserve. 

Risk-takers, Thrill-seeking preteens and teens: Some preteens and teens (mainly 

teens) are looking for the thrills and challenge of engaging in a relationship (or at least 

prolonged communication) with an adult. They "play games" with the adult, and are 

intentionally extra sexually-provocative. They think they are smart enough to do this 

without getting hurt. They see this as a game, without realizing the consequences of their 

actions. And crossing the sexual line isn't as frightening online as it would be in real life. 

The problem is that the consequences are not as apparent, the realities not as immediate. 

They take risks. And they think they can handle them. (They don't often understand the 

consequences, though.) They often willingly engage in sexual communications with men 

they know are adults. That's part of the thrill. They are also often willing to engage in 

sexual activities with the adult, but don't realize what that can mean when things go very 

wrong. We rarely hear about these kinds of victims, because they never report it when 

things go wrong. They feel as though they "asked for it," or are to blame. When we hear 

of these cases, it's because they are killed or kidnapped. (Christina Long was in this 

category. She was the first confirmed murder victim of an Internet sexual predator in the 

U.S. and died four years ago this May.) 

Friends are the answer here. If we can get friends too help watch out for each other, 

it is less likely that they will meet adults in real life, or if they do, got alone. Also, finding 

cool spokespeople, like Nick Lachey, to explain that it isn't cool to be stupid and 

campaigns such as our "Don't Be Stupid" help. So do real life stories from victims 

themselves about how they got caught and advice from the trenches. Kateisplace.org has 

sections specifically directed at this type of victim. And Teen People is an important 

partner of ours in spreading the word. 

Not really a drunken slut, just playing one online: We've all been reading about 

this new trend in the news (often with me as the expert). Good, respectful, otherwise 

well-mannered preteens and teens acting out in cyberspace. In profiles, blogs, on social 

networking sites and their away messages on IM, on their websites and interactive 

gaming bios, they act out. They pose in their bras, or worse. They simulate sexual 

activities (and in some cases post images of actual sexual activities). They pretend to be 
85

someone or something other than what they really are. And this alter-ego may be a 

sexually promiscuous teen "up for anything." 

They don't think it is cool to tell others they were home coloring with their five year 

old niece last weekend. Instead they claim to have snuck out after everyone was asleep to 

get drunk at a wild party. To them it isn't real. They lie. They pose. They do thing online 

they would never dream of doing in RL. They aren't really drunken sluts - they are just 

playing one online. (Shannon, one of our award-winning Teenangels, will share insight 

into why teens and preteens are doing this, during her testimony today.) 

The Anatomy of a Cyberpredator: 

There have been many cases recently where pedophiles and other adults have lured 

children into offline meetings and molested them. Luckily, there are even more cases 

when such attempts to lure a child have brought about the attention of law-enforcement 

groups. I debated whether I should discuss any of these cases, because I did not want to 

sensationalize them. But if explaining the methods used by offenders might make parents 

more aware, and their children safer, it’s worth it. 

Cyberpredators, just like their offline counterparts, usually aren’t the scary, hairy 

monsters in trench coats we imagine standing on a dark street corner. Many are the kind 

of person you would be inviting to your home as a guest, and often have. They are 

pediatricians, teachers, lawyers, clergy, vice cops, welfare workers, journalists, Boy 

Scout leaders, baseball coaches, scientists, etc. They are almost always men. (Sometimes 

women are accomplices, but rarely are women the molesters.) They are often articulate 

and well-educated. They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, and they can be very rich 

or out of work. But they have one thing in common: they want your child. 

Most of us are sickened at the thought of an adult having sexual relations with a 

child, but to be able to protect our children, we must get into the mind of the predator. 

First of all, predators often don’t see themselves as predators. They see themselves as 

loving partners with the children they molest. To them this isn’t rape, it’s a seduction. 

And, as with any seduction, it’s a slow and painstaking process. (Predators have been 

known to wait more than two years, collecting data on a particular child, before striking.) 

That’s what makes them hard to detect. They don’t appear to your child to be dangerous. 

An FBI agent who shared a panel with me recently said it best: “Before the Internet, 

these people had to get physically close to your children. They had to lurk near 

schoolyards, or playgrounds. Kids would see them. Adults would see them. It was a 

dangerous situation to be in for them, because everyone would notice an adult male 

lurking around children. They often had to take jobs and volunteer positions that allowed 

them to work with children in a position of trust in order to reach their victims. Now, 

however, the personal risks the pedophiles had to expose themselves to in order to be 

around children are gone. Now they can be ‘one of the kids’ and hang out with your kids 

online without exposing themselves. As long as they don’t say or do something in the 

public room that makes them stand out, they can stay there forever, taking notes.” 

And, many of them do. They have been known to create large databases on children. 

They track the children’s likes and dislikes. They track information such as whose 

parents are divorced, who doesn’t like their father’s new girlfriend or their mother’s 

boyfriend, or who likes computer games or a particular rock group. Kids often share 

personal information about their lives in chatrooms or on profiles. This is one reason why 

they shouldn’t. The more the predator knows about your child, the more easily they can 

“groom” them or appear to be their soulmate. 

Some cyberpredators (known as “travelers” to law enforcement) seek out the good 

kids, the smart ones, the ones who are not street-smart and are from sheltered suburban or 

rural families. Many of our children match that profile perfectly. Others, however, target 

(or are targeted by) popular, super achiever, risk preferring teens. It took the death of a 

young teen from Connecticut, Christina Long, before we realized that many of the 
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incidents involved teens who did not fit the loner profile. What we learned was that these 

kids never report any attacks or exploitation. The only time we hear of these cases is 

when the teen is kidnapped or killed. 

So who is a typical victim of an Internet sexual predator? Anyone between 11-1/2 

and 15. All are vulnerable. 

It Doesn’t Take Torture for Them to Spill Their Guts 

Here’s a mock chatroom discussion that my law-enforcement friends and I agree is 

pretty realistic. Imagine a predatorial pedophile sitting and taking notes on this child, and 

using this information to lure them later. Would your child fall for this? Most, 

unfortunately, would. This one is more typical of a boy victim and predator 

communication than a girl victim communication. 

Child: I hate my mom! I know it’s her fault that my parents are getting divorced. 

Predator: I know. My parents are getting divorced, too. 

Child: We never have any money anymore, either. Every time I need something, 

she says the same thing: “We can’t afford it.” When my parents were together, I 

could buy things. Now I can’t. 

Predator: Me too. I hate that! 

Child: I waited for six months for the new computer game to come out. My mom 

promised to buy it for me when it came out. She promised! Now it’s out. Can I buy 

it? Nope. “We don’t have enough money!” I hate my mom! 

Predator: Oh! I’m so sorry! I got it! I have this really kewl uncle who buys me 

things all the time. He’s really rich. 

Child: You’re sooooo lucky. I wish I had a rich and kewl uncle. 

Predator: Hey! I got an idea! I’ll ask my uncle if he’ll buy you one too....I told you 

he’s really kewl. I bet he’d say yes. 

Child: Really!? Thanks!! 

Predator: BRB [cybertalk for “be right back”]... I’ll go and call him. 

- - - 

Predator: Guess what? He said okay. He’s gonna buy you the game! 

Child: Wow, really? Thanks. I can’t believe it!!! 

Predator: Where do you live? 

Child: I live in NJ. What about you? 

Predator: I live in New York. So does my uncle. New Jersey isn’t far. 

Child: Great! 

Predator: Is there a mall near you? We can meet there. 

Child: Okay. I live near the GSP Mall. 

Predator: I’ve heard of that. No prob. What about Saturday? 

Child: Kewl. 

Predator: We can go to McDonald’s too if you want. We’ll meet you there at noon. 

Child: Okay. Where? 

Predator: In front of the computer game store. Oh! My uncle’s name is George. 

He’s really kewl. 

Child: Great... thanks, I really appreciate it. You’re so lucky to have a rich and kewl 

uncle. 

Saturday arrives, and the child goes to the mall and meets an adult outside the 

computer game store. He identifies himself as “Uncle George” and explains that his 

nephew is already at the McDonald’s waiting for them. The child is uncomfortable, but 

the uncle walks into the store and buys the $100 game. He comes out and hands it to the 

child, who is immediately neutralized and delighted. Stranger-danger warnings are not 

applicable. This isn’t a stranger—he’s “Uncle George,” and if any proof was needed, the 
87

computer game is it. He gets into Uncle George’s car without hesitation to meet his friend 

at McDonald’s. The rest is reported on the 6 o’clock news. 

It’s disgusting. It makes us sick to our stomachs, but it happens. Not very often, but 

often enough that you need to be forewarned. (Several thousand cyberpredator cases are 

opened each year by law enforcement agents in the United States.) But no matter how 

often it happens, even once is too often. Knowing how they operate and the tricks of the 

trade will help us teach our child how to avoid being victimized. Each case differs, but 

the predators tend to use the same general tactics. Aside from the “bait and switch” scam 

discussed above, they often attempt to seduce a child. They want the child to “want” 

them. 

The Script—How They Operate Online 

They begin by striking up a conversation with the child, trying to create a 

relationship of trust and friendship. They often masquerade as another child or teenager, 

typically of the opposite sex, unless the child has indicated homosexual interests. (The 

child may or may not know the “seducer’s” real age by the time they meet face-to-face.) 

Phone calls usually start at this point. Sometimes gifts are sent to the child as well, which 

may include a Polaroid camera and film. Once they have broken down barriers of 

caution, they begin introducing sexual topics gradually, often with the use of child 

pornography to give the child the impression that other children are regularly involved in 

sexual activities. 

Then they begin to approach the child’s own sexuality and curiosity, by asking 

questions and giving them “assignments,” like wearing special underwear, sending 

sexually suggestive photos of themselves to the pedophile, or performing certain sexual 

acts. These assignments eventually broaden to the exchange of sexually explicit 

photographs (using the Polaroid, cell phone camera or digital camera) or videos of the 

child. Finally, the pedophile attempts to arrange a face-to-face meeting. (He may also 

have divulged his true age or an age closer to his actual age at this point.) 

Why It Works 

All the lectures we have given our children from the time they are very young about 

not talking to strangers aren’t applicable online, where everyone is a stranger. A large 

part of the fun online is talking to people you’ve never met. In addition, our children’s 

stranger-danger defenses are not triggered when other kids are involved. The warnings 

apply only to adult strangers, not to other children. 

If any of us walked up to a child in a playground and tried to strike up a 

conversation, they would ignore us and probably run away. But if an unknown elevenyear-old came up to another eleven-year-old in the same playground, they’d be playing in 

ten seconds flat! That’s how the pedophiles get in under our kids’ stranger-danger 

radar—they pretend to be other kids. And children often believe what they read and hear. 

They “know” things about the predator because they believe what he told them. They 

also believe what they read about him in his “staged” profile, which supports what he told 

them. So it’s not just true, it’s confirmed. 

There are many stages at which the pedophile can be thwarted by an observant 

parent. In addition, children with healthy friendships and a strong, open, and trusting 

relationship with their parents are less likely to fall victim to pedophiles online. 

Pedophiles typically prey on a child’s loneliness. They feed the child’s complaints about 

her home life—creating an "us-versus-them" atmosphere. “Your mom is so mean to you! 

I don’t know why she won’t let you _____.” (Fill in the blank with whatever we try and 

limit: makeup, malls, concerts, etc.) 

This atmosphere does two things: It creates a distance between the child and her 

parents, at the same time bringing the child into a special secret alliance with the 
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pedophile. (You should know that boys are almost as often the victims of Internet sexual 

exploitation as girls are, but they report it less frequently.) 

I have followed many cases over the last few years. In my role as WiredSafety 

executive director, I’ve also been responsible for reporting several of these to law 

enforcement and for helping many families through the pain of prosecution. Sometimes 

we just help the families survive what the molestation has done to them. (The child isn’t 

the only victim—entire families are torn apart in the aftermath of a molestation.) Parents 

feel guilty for not having protected their child, siblings don’t know how to treat their 

fellow sibling—the pain can continue for a lifetime, and even more. And, in addition to 

being hurt physically, the young victim's heart is broken by the betrayal of trust. 

Anatomy of a Real and Early Case 

One case I reviewed many years ago involved a New Jersey teenager and an Ohio 

adult predator. It was one of the earliest reported cases of cyber-predatorial conduct, 

discovered in 1996. Luckily, the liaison was discovered before the girl met the man faceto-face. But it had gone on for a year and a half before being discovered by the girl’s 

mother. As you read the details, think about what could have been done to discover the 

situation earlier and how you can use these precautions to protect your children. 

Paul Brown, Jr., an Ohio resident, was forty-six years old. He was also unemployed, 

weighed over four hundred pounds, and lived in a basement. He had accounts with 

several ISPs. Mary (a hypothetical name for the young girl involved) was twelve when 

her mother, a schoolteacher, bought her a computer, reportedly because Mary was having 

problems making friends. When she got online, Mary posted a message on an online 

service, in the spring of 1995, looking for a pen pal. In her message she described herself 

as a teenage girl. Paul Brown, Jr,. responded to the message, using his real name 

(something they often do, surprisingly) but identifying himself as a fifteen-year-old boy. 

Brown and Mary maintained an e-mail and telephone relationship for several 

months. As the relationship became more involved, they began writing letters, and Mary 

sent Brown a photograph. He told her that he was living at home with his mother and was 

hoping to find a girlfriend. In early August, Brown asked Mary for a “favor.” “If I sent 

you a roll of film, could you get one of your friends to take pictures of you in different 

outfits and maybe hairstyles? Makeup if you use any, and different poses. Some sexy, if 

possible. Please. Baby for me. Thanx. You’re the best. Love Ya.” 

Mary complied. For the next eight months, they continued to converse and 

correspond, and Mary sent additional photos. Brown encouraged her with juvenile antics, 

such as using stickers in his letters to her saying things like “Getting better all the time!” 

In May 1996, Brown sent Mary a special love note. “Saying I love you... seems to be an 

understatement. At the age of 14 you have captured my heart and made it sing... I love 

everything about you....” 

Shortly thereafter, Brown confessed to being in his twenties. He also suggested that 

Mary videotape herself in sexually provocative poses. She did. After Brown had 

reviewed her videotape, he returned it to her with instructions to redo the tape and include 

views of her genitalia and breasts. He later admitted to being divorced and in his thirties. 

He reportedly also sent her small gifts from time to time. 

A few months later, in response to Brown’s promise to pass copies of the tape to 

four members of a rock band Mary admired, she sent additional videotapes to Brown. 

(Brown told Mary that he knew the band members very well.) Each tape sent to Brown 

was designated for a different member of the band and contained sexually explicit 

conduct. Brown apparently had also sent her his size 48 underwear. When her mother 

discovered the underwear, the authorities were notified. Tracing Brown through phone 

records, special agents of the FBI in Cleveland seized the videotapes and photos of Mary 

and of more than ten other teenage girls from across the country. 
89

Mary was fourteen when this was all discovered. Brown pled guilty to enticing a 

minor to produce sexually explicit photos and videos and was sentenced to a little less 

than five years in prison (the maximum penalty for a first offense). In a written statement 

to Brown following all of this, Mary said, “I trusted you. I thought you were my friend.” 

There are several things that stand out in this case. One, interstate phone calls were 

made by Mary. Parents should always be reviewing long-distance bills for suspicious 

calls. Two, Mary was lonely. These kinds of children are often the most vulnerable; a 

parent should be involved in their online friendships, and monitor their online lives. And, 

three, as hard as it is to know what our kids are doing when we’re not around, especially 

if you are a single parent, a year and a half is a long time for a relationship to be going on 

undiscovered. You should spend time learning who your children’s friends are, online 

and off. But Monday-morning quarterbacking is always easier than playing the game in 

real time. We may look at the situation and say that could never happen to one of our 

kids. However, there but for the grace of God go all of us.... 

Knowing your child is lonely and has problems making friends is the first sign that 

the child may fall prey to a pedophile or cyber- predator. Predators can spot lonely 

children. They can also spot kids who are new online and may not yet know all the rules. 

Most teens, when surveyed, admit to having been propositioned online. But what may be 

obvious to a cyberstreetsmart kid may not be so obvious to a child not yet familiar with 

cyberspace. Pedophiles befriend these kids and patiently build trust and a relationship—

looking toward the day when they can meet face-to-face. 

Encourage your children to make online friends, but learning about their online 

friends is an important way to avoid these secret relationships. Education is important in 

avoiding this danger, too. (Had Mary been forewarned about how pedophiles operate 

online, she may have been more attentive to how old Brown sounded on the phone, and 

been more aware of his classic tactics.) So is control over incoming and outgoing 

information when younger children are involved, using technology blockers, monitors, 

and filters. These kinds of situations can be avoided if you plan ahead, educate and 

communicate with your children, and keep your eyes open. 

Getting in Under Your Radar: 

Even when parents are watching, bad things can happen. 

I included the Paul Brown case in my first book, A Parents’ Guide to the Internet. 

(He was sentenced in 1997, when I wrote the book.) I included it because it was a good 

example of how cyberpredators typically operate, and suggested that if the mother had 

been a bit more attentive, it might have been discovered earlier. I was right about how 

cyberpredators operate. I was wrong about how being attentive might have avoided the 

sexual exploitation. It takes more. It takes both an attentive parent and a teenager who has 

been taught how these pedophiles operate online. 

In November 1998, I met a mother who did everything right. She was attentive and 

inquisitive about her daughter’s online relationships. She asked the right questions. She 

had a good relationship with her daughter, and yet Charles Hatch, a child molester from 

Utah, got in under everyone’s radar and sexually exploited her thirteen-year-old daughter. 

Jennifer (not her real name) was eleven and a half when she first met “Charlie” 

online. She thought he was a few years older, and was intrigued about befriending a 

slightly older teenage boy. Jennifer was an honors student and had already been taking 

advanced college courses while still in middle school. She lived in a loving and warm 

household with her mother and father. She also had siblings and half siblings from her 

father’s previous marriage. They were all close. 

Jennifer’s mother, Sharry (also not her real name), talked to Jennifer about her 

online friend, Charlie. She insisted on talking to Charlie himself, by phone, once he and 

Jennifer had started calling each other. He passed the phone call test, and Sharry was 

convinced that he really was the teenage boy he professed to be. Either he had 
90

manipulated his voice to sound younger or he had a younger person make the call. 

Charlie even called and spoke to Jennifer’s brothers, talking about when he would be 

their brother-in-law someday, after he and Jennifer were married. He pleaded with 

Jennifer to come and visit him in Utah. Sharry invited him to visit them instead. But 

Charlie always had a reason he couldn’t come. 

As things progressed, Sharry insisted on talking to Charlie’s mother. He first 

avoided it by saying she was sick, later that her sickness had become cancer, and that 

eventually she died from the cancer. The family fell for this, hook, line, and sinker. Most 

caring families would. Although the “relationship” progressed for almost two years, it 

remained relatively tame. Charlie was romantic rather than predatorial, and he sent her 

expensive gifts, including a Polaroid camera. (Remember the Polaroid camera Paul 

Brown sent?) 

Jennifer was inexperienced with boys and dating, and Charlie seemed to know not to 

push her too fast. But about a year and a half after they met online, Charlie sent her 

sexually explicit photos of himself from the neck down. She became very uncomfortable 

and pulled back. But several tragedies occurred around the same time, which made 

Jennifer easier prey. Her father was hospitalized with a serious illness, and her sixteenyear-old half brother died of a brain hemorrhage. 

Charlie, like all good predators, knew when to strike. He told Jennifer that she owed 

him sexually explicit photos of herself, since he had sent those of himself. When she 

refused, he told her that she would be left alone, since her family was dying or would 

die—and he threatened to leave her. Reluctantly, after fighting against it as hard as she 

could, she acquiesced and sent him sexually explicit photos of herself. 

When Sharry was cleaning Jennifer’s room, she discovered a letter in which Charlie 

had set forth the sexual poses he wanted Jennifer to photograph. Sharry sent him a letter, 

confronting him. She said that he didn’t sound like a teenager in the letter. She told him 

that if he ever contacted her daughter again, she would inform the police. He never 

replied, and Jennifer was not permitted to use the Internet for months. 

One day, just when Jennifer and Sharry thought that the whole episode was past 

them, the phone rang. It was a detective from Utah, who informed Sharry that Jennifer’s 

photos had been discovered in Hatch’s day planner by a coworker. He wasn’t sixteen—he 

was thirty-six. He was a former teacher who had been dismissed by the school after 

having been accused by a student of sexual abuse. (The school hadn’t taken any other 

action.) He was currently employed by the welfare office in Utah, and was married with 

children and step-children. 

Six months later, Charles Hatch was convicted of sexual exploitation in a Utah 

federal court. He began his six-and-a-half year sentence in early June 1999. As a 

condition of his plea, he will not be permitted to use the Internet. This mother has become 

a dear friend of mine, after seeking WiredSafety’ help in getting through this. She was 

the first parent to speak out publicly about her child being targeted by a sexual predator 

online. 

Unfortunately, the predators are willing to try many different ploys until one finally 

works. 

Using Celebrity's Names 

I was having lunch in Los Angeles with one of my girlfriends when Nick Lachey 

walked into the restaurant. She pointed him out to me and I immediately grabbed my 

business card and approached his table (to the utter embarrassment of my friend). I 

introduced myself and told him I needed his help. I explained that predators were using 

his name and the name of other celebrities to lure kids into meetings and unsafe activities. 

They find teens who post their favorite celebrities on their profiles, websites or other 

online communications. Then they create a profile claiming to be a close personal friend 

of that celebrity. They offer to forward a pic of the teen to the celebrity, and seek sexier 
91

and sexier pics as time goes on, ultimately ending with an offer to introduce the teen to 

their favorite celebrity in real life. Years ago, Justin Timberlake was the most popular of 

these celebrity lures. Nick is now. He listened intently and turned white when he realized 

people where using his name to hurt his young fans. He offered his help. 

When I left his table, he has agreed to do a public service announcement to help 

teens understand that is anyone claims to be a close personal friend of a celebrity, they 

aren't. Or won't be for long. I was very excited, but not as excited as I was two weeks 

later when someone from Nick's office called asking me to help them create a safer teenonly social networking site called YFly.com. I agreed and YFly.com became a reality 

with the financial assistance of Tom Petters (and the Petters Group), and the creativity 

and energy of its founders, Drew Levin and Daniel Perkins. I joined the team to set up a 

safer network and create the most advanced educational and awareness content online, 

just for teen users. The young users can click on "Report the Creep" if they suspect 

someone is an adult posing as a teen. 

It's a beginning. Finding safer technologies and services is part of the solution. So is 

awareness using teenspeak. 

Delivering Teen-Designed Messages Using their Media 

For the first time, other than at our summit on social networking last month, we are 

showing our "You Never Know..." animation series. Designed by teens for teens and 

preteens they help bring home the point that you never know who is pretending to be that 

cute 14-yr old boy or girl. These tiny animations are designed to be cell phone friendly 

and easily sent from preteens and teens to each other. The more we can get them to think 

about who they might be communicating with, the safer they will be. 

Shannon, one of our Teenangels is 14 years old. She was selected by Teen People as 

one of the twenty teens who will make a difference. She has gone them one better...she is 

already making a difference. It is with pride that I introduce Shannon Sullivan, one of my 

Teenangels. 
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APPENDIXES: 

Appendix 1: Overview of WiredSafety.org 

WiredSafety.org is a 

501(c) (3) charity and the 

largest and oldest online 

safety, education, and help 

group in the world. It consists 

of thousands of volunteers 

from more than 76 countries 

around the world, all working 

online with the mission of 

promoting a safer and more 

responsible Internet and 

wireless experience for everyone. 

Originating in 1995 as a group of volunteers rating websites, it now provides one-toone help, extensive information, and education to cyberspace users of all ages and 

members of the Internet industry on a myriad of Internet and interactive technology 

safety issues. These services are offered through a worldwide organization comprised 

entirely of volunteers who administer specialized websites and programs. 

WiredSafety.org volunteers range in age from 18 to 80 and run the gamut from TV 

personalities, teachers, law enforcement officers, PhD's, writers and librarians to stay-athome moms, retired persons, and students. WiredSafety.org’s founder and Executive 

Director, cyberlawyer Parry Aftab, is also an unpaid volunteer. With the exception of its 

TeenAngels, outreach and speaking programs, all work and help is provided online and 

free of charge. 

WiredSafety.org’s work falls into four major areas, all designed to help promote a 

safer and more responsible digital experience for everyone: 

 Assistance for victims of cyberabuse and harassment and others who need help 

online, including parents, teens and educators. 

 Advice, Training and Help for law enforcement worldwide on preventing, spotting 

and investigating cybercrimes and for members of the Internet and interactive digital 

industries in designing safer technologies and adopting and implementing best 

practices. 

 Education for children, parents, communities, law enforcement, abuse and customer 

help staff within the Internet industry and professional development for educators. 

 Information and Awareness on all aspects of online safety, privacy, responsible 

use and security wired, wireless and as new technologies are developed. 

Our target audiences include: 

• Parents, grandparents and caregivers (including aunts, uncles and older 

siblings); 

• Pre-reader lap-surfers, kids, preteens, teens and college students; 

• Members of the Internet, wireless and interactive technology industries; 

• Law enforcement, community policing agencies and school resource officers, 

legislators, the judicial community and regulatory agencies; and 

• Schools and other educational institutions. 

Originally formed in 1995 (under another name) to provide help and protection for 

Internet users of all ages, in recent years, Wiredsafety.org's work has increasingly 

focused on the safety and good cybercitizenship of children, tweens, and teens. It serves 

as the umbrella organization for TeenAngels.org, WiredKids.org, WiredCops.org and 
93

WiredTeens.org. WiredSafety.org is dedicated to protecting children in cyberspace from 

cybercrimes and abuse, including from each other. This involves protecting them 

from cyberbullying, hacking, sexual harassment and identity (ID) theft. It also includes 

protecting children everywhere from Internet-related sexual exploitation. 

WiredSafety.org helps protect them from risks posed by adults, by each other and more 

recently from themselves, as their reputations and future college and job opportunities are 

impacted by what they post on their MySpace and other profiles. The package of 

programs designed for young users with the assistance of our teen and preteen volunteers 

is called “ThinkB4uClick,” teaching them the consequences of their cyberactivities. 

Marvel Entertainment, Inc. has also joined forces with WiredSafety.org to provide 

superhero assistance in educating our children and families on safer online practices. The 

first Internet safety comic, Internet Super Heroes meet the Internet Villains, teaches how 

Internet predators can infiltrate anyone's computer and wreck havoc on their lives by 

stealing their identity and posing as them online. Published under its exclusive license 

with Marvel, and sponsored by Microsoft, this first comic will help teach the 250,000 

readers how to be smarter and safer online using Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk and 

Dr. Doom, among others to bring the message to life. 

WiredSafety.org also provides information and resources to help educate and guide 

law enforcement officers on Internet safety issues, crime prevention and investigation of 

cybercrimes. It has created a special website just for law enforcement officers, 

Cyberlawenforcement.org, also known as WiredCops.org. As part of the Wiredcops.org 

initiative, specially trained volunteers assist law enforcement in the investigation and 

prevention of trafficking of children, child pornography, child molestation, and 

cyberstalkers. Recently, at the request of leading law enforcement agencies, 

WiredSafety.org has begun using its teen volunteers to provide information that will 

assist undercover law enforcement officers in creating credible profiles of preteens and 

teens to help them become more effective when operating undercover online. 

In addition to assisting law enforcement agencies, WiredSafety.org offers one-to-one 

assistance for victims of cyberabuse that may not arise to the level of a cybercrime and is 

not handled by law enforcement. WiredSafety's cyberhelpline gives “netizens” access to 

free help when they need it via the Internet. Its special team of helpline volunteers is 

assigned to cases and works one-to-one online to help resolve individual problems and 

get victims help when they need it. WiredSafety.org assists more cases of 

cyberharassment than any other organization in the world, helping thousands each month 

through its site and report line. Cyberbullying cases can be reported to the report line as 

well. 

But when dealing with preteens and teens, the challenge has always been getting 

them engaged. Their “selective hearing” can get in the way of their learning safer and 

more responsible behavior online, just as it may at home. When approached, teens told us 

that we had to approach them with things that they consider important, using their 

language. So, WiredSafety.org recruited teens and preteens who help us do that. These 

expert Teenangels, 13 to 18 year olds, (and now their younger version, Tweenangels, 

from 9 - 12 years of age) deliver the message of safe, private, and responsible technology 

use to their peers. These youth-based programs were formed in 1999 to provide special 

perspectives and insight into how young people are using the new technologies and how 

to better prepare them to handle the risks they encounter. 

Teenangels have been recognized and honored by Congress, Parliament, John 

Walsh, Time for Kids and recently, Teen People Magazine, among others. Their training 

is extensive and takes almost one year to complete. When they receive their “wings”, 

however, they are true experts. It is the only Internet expert youth program in the world. 

And, once trained, these special teens and tweens help develop safer technologies, by 

providing expertise for and advising members of the Internet and entertainment 

industries, media and governmental agencies around the world. 
94

Too often disconnected from the immediate consequences of their actions online, 

many “good” kids and teens find themselves doing things online they would never dream 

of doing in real life. This needs to change. The youth programs created by 

WiredSafety.org focus on cyberwellness and cyberethics which fits perfectly within its 

mission and expertise. To keep our children safe online, they need to understand the 

norms and rules of operating online. They must also recognize that they will be held 

accountable for what they do in cyberspace and that what they post online has 

ramifications beyond the momentary click. Teaching responsible technology use is 

crucial. 

WiredSafety.org also offers a wide variety of educational and help services to the 

Internet community at large. Companies such as Disney, the Motion Picture Association 

of America, the National Sheriff's Association, Yahoo, Verizon Foundation, Marvel 

Comics, MySpace, Xanga, Johnson & Johnson, Google, Oracle, Facebook, Microsoft and 

AOL support and turn to Parry Aftab and WiredSafety.org for guidance and advice in 

dealing with Internet safety issues. Teenangels and Parry have testified before leading 

governmental and legislative bodies worldwide, including the U.S. Congress and the 

U.K. Parliament. Regulatory agencies, such as Singapore's Media Development 

Authority, the U.S. FTC and California's consumer protection arm have sought 

WiredSafety's and Parry's help. Their collaborative efforts with schools, community 

organizations, prosecutorial officers, local executive branch and law enforcement 

agencies, such as Alaska's Campfire USA, the Baltimore County public schools, Ohio's 

Wayne County Sheriff's office, the San Francisco DA, and Westchester County, NY's 

County Executive Spano, have affected hundreds of thousands of families worldwide. 

Using its unique expertise in the field, the charity also assists important trade 

associations, such as the CTIA (the wireless trade association) and the U.S. Sheriff's 

Association. WiredSafety.org also acts as a watchdog within most of the social 

networking websites, to help provide their users safety information and help when things 

go wrong. 

Select volunteers find and review family-friendly Web sites, filtering software 

products, and Internet services. Some of the outreach team volunteers run programs, 

summits and also speak at local community groups and schools around the world 

teaching Internet safety, privacy and responsible use. 

However, its work is not limited to the Internet alone. WiredSafety focuses on all 

aspects of interactive technology use and abuse. Its expertise includes cell phone safety 

and security, interactive gaming, social networking (mobile and online) and textmessaging products, as well as any new interactive technologies as they are developed. 

Its long years of working with Internet users and handling cybercrimes and abuse have 

created a flexible and knowledgeable volunteer force. If you can view content, 

communicate with others, spend money, or buy things using the technology, 

WiredSafety.org can help. 

WiredSafety.org is headed by Parry Aftab, a mom, international cyberspace privacy 

and security lawyer and children's advocate. Parry is the author of the first book written 

for parents about Internet safety - The Parents Guide to the Internet (considered the bible 

of online safety and published in 1997) as well as The Parent's Guide to Protecting Your 

Children in Cyberspace (McGraw-Hill, 2000), which has been adapted and translated 

around the world. Her most recent books have been especially written and adapted for 

and published in England, China, Spain and Singapore. Her new book, Internet Safety 1-

2-3, was released in December 2005 in Spain and will be released next year in the United 

States. And her new “Stop Cyberbullying!” guide launched in Spain in May 2006. 

WiredSafety is proud of its reputation as the one-stop-shop for all cyberspace safety, 

privacy, security, and help needs. It is even prouder of the fact that all this can be 

accomplished without large government funding or money wasted on administration 

costs. No one is paid within WiredSafety.org. They are all unpaid volunteers - including 
95

Parry herself. This all-volunteer workforce has been estimated at providing more than $3 

million in unpaid services every year. Using a popular website and series of special topic 

sites, the organization has reached millions of Internet users since its inception and 

addresses more than 5000 children, teens and tweens and 1000 parents in person every 

month, on average. 

WiredSafety.org mobilizes people of all ages who want to help others, and puts them 

to work doing just that. It is intent on its mission to “Take Back the Net!” 
96

Appendix 2: Parry Aftab's Bio and CV: 

Updated July 2006 

Parry Aftab 

Bio 

Parry Aftab is a security, privacy and cyberspace 

lawyer, as well as an author, columnist and child advocate. 

A substantial portion of her time is donated to Internet 

issues involving children, from equitable access, to privacy, 

to safety, to helping develop quality and reliable content for 

children. She has also legally represented or acted as a 

consultant to most of the children's Internet industry, helping them comply with the law, 

while improving the Internet experience for children. When children and the Internet are 

concerned, Ms. Aftab's name is the first mentioned. 

Parry Aftab is a worldwide leader in the area of online safety and parent and child 

Internet education. As Executive Director of WiredSafety.org, the oldest and largest 

online safety and educational program in cyberspace, Ms. Aftab helps prevent and assist 

law enforcement agencies in investigating cybercrime against children and families. 

Under its former name, her group was awarded the President's Service Award in October 

1998 from the White House and Points of Light Foundation. Ms Aftab also works closely 

with law enforcement around the world to prevent cybercrimes and police the Internet 

and is part of the Home Office Cybercrime Task Force in the UK. She was recently 

appointed a Special Deputy Sheriff by Wayne County, Ohio's Sheriff, Thomas Maurer. 

In 1999, Ms. Aftab was appointed by UNESCO to head up its child Internet sexual 

exploitation project for the U.S. She has also written the leading books for parents on 

Internet safety since her first book was published on the topic in December 1997. 

Although her vocation was Internet security and privacy law, her avocation is 

children online – helping them become good cybercitizens and keeping them safe, private 

and secure online. She is dedicated to helping curb Internet-related crimes against 

children and assisting law enforcement in bringing the child predators to justice. 

Everyone who encounters Ms. Aftab is impressed with her passion and energy when 

children’s Internet issues are involved. 

While her passion is for protecting children from Internet sexual exploitation, she is 

also devoted to empowering them through access to the wonders of the Internet. She 

hopes to help all children become better informed and responsible cybercitizens, 

controlling the technologies instead of being controlled by them. Her programs are 

designed to teach them safe, private and responsible technology use, which includes 

teaching them good netiquette and respect for each other and the rights of others, 

including intellectual property rights of the music, movie, gaming and software 

industries. 

Ms. Aftab was among the first in the world to devote her talents to keeping children 

safe online. She has helped design programs for parents and children in a wide range of 

Internet-related issues for ten years. Her work has been recognized by leading technology 

influencers, such as Family PC Magazine, when she was awarded Internet Pioneer of the 

Year in 2001. And child protection agencies have recognized her as well, when Child 

Abuse Prevention Services presented her with their 20th anniversary Community 

Leadership Award in 2005. (Past recipients of this award include Senator Clinton, Linda 

Fairstein, Judy Collins, Dr. Joyce Brothers and the “God Squad.”) 

Parry Aftab also provides parent Internet education and online safety content for 

such diverse sites as Nickelodeon, Children’s Television Workshop, Disney, Microsoft, 

AOL, Yahoo!, Google, AT&T and MSNBC. She is a regular keynote speaker, and 

resource on camera for the media on diverse cybercrime, safety, privacy and cyberlaw 
97

issues. She writes The Privacy Lawyer columnist for Information Week Magazine where 

she writes on a range of topics that affect technology, policy and privacy. Her expertise is 

especially in demand on children’s Internet issues, because no one knows more about 

children online than Parry Aftab. 

 While she is devoted to protecting children online, Ms. Aftab seeks to empower 

children and their parents, not the censors. Her common sense approach to technology 

risks and solutions works as well anywhere in the world as it does in the United States. 

But what really makes her special is her ability to tap into the caring and creativity of 

young people to craft solutions that are written in their language and designed for their 

needs. 

She is a frequent and respected resource for news programming and print journalists 

around the world. Her expertise has been featured nationally and internationally in online 

and print publications, including Readers Digest, Playboy, TV Guide Magazine, 

Cosmopolitan, People Magazine, Redbook, Biography, USA Today, Information Week, 

Working Women, Teen People, U.S. News & World Report, Family Circle, Newsweek, 

Ladies Home Journal, Smart Money Magazine, PC Magazine, Good Housekeeping, 

Better Homes & Gardens, Family PC Magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life, Information 

Week, CIO Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The LA Times, 

most regional newspapers in the United States, The London Times Magazine, The Strait 

Times (Singapore), The South China Morning Post Sunday Magazine (Hong Kong), and 

more. As a result of her work online with children, Ms. Aftab was selected as a charter 

member of Children Television Workshop’s Advisory Board, as well as appointed to The 

National Urban League’s Technology Advisory Committee. In 2003 she was elected to 

TRUSTe’s Board of Directors. She served on the advisory board for the Ad Council for 

two terms. 

Parry Aftab has spoken to many governmental agencies and groups worldwide, 

conducted briefings for the U.S. Senate, testifies regularly before Congress, and has been 

a key speaker at the White House Summit on Online Content, the sole Internet-related 

expert speaking at the 2002 White House summit on Missing and Exploited Children and 

testified before leading legislative committees and The House of Lords, all with the same 

message: The Internet is a wonderful resource for families, and once parents understand 

the online risks, they can use common sense (and perhaps some filtering tools) to help 

their children enjoy cyberspace safely. 

As one of the first lawyers in the world to specialize in Internet legal issues, Parry 

Aftab is admitted to practice law in New York and New Jersey. She attended law school 

at NYU School of Law where she received her J.D. degree. She received her B.A. degree 

as Valedictorian of Hunter College (having completed her full undergraduate degree in 

less than two years), where she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. 

She resides in the New York metropolitan area and is a mother of two. Ms. Aftab 

can be reached at Parry@Aftab.com. 
98

Parry Aftab 

Professional Curriculum Vitae

Phone: 201-463-8663 

parry@aftab.com 

Internet privacy and security lawyer, licensed to practice law in NY and NJ, 

The Privacy Lawyer columnist, author, consultant and public speaker 

Executive Director of WiredSafety.org 

AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Worldwide Cybercrime Protection and Prevention/Identity 

Theft/ Privacy, Data Collection and Security / Workplace Risk Management and 

Security/ Consumer Protection, Advertising and the Internet / E-Commerce/ 

Cyberstalking and Harassment/ Child Exploitation and Child Pornography, Children 

Online, Online Marketing, Cyber-workplace issues, Privacy training and coaching 

CURRENT POSITIONS President/CEO - Aftab Cyber-Consulting 

 Executive Director, WiredSafety.org (a 501c-3 corporation) 

 The Privacy Lawyer columnist for Information Week 

EDUCATION City University of New York B.A., 1981 

 Hunter College Valedictorian

 (Completed 4 yr degree in 2 yrs) Phi Beta Kappa (Nu Chapter) 

 New York University J.D., 1984 

 School of Law 

SELECT HONORS Community Leadership Award, 2005 

 Awarded by Child Abuse Prevention Services 

American Society of Business Publication Editors Award 

“Gold” Original Web Commentary 

Informationweek.com for Parry Aftab’s 

“Patriotism, Compliance and Confidentiality” article

 Activist of the Year Award, 2002 

 Awarded by Media Ecology Association 

 Internet Pioneer of the Year, 2001 

 Awarded by Family PC Magazine 

 Home Office, U.K. 

Child Protection, Criminal Laws and Law Enforcement 

Task Forces 

ORGANIZATIONS TRUSTe 

 Member- Board of Directors (Elected December 2002) 

 Ad Council 

 Advisory Committee member (1999 - 2003) 
99

 Children’s Television Workshop Online (Sesame Workshop) 

 Advisory Board (1998 – present) 

 

 UNESCO 

President, U.S. National Action Committee, Innocence in 

Danger (appointed 1999)1998-present)

 

 The Internet Society 

Elected Chair, Internet Societal Task Force and Societal 

 Steering Group (worldwide, 2001) 

 Member of Public Policy Committee ISOC (2001–present) 

 Chair, Privacy and Security Working Group of The 

 Internet Society Task Force (2000-2001) appointed 

 member since 1999

WiredSafety (wiredsafety.org) the world’s largest Internet safety 

and help group, formerly functioned as “Cyberangels,” recipient 

of President’s Service Award, 1998, 

 Executive Director (1998-present) 

 The National Urban League 

 Technology Advisory Committee (1997 – present)

AUTHORSHIPS AND 

RELATED ACTIVITIES 

 Author, selected books

Cyberbullying Guide (Spanish and English guide on preventing and 

 dealing with cyberbullying) 

 Spain 2006 

 

 Internet con los menores Riesgos (Spanish guide for parents on Internet 

 safety, especially written for Spain and South and Central America) 

 Spain 2005 

 Children and the Internet (official Chinese Internet safety guide) 

China 2004 

 

 The Parent’s Guide to Protecting Your Children in Cyberspace, McGraw- 

 Hill, 

(U.S. edition, January 2000; UK edition, March 2000; Singapore 

edition May 2000 and Spanish language US edition November 2000) 

 A Parents’ Guide to the Internet, SC Press (October 1997)

 Contributor, selected books

 Child Abuse on the Internet.... Ending the Silence 

(2001) Carlos A. Arnaldo, Editor 

 Chapter 21: The Technical Response: Blocking, Filtering

 And Rating The Internet - by Parry Aftab 
100

The Best In E-Commerce Law 

 (2001) Warren E. Agin, Editor 

 Children’s Online Privacy Law

 Selected Speaking Engagements

WiredSafety's Social Networking Summit, June 2006 

US Congress, Commerce Committee, Sub-Committee Investigations and Oversight, 

opening day hearings April 4, 2006 

National Association of Independent School Annual Conference, March 2006 

Stonybrook Cyberbullying Summit, September 2005 

FDIC Conference on Security Online, August 2005 

The Westchester County Cyberbullying Summit, February 8, 2005 

The US Copyright Office – Luncheon Speaker (LA and SF events) February 2005 

Child Abuse Prevention Service 20th Anniversary Luncheon Speaker, April 2005 

FTC Workshop on P2P, December 2004 

House of Commons – Parliamentary Briefing on Internet Safety, October 2004 

IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals), June 11, 2004 

EU- Safer Internet – Warsaw, March 2004 

Media Development Authority- Singapore, Family Internet Week – March 15, 2004 

Western Attorneys General Conference, July 29, 2003 

Domain Day, Milan, Italy, November 5th, 2002 

Wired Kids Summit, Washington D.C., October 15th, 2002 (Mediator and Host of the 

event at the Russell Senate Building) 

White House Conference on Missing and Exploited Children, October 2nd, 2002 (Only 

panel speaker selected to discuss Internet issues). Other speakers included President 

George W. Bush, Colin Powell, John Ashcroft, Rod Paige and many distinguished others. 

Council of Europe, Children’s Online Safety, Belgium, November 2001 

Microsoft, Privacy and Security Summit, Privacy Speaker, San Francisco, November 

2001 

Intellectual Property Organization, Featured Speaker on Internet Law, Privacy and 

Digital Rights, New York, November, 2001 

SCOPE, Keynote Speaker, Cyber-terrorism, New York, October 2001 
101

Rappateour, E.U. Online Content Regulation, Luxembourg, June 2001 

Bertelsmann Foundation, Experts Meeting, Singapore, February 2001 

Microsoft, Privacy and Security Summit, Speaker (only female speaker), Seattle, 

November 2000 

Keynote Speaker, House of Lords, Kids Helping Kids, London (April 2000) 

Keynote Speaker, Singapore Broadcasting Authority and Ministry of Information 

Conference, Children Online, Regulatory Issues, Singapore (November 1999, May 2000, 

February 2001) 

Panelist, FTC Hearings on COPPA Regulations, Washington (June 1999) 

Keynote Speaker, White House Summit, Online Content, Los Angeles (June 1998) 

Keynote Speaker, C.A.R.U., Conference On Children’s Online Privacy 

 (September 1998) 

Featured Speaker, Littleton Town Meeting hosted by Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley, 

MSNBC (April 1999) 
102

Appendix 3: Parenting Online (from WiredSafety.org) 

 Parenting Online 

What do we do when our eight-year-old 

knows more than we do about cyberspace? 

How do we guide our children safely through 

this new world? How do we set the rules when 

we don't even understand the risks? The 

childproof locks, seatbelts and helmets we use to help keep them safe in everyday life 

won't protect them in cyberspace. There we need new and different gadgets and safety 

tips. 

Welcome to the new world of 

parenting online! It's your newest 

challenge. But don't worry...it's not as 

hard as you think and it's well worth 

the effort. 

Parenthood is never easy and the 

ground rules are always changing. We 

go from playing the role of confidante, 

to co-conspirator, to police chief, to 

teacher, to playmate and back...all in 

the same day. We barely have the 

chance to catch our breath! 

The things we do to make sure 

our children stay safe are constantly 

changing too. When they crawl, we 

learn how to keep things off the floor. 

Then, they pull themselves upright, we 

have to keep them safe from the new 

dangers at eye level. Training wheels 

have to be removed, and we have to 

watch while they pedal away 

(generally into the nearest tree). We watch their sugar intake, make sure they take their 

vitamins and keep small items out of their mouths. 

That's our job, as parents. So the tried and true warnings, passed down from 

generation to generation, are repeated... “don't talk to strangers...,” “come straight home 

from school...,” “don't provoke fights...,” “don't tell anyone personal information about 

yourself...” and “we need to meet your friends...” This is familiar territory after all. We 

know the dangers our kids face in the street or at the mall or in the school yard, because 

we faced them. 

As in any large community, there are dangers our children encounter in cyberspace, 

too. But, since our children know more than we do about cyberspace, we worry about 

how we can teach them to avoid those dangers. Don't panic... those dangers can be 

managed using the same old warnings we've always used. 

We just need to translate them into cyberspace terms...

And there are wonders around every cyber-corner too... 

The Internet is the largest collection of information in the world, always available 

without a charge and delivered to your home computer. Every question you might have 

can be answered online. When your child asks you how deep the ocean is or why the sky 

is blue, you can “ask the Internet,” together. 
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You and your children 

can communicate with others 

too, worldwide and in every 

language, with the click of 

your mouse. Their artwork 

can be displayed, their news 

reporting published and their 

poems posted on the largest 

“refrigerator door” in the 

universe, where 700 million 

people can appreciate them. 

You can research your 

family tree and build a 

family Web site. And, best 

of all...the most complicated 

homework assignment can 

be researched online (even 

last-minute on the Sunday 

night before it's due). 

You can search online 

for just about anything and 

any information you want. 

The easiest way to do that is 

by using search engines. You 

can type your search into one 

of the search engines and often will find what you are seeking. Just as often, though, you 

will find sites that are trying to get your or your children's attention. Pornographers are 

the most frequent abusers of search engines, registering and coding their sites to trick 

people into visiting them, thinking they are Disney, Pokemon or even the White House. 

Most of the search engines now have filtering options. By selecting one of these 

options, most inappropriate content is filtered out and the search results are typically kidfriendly. Two commercial search engines were designed just for kids, though, and are 

wonderful places to begin your child's search online. Yahooligans!, Yahoo! kid-sized 

search engine hand-selects the sites, making sure nothing slips through. It is best for 

younger children, ten and under. Ask Jeeves for Kids is Ask Jeeves kid-sized search 

engine. Although not as scrubbed clean as Yahooligans! hand-selected sites, it contains 

many more sites which make it perfect for slightly older children. I recommend it for 

children ten and older. 

In addition, most full-size search engines have a filtered option you can select. But 

remember that even if you use a search engine filter, if the kids search for images, the can 

find things you wish they hadn’t. That’s when using a filtering product that can block 

images too might come in handy. 

In addition to kid-sized search engines, there are many wonderful family-friendly 

site lists. WiredKids has one of its own, where the sites are selected and reviewed by our 

specially-trained volunteers. You can even recommend your favorite sites to be added. 

There are some entertaining sites that teach children online safety, as well. Although 

we prefer our WiredKids.org, StopCyberbullying.org and InternetSuperHeroes.org the 

best, (she says modestly...) another very special one we want to point out. Disney's 

Surfswellisland.com teaches online safety Disney-style. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, 

Minnie Mouse and Goofy all find themselves involved in tropical island cyber-challenges 

relating to viruses, privacy, netiquette (cyber-etiquette) and responsible surfing. Lesson 

plans, online safety worksheets and other wonderful resources are all available without 

charge at the site. 
104

Looking for homework help? Check out Discovery.com, Nationalgeographic.org, 

PBSkids.org and The National Gallery of Art kids page www.nga.gov/kids/kids.htm. And 

ask your school librarian or the librarian at your public library for sites they recommend. 

Librarians and library media specialists are the guides to valuable and safe online 

resources for children. And if you need something you can't find, send me an email at 

“Ask Parry,” ( askparry@wiredsafety.org ) my Internet-syndicated online safety column. 

Drop by WiredKids.org or WiredSafety.org to find out how to submit a question. 
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CyberSense 

...translating common sense for cyberspace 

• Don't talk to or accept anything 

from strangers. That's the first 

one we learn while growing up, 

and the first one we teach our 

children. The problem in 

cyberspace though is teaching 

“stranger danger.” Online, it's 

hard to spot the strangers. 

The people they chat with 

enter your home using your 

computer. Our kids feel safe with 

us seated nearby. Their “stranger” 

alerts aren't functioning in this 

setting. Unless they know them in 

real life, the person is a stranger 

no matter how long they have 

chatted online. Period. You need 

to remind them that these people 

are strangers, and that all of the 

standard stranger rules apply. 

You also must teach them that anyone can masquerade as anyone else online. 

The “12-year-old” girl they have been talking to may prove to be forty-five year old 

man. It's easy for our children to spot an adult in a schoolyard, but not as easy to do 

the same in cyberspace. 

• Come straight home after school. Parents over the generations have always known 

that children can get into trouble when they wander around after school. Wandering 

aimlessly online isn't any different. Parents need to know their children are safe, and 

doing something productive, like homework. Allowing your children to spend 

unlimited time online, surfing aimlessly, is asking for trouble. 

Make sure there's a reason they're online. If they are just surfing randomly, set 

a time limit. You want them to come home after they're done, to human interaction 

and family activities (and homework). 

• Don't provoke fights. Trying to provoke someone in cyberspace is called 

“flaming.” It often violates the “terms of service” of your online service provider 

and will certainly get a reaction from other people online. 

Flaming matches can be heated, long and extended battles, moving from a chat 

room or discussion group to e-mail quickly. If your child feels that someone is 

flaming them, they should tell you and the sysop (system operator, pronounced sisop) or moderator in charge right away and get offline or surf another area. They 

shouldn't try to defend themselves or get involved in retaliation. It's a battle they can 

never win. 

• Don’t take candy from strangers. While we don’t take candy form people online, 

we do often accept attachments. And just like the offline candy that might be laced 

with drugs or poisons, a seemingly innocent attachment can destroy your computer 

files, pose as you and destroy your friends or spy on you without you even knowing 

it. Use a good anti-virus, update it often and try one of the new spyware blockers. 

You can get a list of the ones we recommend at WiredSafety.org. Practice safe 

computing! 
106

• Don't tell people personal things about yourself. You never really know who 

you're talking to online. And even if you think you know who you are talking to, 

there could be strangers lurking and reading your posts without letting you know 

that they are there. Don't let your children put personal information on profiles. It's 

like writing your personal diary on a billboard. 

With children especially, sharing personal information puts them at risk. Make 

sure your children understand what you consider personal information, and agree to 

keep it confidential online and everywhere else. Also teach them not to give away 

information at Web sites, in order to register or enter a contest, unless they ask your 

permission first. And, before you give your permission, make sure you have read the 

web site's privacy policy, and that they have agreed to treat your personal 

information, and your child's, responsibly. 

• We need to get to know your friends. Get to know their online friends, just as you 

would get to know their friends in everyday life. Talk to your children about where 

they go online, and who they talk to. 

• R-E-S-P-E-C-T. We all know the golden rule. We have a special one for 

cyberspace. Don’t do anything online you wouldn’t do offline. If you teach your 

child to respect others online and to follow the rules of netiquette they are less likely 

to be cyberbullied, become involved in online harassment or be hacked online. You 

can learn more about the ways to combat cyberbullying at our new website, 

StopCyberbullying.org or at WiredSafety.org’s cyberstalking and harassment 

section. Remember that it is just as likely that your child is a cyberbully (sometimes 

by accident) as a victim of one. Let them know they can trust you not to make 

matters worse. You have to be the one they come to when bad things happen. Be 

worthy of that trust. 

Remember that the new handheld and interactive gaming devices you buy have real 

risks to. Your children can send and receive text-messages from anyone on their cell 

phones or text-messaging devices and interactive games allow them to chat, on Internet 

phone, to anyone who wants to talk with them. The new Bluetooth devices let your child 

receive messages form anyone in a 300 foot range, and could be a problem if they play 

the new Bluetooth handheld games in a mall. Think about the features you are buying 

when you buy new devices for your children. Check into privacy and security settings. 

Our Teenangels (teenangels.org) are working on new guides for parents and other teens 

on what to look for and think about before you buy a new interactive device. Look for 

them at your local retailer or on the WiredSafety.org and Teenangels.org websites. 

Don't just set up the computer in the corner of their bedroom, and leave them to surf 

alone. Take a look at their computer monitor every once in awhile, it keeps them honest. 

Sit at their side while they compute when you can. It will help you set rules that make 

sense for your child. It also gives you an unexpected benefit...you'll get a personal 

computing lesson from the most affordable computer expert you know! 

And it's worth the effort. When our children surf the Internet, they are learning skills 

that they will need for their future. They become explorers in cyberspace, where they 

explore ideas and discover new information. 

Also, because there is no race, gender or disability online, the Internet is the one 

place where our children can be judged by the quality of their ideas, rather than their 

physical attributes.

What Tech Tools Are Out There? 

Blocking, filtering and monitoring...when you need a little help 

There are many tools available to help parents control and monitor where their 

children surf online. Some even help regulate how much time a child spends playing 

computer games, or prevent their accessing the Internet during certain preset times. 
107

I've listed the type of protections that are available. But, most of the popular brands 

now offer all of these features, so you don't have to choose. Recently, given parents' 

concerns about strangers communicating with their children online, monitoring software 

has gained in popularity. Although it might have its place in protecting a troubled child, it 

feels more like “spyware” than child protection. But it's ultimately your choice as a 

parent. The newest trend is to use products supplied by your ISP called parental controls. 

AOL's parental controls were the first of these to be developed and used. MSN 8.0 

launched the first set of parental controls for MSN. To read more about the various 

products and services we have reviewed, visit WiredKids.org and WiredSafety.org. 

Blocking Software 

Blocking software is software that uses a “bad site” list. It blocks access to sites on 

that list. They may also have a “good site” list, which prevents your child from accessing 

any site not on that list. Some of the software companies allow you to customize the lists, 

by adding or removing sites from the lists. I recommend you only consider software that 

allows you to customize the list, and lets you know which sites are on the lists. 

Filtering 

Filtering software uses certain keywords to block sites or sections of sites on-the-fly. 

Since there is no way any product can keep up with all the sites online, this can help 

block all the sites which haven't yet been reviewed. The software blocks sites containing 

these keywords, alone or in context with other keywords. 

Some companies allow you to select certain types of sites to block, such as those 

relating to sex, drugs or hate. This feature engages special lists of keywords that match 

that category. As with the “bad site” lists, the lists of keywords used by the filtering 

software should be customizable by the parent, and every parent should be able to see 

which terms are filtered. 

Outgoing Filtering 

No... this doesn't mean your software had a sparkling personality :-) (that's 

cyberspace talk for “grin” and means you're supposed to smile at my brilliant humor, and 

if you want to learn more about this stuff...you need to read my Ms. Parry's Guide to 

Correct Online Behavior). It means that your child won't be able to share certain personal 

information with others online. Information such as your child's name, address or 

telephone number can be programmed into the software, and every time they try to send 

it to someone online, it merely shows up as “XXXs.” Even with kids who know and 

follow your rules, this is a terrific feature, since sometimes, even the most wellintentioned kids forget the rules. 

Monitoring and Tracking 

Some software allows parents to track where their children go online, how much 

time they spend online, how much time they spend on the computer (such as when they 

are playing games) and even allows parents to control what times of day their children 

can use the computer. This is particularly helpful when both parents are working outside 

of the home, or with working single-parents, who want to make sure their children aren't 

spending all of their time on the computer. Many parents who don't like the thought of 

filtering or blocking, especially with older children and teens, find monitoring and 

tracking satisfy their safety concerns. They can know, for sure, whether their children are 

following their rules. 

We particularly recommend using a monitoring software and then forgetting it’s 

installed. Think of it as the security video camera in the corner of the bank. No one views 

the tapes until the bank is robbed. If something bad happens, you can play back the 

monitoring log and see exactly what occurred, and who said what, and in dire situations, 
108

where your child went to meet an adult offline. We particularly like Spectorsoft.com, 

because their products can monitor all instant messaging platforms, which is key to 

keeping your children safe online. 

Parents have to remember, though, that these tools are not cyber-babysitters. They 

are just another safety tool, like a seat belt or child safety caps. They are not a substitute 

for good parenting. You have to teach your children to be aware and careful in 

cyberspace. Even if you use every technology protection available, unless your children 

know what to expect and how to react when they run into something undesirable online, 

they are at risk. Arming them well means teaching them well. 
109

Your Online Safety “Cheatsheet” 

Some Basic Rules for You to Remember as a Parent . . . 

• Make sure your child doesn't spend all of her time on the computer. People, not 

computers, should be their best friends and companions. 

• Keep the computer in a family room, kitchen or living room, not in your child's 

bedroom. Remember that this tip isn’t very helpful when your children have 

handheld and mobile Internet and text-messaging devices. You can’t make 

them keep their cell phones in a central location. So make sure that the “filter 

between their ears” is working at all times. 

• Learn enough about computers so you can enjoy them together with your kids. 

• Teach them never to meet an online friend offline unless you are with them. 

• Watch your children when they're online and see where they go. 

• Make sure that your children feel comfortable coming to you with questions 

and don't over react if things go wrong. 

• Keep kids out of chat rooms or IRC unless they are monitored. 

• Encourage discussions between you and your child about what they enjoy 

online. 

• Discuss these rules, get your children to agree to adhere to them, and post them 

near the computer as a reminder. 

• Find out what e-mail and instant messaging accounts they have and (while 

agreeing not to spy on them) ask them for their passwords for those accounts. 

• “Google” your children (and yourself) often and set alerts for your child’s 

contact information. The alerts will e-mail you when any of the searched terms 

are spotted online. It’s an early warning system for cyberbullying posts, and 

can help you spot ways in which your child’s personal information may be 

exposed to strangers online. To learn how to “Google” them, visit 

InternetSuperHeroes.org. 

• Teach them what information they can share with others online and what they 

can't (like telephone numbers, address, their full name, cell numbers and 

school). 

• Check your children’s profiles, blogs and any social-networking posts. Socialnetworking websites include myspace.com, facebook.com and xanga.com. (We 

work closely with MySpace and Facebook to help keep their users safer.) 

Social networks, generally, shouldn’t be used by preteens and should be only 

carefully used by teens. Yfly.com is a new teen-only social network that is 

designed from top to bottom to keep teens safer and teach them about more 

responsible behaviors. 

• For those of you with preteens and young teens, read the Safer Social 

Networking guide at WiredSafety.org. 

• Get to know their “online friends” just as you get to know all of their other 

friends. 

• Warn them that people may not be what they seem to be and that people they 

chat with are not their friends, they are just people they chat with. 

• If they insist on meeting their online friend in real life, consider going with 

them. When they think they have found their soul mate, it is unlikely that your 

telling them “no” will make a difference. Offering to go with them keeps them 

safe. 

• Look into the new safer cell phones and cell phone features that give you 

greater control over what your children can access from their phone and how 

can contact them. 
110

Once you understand enough about 

cyberspace and how your children surf the 

Internet, you can set your own rules. These 

are the basic rules, even though you may 

want to add some of your own. 

Some kids like setting the rules out 

clearly in an agreement. Here's one you can 

use, and post near your computer to help 

them remember how to surf safely. (Note 

that while the tips may work for teens, the 

contract is designed for preteens and 

younger.) 

I want to use our computer and the 

Internet. I know that there are certain rules 

about what I should do online. I agree to follow these rules and my parents agree to help 

me follow these rules: 

1. I will not give my name, address, telephone number, school, or my parents' names, 

address, or telephone number, to anyone I meet online. 

2. I understand that some people online pretend to be someone else. Sometimes they 

pretend to be kids, when they're really grown ups. I will tell my parents about people 

I meet online. I will also tell my parents before I answer any e-mails I get from or 

send e-mails to new people I meet online. 

3. I will not buy or order anything online without asking my parents or give out any 

credit card information. 

4. I will not fill out any form online that asks me for any information about myself or 

my family without asking my parents first. 

5. I will not get into arguments or fights online. If someone tries to start an argument or 

fight with me, I won't answer him or her and will tell my parents. 

6. If I see something I do not like or that I know my parents don't want me to see, I will 

click on the “back” button or log off. 

7. If I see people doing things or saying things to other kids online I know they're not 

supposed to do or say, I'll tell my parents. 

8. I won't keep online secrets from my parents. 

9. If someone sends me any pictures or any e-mails using bad language, I will tell my 

parents. 

10. If someone asks me to do something I am not supposed to do, I will tell my parents. 

11. I will not call anyone I met online, in person, unless my parents say it's okay. 

12. I will never meet in person anyone I met online, unless my parents say it's okay. 

13. I will never send anything to anyone I met online, unless my parents say it's okay. 

14. If anyone I met online sends me anything, I will tell my parents. 

15. I will not use something I found online and pretend it's mine. 

16. I won't say bad things about people online, and I will practice good netiquette. 

17. I won't use bad language online. 

18. I know that my parents want to make sure I'm safe online, and I will listen to them 

when they ask me not to do something. 

19. I will help teach my parents more about computers and the Internet. 
111

20. I will practice safe computing, and check for viruses whenever I borrow a disk from 

someone or download something from the Internet. 

21. I won’t post my cell number on my away message, and will check with someone 

before posting something personal about me on my blog or on a networking site. 

22. I will Stop, Block and Tell! If I am harassed online or cyberbullied. 

23. I will Take 5! before reacting to something that upsets me or makes me angry 

online. 

24. I will practice responsible “thinkB4Uclick” rules. (I know I can find out more about 

these things at InterentSuperHeroes.org and StopCyberbullying.org.) 

25. I will learn how to be a good cybercitizen and control the technology, instead of 

being controlled by it. 

_________________________________________________ 

I promise to follow these rules. (signed by the child) 

________________________________________________ 

I promise to help my child follow these rules and not to over react if my child tells me 

about bad things in cyberspace (signed by parent). 
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From Parry: 

I am asked questions about kids online safety 

at least a hundred times a day. Is the Internet a 

dangerous place? Are there predators out there 

looking to set up a meeting with my child? How 

can we find good and reliable content online? 

How can I supervise my child's surfing when I 

can't even turn on the computer? 

These any other question like these fill my 

inbox daily. (If you have a question of your own, 

visit WiredKids.org or WiredSafety.org and click 

on “Ask Parry.” Here is the one simple answer: 

The single greatest risk our children face in 

connection with the Internet is being denied 

access. We have solutions for every other risk. 

That bears repeating, over and over, especially when we hear about Internet sexual 

predators, hate, sex and violence online. But our children need the Internet for their 

education, careers and their future. 

Happily, most of the risks are easily confined. In each and every case when children 

encounter Internet sexual predators offline, they go willing to the meeting. They may 

think the person is a cute fourteen year old girl or boy, but they know they are meeting 

someone they don't know in real life. That means we can prevent 100% of these crimes. 

Merely teach our children not to meet Internet strangers offline. If they are set on meeting 

that person anyway, go with them. That way, if the person turns out to be a cute fourteen 

year old, you are the hero. And if they aren't, you're an even bigger hero. 

Our WiredKids, WiredTeens and Teenangels programs, in addition to being fun and 

educational sites, are also volunteer programs where children and teens are taught online 

safety and privacy and responsible surfing. They then use these skills to help other 

children and teens learn to surf safely, as well. Talk to your children about what they do 

online (and offline also), and let them know you are there to help if things go wrong. You 

will note that in our safe surfing agreement parents have to promise only one thing...not 

to overreact if their children come to them for help. Earn their trust, and be worthy of it. 

Register your children at WiredKids.org, our children's online safety site, and we will 

make sure they learn what they need to know about enjoying the Internet safely and 

privately. It's not about technology at all...it's about communication and good parenting. 

Remember, we're all in this together! 

Parry 

Parry Aftab, Esq. 

Executive Director 

WiredSafety.org and its family of sites and programs, including Teenangels.org, 

WiredKids.org and CyberLawEnforcement.org 

WiredSafety is a 501c-3 non-profit organization formed under the laws of the State of 

New York. (Its legal name is “Wired Kids, Inc.”) This publication is copyrighted to Parry 

Aftab, Esq. All rights reserved. For permission to duplicate this publication, contact 

parry@aftab.com. 
113

Appendix 3 and Appendix 4 

WiredSafety.org's Print PSAs 
114

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ms. Aftab. And 

Ms. Sullivan? 

MS. SULLIVAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon. My 

name is Shannon Sullivan. I am 14 years old and I will be entering tenth 

grade in the fall. Teenangels is a group of 13 to 18-year-old volunteers 

that have been specially trained by the local law enforcement and many 

other safety experts in all aspects of online safety, privacy and security. 

We go through extensive training by Parry Aftab, Executive Director of 

WiredSafety.org. Teenangels was founded in 1999 in New Jersey, and I 
115

have been a part of the program since I was 13. We are more than just 

teens who learn how to use the Internet and other interactive 

technologies safely. We are experts who advise many leading 

corporations. It is a great program because it is not teachers or parents 

just telling you another thing you shouldn’t be doing. It is your friends, 

another teen, someone who is in the same situation you are and 

understands the trends and what all teens want to do. 

 An interesting fact about Teenangels is that there are more 

Teenangels in the State of New Jersey than any other State in the country 

or any other place in the world. More of us means more teens being 

taught about Internet safety, more parents aware of the dangers of the 

Internet, and a lot more teachers and schools involved in our fight for a 

safer Internet for people of all ages. The fact is, kids do stupid stuff on 

the Internet. They pose in appropriate pictures, post personal 

information, and speak to people they do not really know. But the 

answer is not getting rid of social networking. Social networking is here 

to stay. I am sure it has become a part of your teens, or teens you know, 

lives and an essential communication for people of all ages. 

 WiredSafety is working with websites, law enforcement, parents, and 

schools to help create a total solution. We do not want to get rid of 

social networking, but there are so many ways to make it safer and more 

kid and teen-orientated to protect our children. There is not one answer 

to solving the problems of social networking. Everyone needs to work 

together in order to solve the problem and to make sure social 

networking has more benefits than dangers. One answer is teaching. It 

is our job as Teenangels, and your job as elected officials, teachers, and 

parents, to inform all kids of what not to do and what they are allowed to 

do on the Internet. We explain the dangers and the consequences of 

posting personal information, posing in inappropriate pictures, and 

speaking to people they do not know in real life, the teens, then they will 

be a lot of safer on the Internet. 

 The problem is, not enough teens understand the dangers. They do 

not believe it will ever happen to them. But the fact is, it can happen to 

anyone. And a lot of parents are unaware and are almost afraid of 

finding out what their kids are doing. They feel very uncomfortable 

when using a computer. Parents need to know what their kids are doing 

on the Internet. Now, when a parent tells a teenager, or my mom tells me 

something to do, I am not necessarily going to listen or take it as 

seriously as when my peer or another teen tells me what to do. 

 Learning from your mistakes. When I was in eighth grade my friend 

set me up with a profile on myspace.com. All my friends have profiles 

and I figured it would be a good way to connect with my friends. So on 

my page I had my picture, my first and last name, my age and school I 
116

attended and what year I was graduating. I had no idea that it wasn’t just 

my friends looking at my pages; anyone who wanted to. Any predator 

who was looking for a 13-year-old girl from Woodbridge, New Jersey, 

could easily find one. I learned from my mistake and I understand that 

anything posted on the Internet can be seen by anyone at any time. But 

teens need to learn from my mistake. As we get teens to come out and 

tell their stories, either about how they have gotten in trouble on the 

Internet or about the mistakes they have made, then other teens would 

learn from what they did and not make the same mistake. 

 So what do we need to do? As well-informed teens, elected officials, 

teachers, and parents, it is our job to teach kids and teens about the 

dangers of the Internet, inform parents about what their children are 

doing on the computer, and give teachers and schools options about how 

to deal with social networking and each coming trend on the computer. 

The Internet is a great learning tool and it is great for people of all ages 

to use. But if not used properly, it can become extremely dangerous and 

hazardous to our children’s lives. So if we all come together and work to 

make the Internet safer and teach today’s teens and tweens how to be 

safer, then the Internet will stay as a great learning tool and a vital part of 

our lives. Thank you. 

 [The prepared statement of Shannon Sullivan follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SHANNON SULLIVAN, TEEN ANGEL, WIREDSAFETY

Opening Statement: 

Thank you for inviting me here today to share information about Teenangels, 

WiredSafety.org and how we can protect everyone online. My name is Shannon Sullivan, 

and I am 14 years old from New Jersey. I will begin 10th grade in the fall. I have been a 

Teenangel for one year. I became one after my mother found out I had a MySpace. I had 

the opportunity of testifying before this sub-committee on the opening day of the 

hearings in Washington, following the testimony of Justin Berry. 

I have recently been honored by Teen People Magazine as a representative of 

Teenangels for our role in helping change the world. That is a big challenge. But it is one 

that teens can live up to. 

Teenangels are more than teens who learn how to use the Internet and other 

interactive technologies more safely. They are experts who advise many leading 

corporations. They have become well-known for their special insight into technology 

from a teen’s perspective. Teenangels now advise major corporations on Internet and 

technology uses, including Disney, the CTIA, Microsoft, AOL, Yahoo!, Marvel and 

others. They assist law enforcement agencies in designing more effective undercover 

investigation methods. They work with large industry groups, such as the Motion Picture 

Association of America, in building educational programs and public service messages. 

They have helped create safer interactive gaming technologies, safer cell phone 

features and more secure social networking programs. They have hosted briefings at the 

House of Parliament, conducted training for law enforcement agencies and written 

articles for leading magazines. They do presentations within their community for parents, 

students and senior citizens on safe use of the Internet and new interactive technologies. 
117

They spend a great deal of time on Internet sexual predators issues, anti-piracy and 

cyberbullying. We teach good cybercitizenship and responsible technology use, not only 

safety and privacy. 

Teenangels are 13-18 year olds who train in all aspects of Internet and interactive 

technology safety, security and responsible use. (Tweenangels is the younger and lighter 

version of Teenangels, comprised of 9 to 12 year olds.) Once we are trained by Parry 

Aftab, leading law enforcement agencies and industry leaders around the world, these 

special teen experts create their own programs to teach safe and responsible technology 

use. 

Some Teenangels are technological experts, creating animations, Flash applications, 

videos and computer games that help deliver their messages. Others concentrate on law 

and policy. Many have good public speaking, research or writing skills. The best thing 

about Teenangels is that it helps young people develop their own talents and help others 

at the same time. 

We challenge teens and preteens, "Think you know more than most adults about the 

Internet? Share what you know, and learn more from the experts. Be part of the solution. 

Be a Teenangel!" 

It is important that we teach young people that being safe isn't lame. That it's not 

cool to pretend you were out drinking all weekend, or to pose in your bra online. Many 

teens and preteens are lying about their ages to use social networking websites. And 

when they are there, they are often doing high risk things. But, it's important that parents 

understand that most teens and preteens are using the technology safely and responsibly. 

We just need to address them in our own language. 

Recently, Teenangels began working with Nick Lachey. When Parry wasn't able to 

attend a luncheon with Teen People introducing me (she was in Spain launching her new 

book), Nick came instead. He learned that Internet sexual predators were using his name 

to lure teens into sending sexual pics online. Since he first met Parry he has donated his 

time to helping us keep kids safer. He is even helping us with public service 

announcements and a fun new animated educational series we are producing using 

Teenangels to teach safer and more responsible technology use. 

Teenangels is now working with Nick's new site, YFly.com, to help create a safer 

teen social networking site. We helped create Don't Be Stupid to teach teens that 

engaging in reckless behavior online is stupid, not cool. 

As Teenangels, we have the mission of helping make the Internet safer. We need 

your help to do that. First I would like to thank you for helping us by providing funding. 

We just received an earmark from Congress, through the Department of Justice, for 

$50,000. Since Teenangels hold bake sales and wash cars to raise money for our 

programs, this will change our world. We cannot thank you enough! 

Next, I would like to share thoughts about what we can all do to help keep young 

people safer online..... 

Why Teenangels works and how teens can help keep each other and themelves safer 

online: 

• We are more than just teens who learn how to use the Internet and other 

interactive technologies safely. We are experts who advise many leading 

corporations 

• It is a great program because its not teachers or parents just telling you another 

thing you shouldn’t be doing, instead it’s your friend, another teen, someone 

who is in the same situation you are and understands the trends and what all 

teens want to do. 

• And an important part about TeenAngels is that there are more TeenAngels in 

state of New Jersey than any other state in country, or any other place in world 
118

• More of us means more teens being taught about internet safety, more parents 

aware of the dangers of the internet, and a lot more teachers and schools 

involved in our fight for a safer internet for people of all ages 

Kids do stupid things on the internet, we need to recognize that if we are going to try 

and address the problem: 

• Pose in inappropriate pictures 

• Post personal information 

• Speak to people they don’t really know 

The answer is not getting rid of Social Networking 

• Social Networking is here to stay 

• I’m sure it has become a part of your teen’s or teens you know lives 

• It is the central communication for people of all ages 

o Bands posting when shows are 

 

How Wiredsafety can help... 

• WiredSafety is working with websites, law enforcements, parents, and schools 

to help create a total solution 

• We don’t want to get rid of social networking but there are so many ways to 

make it safer and more kid and teen orientated to protect our children 

• There is not one answer to solving the problems with social networking 

• Everyone needs to work together in order to solve the problems and to make 

sure social networking has more benefits than dangers 

• And our Executive Director lives here in NJ too! 

One answer is teaching kids and teens to thinkb4uclick! 

• It is our job as TeenAngels and your job as elected officials, teachers, and 

parents to inform all kids of what not to do and what they are allowed to do on 

the internet 

• If we explain the dangers and the consequences of posting personal 

information, posing in inappropriate picture, and speaking to people they do not 

know in real life to teens they would change their behavior and be a lot safer on 

the internet 

• The problem not enough teens understand the dangers, they don’t believe it will 

ever happen to them, but the fact is it can happen to anyone 

• And a lot of parents are unaware and are almost afraid of finding out what their 

kids are doing. They feel very uncomfortable when using the computer. 

Parents to know what their kids are doing on the internet. 

• Now when a parent tells a teenager or my mom tells me something to do I’m 

not necessarily going to listen or care as much as when my peer or another teen 

tells me to do something. 

Learning from your mistakes 

• When I was in 8th grade my friend set me up with a profile on myspace.com 

(tell story) 

• I learned from my mistake and I understand that anything posted on the internet 

can be seen by anyone at anytime but teens need to learn from my mistake 

• If we got teens to come out and tell their stories either about how they got in 

trouble on the internet or about the mistakes they’ve made then other teens 

would learn from what they did. 
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So what we need to do 

• As well informed teens, elected officials, teachers, and parents its our job to 

teach kids and teens about the dangers of the internet, inform parents about 

what their children are doing on the computer, and give teachers and schools 

options about how to deal with social networking and each coming trend on the 

computer 

Closing 

• The internet is great learning tool and is great for people of all ages to use but if 

not used properly it can become extremely dangerous and hazardous to your 

children’s lives. So if we all come together and work to make the internet safer 

and teach today’s teens and tweens how to be safer than the internet will stay as 

a great learning tool for people of all ages. 

Thank you for your time and caring enough to hold this hearing. And thank you for 

taking the time to listen to teens. It's nice to be included. And I will remember this day 

forever. On behalf of all my fellow Teenangels and Tweenangels, thank you. 

Shannon Sullivan, age 14 

New Jersey 

Teenangels.org 
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Appendixes 

Appendix A: (from Teenangels.org) 

Safety Tips From the Mouths of Teenangels 

(The Real Experts)... 

While we have more extensive safety tip lists in Parry's book, here is a summarized 

version of the tips we thought were most important! 

As Teenangels, safety is our biggest concern. So here are some tips and ideas that 

we and others have to share. Some of the best suggestions come from TEENS, just like 

you! 

If you have a safety tip or story of something that has happened to you and how you 

handled it, please send it to us. We would love to hear from you! Email Teenangels. 

Thoughts for Parents, Teens & Kids from the Teenangels 

Parents... Don't be afraid of the Internet. It's an extremely useful tool & can't be 

dismissed because it is new & sometimes confusing. The Internet can be an excellent way 

for you & your children to bond & share a common interest. Be open with your kids & 

get involved. Most of all, learn all that you can about being safe, keeping your child safe, 

& taking advantage of the Internet's myriad uses. Tell your children not to be afraid to 

come to you with problems of any kind. 

Teenagers...Although the Internet is a great way to meet new people, do research, 

and chat with friends, there are dangers. Be aware of these dangers. Always use common 

sense. Although you may think that bad things won't happen to you, they most certainly 

can. Be open with your parents about what you do online. Don't meet people offline that 

you met online! Make sure a site is secure and trustworthy before giving in your personal 

information. Obey the law and don't steal music, motion pictures and software! Balance 

the time you spend online and offline. Remember your friends in real life and don't take 

them for granted. Go outside & enjoy life beyond cyberspace. 

Kids... While it's great to chat with people in kid-safe chat rooms online, you should 

spend time with friends in real life. School, family, & friends should always come before 

the Internet. Always tell your parents about what you do online. Let them sit with you, & 

teach them about the Internet. When they do sit with you, don't get mad at them. Just 

know they care about you & don't want to see you hurt in any way. Always remember 

that people online don't always tell the truth. Don't give out a lot of information about 

yourself. If anything bad ever happens to you on the Internet, always tell your parents or 

someone you trust. Always remember that it's never your fault. 
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Appendix B: Don’t Be Stupid! 

For Teens: 

Don’t Be Stupid! 

What you need to know about cyberdating and 

staying safe 

The Downers: 

You never really know who someone is online. 

They may sound hot and their pic may be even hotter, 

but they could be someone you don’t expect. They 

could be your little brother’s snotty 12-year old 

friends having fun at your expense. Or three 15-year 

old mean girls posing as a heart throb to set you up for humiliation. Or they could be 

some 47 year old pervert. Either way, who needs it? 

And even if it is a cute 16-year old guy or girl, there is no guarantee that when 

things are over, that sexy pic you shared with them won’t end up on some website or 

profile somewhere. Or they could use the password you shared with them to change your 

profile, pose as you and harass your friends or even lock you out of your own account. Or 

they could cyberbully, flame, cyber-harass or cyberstalk you or your friends...When you 

breakup, all bets are off! 

The Buck Stops Here...You Need to Protect Yourself Online

Smart teens have been fooled by slimy adults posing as teens. There is no safe way 

to meet someone you only know online, (with maybe from a few phone calls to help), in 

RL. If you're thinking about meeting someone, think again. Talk to your friends. Check 

out Katiesplace.org and learn about how others have been hurt by adults posing as teens. 

Smart teens like you. Don’t do it! 

We can't emphasize this enough! But, we also know that if you are convinced that 

this is a cute 16 year old boy or girl is the love of your life and destined for you from 

birth, you may ignore this advice and plan on meeting them in RL. If you are intent on 

taking this risk, do what you can to minimize it. Make sure you follow these Don’t Be 

Stupid tips: 

1. Don't disclose too much personal info. Start by assuming that the person on the 

other end is a predator. That means no full names, street addresses, RL schedules or 

telephone numbers that can be reverse searched (check it out online or where you work, 

or similar info about your friends that can be used to find you offline. It's always a good 

idea to use a disposable e-mail address or IM account, something you set up just for this 

and that you can drop if things start going downhill (like yahoo, hotmail or MSN.) Make 

sure that this new screen name doesn't give away any information about who you are in 

RL either (Tiff1991@[fill in the blank]). 

2. Play detective. Photos can give away more information than you ever intended. 

Things in the background of the photo, like the license plate on your car, your house, the 

store where you work, the school or camp sweatshirt you're wearing or a pic with you in 

front of your school can be risky. So can photos posted by your friends. While you may 

be very careful about what you are sharing online, they may not be as careful. If you link 

to their profile and haven't told anyone where you live, but they post their best friends 

(including you), everyone can now figure out what town you live in and where you go to 

school. They just need to cross-reference a bit. The same thing happens with everything 

you or your friends post. Look over your profile and the profile of your friends. If you 

were a detective for Law & Order, could you find yourself in RL? If so, change whatever 
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is giving too many clues away. Password protect it and guard your password, and ask 

your friends to do the same. Start a rule - never post info about a friend or their pic 

without asking first. 

3. Say Cheese! There are three issues about pics online - posting something you'll 

regret, shooting a lame pic or posting a pic that can be abused or misused by others. 

Sometimes to get attention, teens pose in provocative ways or snap a pic when they are 

doing things their parents would not want to see. Unfortunately, parents do see them. And 

so do principals and predators (and shortly college admission staff). 

We all know that lame "MySpace" pose - bad lighting, cheeks sucked in, lips 

pursed, head tilted up, with a flash in the mirror. :-) Is that really how you want to be 

remembered? 

Putting your best foot forward and using a good pic or a fun one is much better than 

doing the "I am so hot I can't stand it" pose. Boys posing shirtless and trying to make 

their pecs look bigger by crossing their arms underneath them, or girls posing in a bikini 

top (or worse) or very low cut pants will get you attention. But not the attention you may 

want. And cyberharassment where an innocent G-rated pic is manipulated and used to 

make you look bad or to morph your head on someone else's naked body is 

commonplace. You can avoid that by using photo-editing software to pixilate or blur the 

image, turn it into a sketch or cartoon, sepia or black and white. This makes your photos 

harder to abuse and less attractive to the harasser or a predator. 

Our new Best Food Forward (BFF) tips teach you how to make the impression you 

want to make, without being lame or stupid. You can read about them at Teenangels.org 

or at our Don't Be Stupid tips at YFly.com. These will help you come across the way you 

want to online. 

4. Look for the red flags. Beware of others online who: 

• ask too many questions 

• post things that don't make sense 

• move too fast 

• promise you ridiculous things (if it seems too good to be true, it's not true!) 

• like everything that you like, exactly the way you like it 

• know too much about you 

• engage in cybersex 

• just don't feel right or make you uncomfortable 

• are evasive 

• can't keep their story straight 

• initiate sexual conversation or innuendo 

• don't know the things most teens know (just know the experienced predators 

make it their business to know these things) 

• pressure you to send sexy pics or meet in RL 

• give you the creeps 

5. ThinkB4UClick. It's so easy to do things online that you would never do in RL. 

You don't have to look the other person in the eye. No one else is there to tell you to cool 

it. You are stronger, smarter, more empowered and braver online. You may not like your 

coach, principal or former best friend or boy or girl friend. 

You take their pic and morph it onto someone else's naked body. You post sex ads 

using their name and contact info. Maybe you take a pic of them with your cell phone in 

a locker room, bathroom, at a slumber party or in the changing room at the Gap. You 

build a profile telling everyone what a slut they are, or post these pics online 

anonymously. Or you send sexual images of yourself to someone you like, thinking they 

will want to go out with you if they see how sexy you are. They don't, but share the pic 
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with their fifty nearest and dearest friends - who show it to their friends and so on and so 

forth.... 

You think no one can find you, trace you or figure out who you are (you're wrong!). 

There is nothing between your impulse and your click...no time to think about it, no time 

to calm down. No time to use the "filter between your ears." 

You are also typing fast and aren't proofreading your text-messages, IM or posts, 

and often send it to the wrong person on your buddy list or misspell their screen name. 

You may forget to type in "jk" or the word "not." You may find yourself in trouble 

without knowing why. Think R-E-S-P-E-C-T! (Now do it like Aretha, with lots of style!) 

Taking that extra second to make sure you send it to the right person, aren't 

misunderstood and are willing to be accountable for what you are doing and saying 

online is crucial. It will save you lots of grief later! 
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Appendix C 

For Teens: 

Finding Love in all the Cyberplaces...Don't Be Stupid!

If you decide to meet someone in-person, and ignore everything we taught you -- at 

least follow these tips and trust your gut. If something feels wrong, get out of there and 

report it. And remember that about 30% of the victims are boys. They just don't report it. 

So be careful! 

1. Go public. Find out what they will be wearing and arrange for a place to meet. 

Then get there early and stake things out. The idea is to spot them before they spot you. 

Make sure that you meet in a well-lighted public place. It should be big and public 

enough so you can he help if you needed it, but not so big, crowded and noisy that you 

wouldn't be heard or couldn't get help. Don't meet in an amusement park, where 

screaming is part of the scenery. A mall is a good choice, but sit back and watch and see 

who shows up. If they are not what was promised, run...do not walk...home, to the 

security office or to the local police department. Make sure someone calls the police. 

Never meet at your place or theirs. Never get in a car with them. Go with lots of 

friends (preferably Sumo wrestlers). Ignoring these tips could cost you your life. Really. 

Several smart teens have been killed in the US over the last four years by people they met 

online. Don't become a victim. 

2. Bring backup. If you are going to meet, bring a lots of friends (preferably big 

ones :-)), and someone where you are going. Leave information about the person you are 

meeting. The bad guys will try and get you to erase the e-mails or bring your laptop or 

hard drive with you, so they can destroy the evidence. Best case scenario, trust your 

parents or another adult family member. This has saved more than one teen from being 

kidnapped, raped or killed. 

3. Find your own ride. Don't accept a ride from them or offer a ride to them...even 

if they appear to be cute and cuddly. Stay in control of where you go and how you are 

going to get there and back. Bring a cell phone and make sure it's charged. Have others 

check in on you too. 

4. Take it slow. Even if that's not your style, make it your style for any cyberdating 

situations. Just because they have told you their favorite bands, movies and food doesn't 

mean you have any idea who they really are. Treat it like a first date. It will feel weird at 

first. You feel closer than you would on a first date. They will know lots of things about 

you that you have shared. Often very personal things. But start from scratch. Don't move 

faster than you are comfortable doing and don't feel pressured. Keep others around for 

awhile as you get to know each other and trust your instincts. 

5. Rat on the Creep! Your parents will kill you if they found out you met someone 

from the Internet in RL. But if you don't report it to someone, this creep may kill some 

teen in reality! Most of the time when police arrest an Internet sexual predator, they find 

lots of e-mails on their computer threatening to call the police if they bothered the teen 

one more time. Had someone actually called the police, another teen might have been 

saved. Even if you won't tell your parents, find a way to report the creep. Check out 

Katiesplace.org for ways you can do that and more safety tips and real stories about real 

teens. 

copyright 2006, Parry Aftab, all rights reserved. For permission to reprint this, contact 

Parry at Parry@wiredsafety.org. 

 
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Appendix D 

For Teens:

Finding a Better Faith 

A fictional account... 

I thought I had met my dream guy. I really did. Now, I see where my mistake was, 

sure. It was in believing what I saw in the movies and on television. Believing what I 

read in magazines about true love and soul mates. I believed in the Madison Avenue 

picture of love, romance and happily ever after, and glossy views of happiness and 

popularity. I was taught these things my whole life by my everyone I knew and from 

books, movies, and songs. I was told that if I were good enough, thin enough, charming 

enough, pretty enough, and exciting enough my life would be fulfilling, happy and 

exciting. But no one ever tells you how dangerous this blind belief can be. 

When I was a freshman in high school, I was miserable. I lived in one of those 

towns where the same kids are in your grade all the way through school, so everyone gets 

to know each other pretty well. They knew me in middle school when I had acne and bad 

clothing and was shy and self-conscious. And then I grew out of that, but no one much 

noticed. I know I was pretty in the year or two before I died because people started 

noticing me – people who didn’t go to my school, who didn’t remember how I used to be 

awkward. 

And it felt good. I felt different and happy and hopeful. I thought to myself that 

maybe now I would have a boyfriend. Maybe he just couldn’t find me before because I 

was shy and awkward, and it’ll definitely happen now that I’m in high school and all the 

older boys can see how pretty I had become in the last few years. But it didn’t. No one 

looked at me any differently than they ever had and I got depressed. I thought to myself 

that high school might just be middle school again – that maybe nothing would be 

different and I would have to go through three more years of being lonely and waiting 

until something better happened. For a while, I got resigned myself to this fate and then 

something changed and I got up one morning and said no. I think I said it out loud, 

actually, it’s kind of funny to think of now. I decided that I would say no to this fate – 

that I wouldn’t be alone and I wouldn’t be miserable – not anymore. I decided that I 

would meet someone and I would have a boyfriend within a month or two – do or die – 

that I would take my life into my own hands. And that I did. 

I started going online and searching for people to talk to – people who would be 

more mature and would understand me. I sorted through people’s profiles on Friendster 

and Xanga.com and set up my own. And then I met someone, and it was just as easy as I 

ever dreamed it could be. We IMed for hours, about everything and I felt, for the first 

time, that someone really understood me. Sounds pretty silly now. We talked about our 

families, our dreams, books that had changed us – everything. I thought I was falling in 

love. I knew I had found “the one.” I was the lucky one, and had found my soul mate 

early. 

When he asked me if I wanted to meet, at first I said no, that I didn’t know him well 

enough. He didn’t push it, and instead, we started talking on the phone. He had a very 

deep voice, which didn’t surprise me because he said he was 18, but it probably should 

have. Anyway, a month later he said he had to meet me. He said he couldn’t’ stand it 

anymore – that he loved me – and said that if I wouldn’t meet him he would come find 

me because if he didn’t see me he’d die. In the end, it didn’t quite work that way, though. 

I realized that my parents would kill me if a random guy showed up at the house 

looking for me. I couldn’t have that happen, so I agreed to meet him. It was stupid, I 
126

know, but I was told more time than one that it’s okay to do stupid things when you’re in 

love. 

I met him at the mall, in the food court. He was 37, not 18. I started crying and told 

him that he lied to me and I never wanted to see him again. I felt betrayed, and confused. 

He handed me the rose he had brought and a book of poems. I just stared at them, having 

problems separating the 18 year old I knew so well, form this man standing in front of me 

with tears rolling down his cheeks. 

While he cried quietly, he told me that he loved me so much – that he knew I would 

never date him if I knew how old he was, which is true. I worked up the courage to leave. 

But he started making a big scene – pleading with me not to leave him. Telling me how 

much he loved and appreciated me, when no one else did. I was afraid someone I knew or 

who my family knew might see so I agreed – his last request – to go outside to talk. 

He said he had a present for me in his car, and could he just give it to me. I said ok, 

probably the stupidest thing anyone’s ever done. He clamped his hand over my mouth so 

no one could hear the screams. Then he pushed me in his car, throwing a blanket over me 

and holding me down so no one could see. He poured some smelly chemical over the 

blanket near my face. At first I held my breath, but finally had to take a breath. I knew I 

was in trouble, and felt dizzy immediately. I must have passed out. I don’t know how 

long it was before I woke up, and realized this wasn’t a horrible dream. It was real. He 

took me someplace in the woods, dragged me from the car and tied me up. He beat me, 

while he raped me, crying and telling me he loved me the whole time. I felt like my 

insides were being ripped out. That was how I lost my virginity. And my innocence. And 

more. 

I still feel like its all my fault. Why did I believe him? Why did I believe that 

anybody normal could be that into me? Even after all this time, the only answer I can 

come up with is that I had believed in make-believe. If I hadn’t wanted to fall in love so 

badly, if I hadn’t needed someone wanting me to validate how I felt about myself, I 

wouldn’t have let my judgment get clouded. I would probably be alone in my room, 

depressed, but I’d be better off than I am now. 

So believe in happily ever after, but reality too. It’s okay to be hopeful because life 

would be too hard without it. But don’t let it cloud your better judgment. Have faith in 

yourself and don’t waste it on people who may or may not love you or save you or 

complete you. And don’t trust people – at least for a while, at least till you know who 

they really are and what they are capable of. And never just because you talk with them 

online and on the phone and think you know them. Love and loneliness don’t excuse 

stupid behavior, and they certainly don’t buy you another chance to fix it. 

I will never know what could have happened in my life – who I could have met or 

what I might have done, because he killed me before leaving my body for some hikers to 

find weeks later. I was almost unrecognizable. My parents had to identify me, and the 

hair, clothes and complexion I worked so hard to make perfect weren’t even identifiable 

anymore. I was ashamed that I had done this to my parents, and my little sister, and most 

of all to myself. 

My friends didn’t envy my “kewl” new life. They, instead, mourned me, and even 

my dearest friends talked about how “stupid” I was. 

My little sister couldn’t stop sobbing. She held my hand, and clung to the casket 

when they tried to take it out of the church. I tried to hold her hand back, but nothing 

happened. I wanted to reach out and comfort her. But from now on, she wouldn’t have a 

big sister to do that anymore. She couldn’t climb into my bed and tell me about her kitten 

and why she wanted to be “just like me” when she grew up. 

I hope she wouldn’t be just like me. I hope she is smarter than I was, and not as 

trusting. Not as naive 

I wish I had a second chance. I wish I could warn others about this kind of thing. But 

I can’t. I’m dead. 
127

This “love of my life”, my “soul mate” didn’t only rob me of my innocence and any 

chance at happiness – I’ll never know if I could have made it. I never got a fair shot. If 

you’re in the same situation I was in, I can’t say if it’ll ever get better, or if you’ll ever be 

successful, or rich, or pretty, or lose the weight, or get the guy, but I can say you better 

hang around and try, because I’d do just about anything for the second chance. A chance 

to find someone real. A chance to know if I could have been happy. 
128

Appendix E 

About Teenangels from a school technology director in Wisconsin: 

About 5 years ago, I got a phone call from one of the parents in our school district 

asking that her daughter’s Internet and email privileges be revoked. She decided that her 

daughter would no longer be allowed to be part of the “Cyber World.” 

When I spoke more with this parent, I learned that the daughter had been harassed 

online. She had given out personal information and was now receiving inappropriate 

emails and phone calls at her home. 

I immediately looked for resources online to help this family. The Internet is such 

an incredible resource – I wanted to find a way to convince the family that education 

regarding Internet use was a better solution than instituting a complete ban for their high 

school daughter. 

As a result of my searches, I happened on information about Parry – I contacted her 

and she agreed to speak at a school assembly with a parent information meeting to 

follow. After Parry’s talk, I literally had a line of students in my office – these students 

wanted to help other teens to be safe online. From that group, our TeenAngel chapter 

was started. 

The Teens devoted an entire Spring Break to intensive training and the rest is 

history. Our TeenAngel chapter works to educate Teens (and parents) about online 

safety. We have a “Tech” division that works on programming and helps community 

members with problems ranging from P.C. trouble to instructions on virus removal. 

Our teens are highly motivated and highly technologically savvy. Among other 

things, our group has attended the Wired Kids Summit in Washington D.C. working with 

legislators and corporate executives to help make the Internet a safer place for kids. One 

of our teens was featured on “The John Walsh Show” in their “Hometown Hero” 

segment. Locally, our teens have presented to numerous school, church, and parent 

groups as well as presented at state conferences focusing on issues relevant to Teens. 

This is a great program. In our high school, it has become a place and program for 

our “Tech” guys to devote their energy and talent. 
129

Appendix F 

From Katiesplace.org, written by one of our Teenangels who wants to teach others 

how to avoid being victimized in the way she had been. 

When Your Mentor Becomes Your Tormentor - Alicia's Story 

You never notice yourself growing. It’s so gradual, so smooth a process that the 

daily or even monthly changes are simply undetectable. Mirrors don’t help – its only in 

comparing photographs, in seeing yourself at different stages, that one can notice the 

differences. 

My relationship online with Mac grew just that slowly. When we were first 

introduced online, he was courteous and interested and subtle, none of those childish IMs 

which are so common, among young teens, flaunting their new-found sexuality like so 

many new toys. He didn’t try to have cyber sex with me, didn’t make crude comments or 

ask me to go on the webcam. It doesn’t work like that. He was thoughtful and gentle and 

nice, and, of course, entirely deceptive, and so we became friends. Just friends. And it 

was all very innocent - for a time. 

It was in the slowest, least noticeable way that he eased me into a more intimate 

relationship online. He was an expert, but, of course, I didn’t know that at the time. The 

way the conversation moved into more personal territory never felt threatening because it 

moved so slowly. We would talk for a few minutes more each day, about something a 

little more personal each day, and some days we could talk about nothing personal at all. 

He never pushed, never insisted and so convinced me that I wanted to tell him personal 

things, or ‘parrot’ those things that he so wanted to hear from me. And I did. 

So we talked about everything – not just the sexual stuff. He was interested in me, as 

a person – my thoughts, my goals, my relationships with friends and family members. He 

gave me adult advice and always took my side. He was my advocate, unconditionally, at 

a time in my early teenage life where that was just what I needed. School was: well it was 

school, mean girls and nasty boys and everyone trying to be all that they’re not- And my 

family and I, were very close, but we didn’t always see eye-to eye about everything, 

sometimes they just seemed to think that I was still a child. But there was always Mac, 

and I could count on him to see things my way Always online. Always ready to talk. 

Always on my side. It was the most comforting thing imaginable. 

Soon enough, he wasn’t just someone that I could trust, he became the someone I 

needed – I began to believe that he was the only one I could depend on to understand the 

real me, which is exactly what he wanted, of course. Somehow, in this process, this 

grooming of me, he had changed me, had destroyed my ability to reason. Imagine, I 

walked out the door, right out of my own front door into the darkest iciest winter night, 

with no money and no coat, to meet a madman who I thought was my best friend. 

Was I crazy? No. Was I duped? Entirely. When I review it all, comparing my mental 

photographs of our relationship at different times, I think, how could it have happened? 

How could my sanity, my reason, my mental state have decayed like that – how did he 

make me shrink away to nothing? How could I have gone from being a smart, sane girl 

having casual conversations with an online friend to doing something I would have sworn 

I could never do –who... shy timid little me?—never!!!!- meeting a total stranger in the 

dark, cold night – leaving home in the middle of a happy, loving, family holiday meal? 

My only answer is that I wasn’t crazy – I was just under the spell of an incredibly skillful 

manipulator who knew that slow and steady wins the race – or at least the hearts of young 

girls. He took me apart and put me back together and bit by bit, day by day, byte by byte, 

he became the focus of my life and the one who understood me best. Why wouldn’t I 

want to meet someone like that IRL? It felt right. 

And yet it was so wrong. The moment he persuaded me into the car, I immediately 

knew that I was in trouble. I knew. I had this terrible sinking feeling in the pit of my 
130

stomach as we drove down my street, out of my neighborhood, and then, onto the 

turnpike. Trapped “Quiet” he said. “Let’s keep the trunk empty.” I kept my eyes cast 

down, stealing quick furtive glances up at him from the corners of my eyes. Somehow, I 

instinctively knew that he was like a savage beast, and that I had only to make full eye 

contact to engage his anger, to force him to attack. I stared down at his shoes as we 

drove. At his pants, his socks, I studied them, eyes cast down. I could describe it all to 

you today – that image, that feeling, trapped ...it will haunt me forever. Those hours 

sitting there, the waiting.... 

What terrible fate awaited me when we arrived at his home? I never envisioned 

anything as terrible as the reality. When we arrived at his home it was – worse than even 

I had imagined it could be. It was way worse than a bad after-school movie. It was Friday 

the 13th and Texas- Chainsaw-Massacre! And he had it planned – days before, maybe 

months before, maybe the first time we ever spoke. I was stripped, tortured, beaten. .... 

Raped. Those words still stick to the roof of my mouth and are glued thickly to my 

tongue. I listened through the windows to cars passing by, to the voices of neighboring 

families going out for lunch and to the mall and coming home again at night, yet there I 

remained, collar around my neck, chained to a post, naked. This was me at age 13. 

Waiting for death. How would he do it? Would he stab me, would I bleed to death, my 

blood adding yet another stain to the filthy carpet” Would he beat me to death with whips 

and fists, chained helpless, unable to defend myself? 

Into this morbid fantasy, unbidden, a fairy tale that my mother had read to me while 

tucked warm and safe into my silken little ‘blankie’ kept flashing into my mind. The one 

of an Arabian slave girl held captive by her master. The tale unfolds that at the moment 

her stories ceased to entertain him, to amuse him - then he would kill her, with this in 

mind, the helpless slave fought for her life with the only weapon she had - her mind... 

And she became my inspiration. I would persevere, I would not die. My captor would not 

win this battle. I knew that my family loved me, that they would move heaven and earth 

to find me. But I had to stay alive until they did. So I struggled, silently, determined to 

win back the life I had left behind. My life that somehow had seemed to become so 

empty, so sad... why? I understood now, in those cold hours alone, waiting for the 

monster’s return, it all began to come clear. I wanted my life back! I wanted to feel my 

mom’s gentle kisses good-night and my dad’s crushing hugs, I wanted to run outside into 

the sun, to add my voice to the other happy children’s, far, far away from the dark 

coldness of his dungeon. I wanted to experience anything – anything - except what was 

happening to me. I desperately wanted to live! 

So I waited it out. I prayed. It might not seem, to you, like the most courageous 

thing to do – I didn’t fight him, didn’t engage his anger. But, somehow, I knew that he 

would kill me, throw me away like trash in some cold shallow grave if I resisted 

anymore. He enjoyed my pain. So, I just wasn’t there I left – mentally anyway. This 

wasn’t happening to me. I escaped into my head and tried desperately to hang on to my 

sanity. It took my whole being to merely breathe. One breath at a time I waited for my 

death. I knew that one wrong move would cost me my life and so I simply waited, telling 

myself “today, yeah today they’ll find me... rescue me,” convincing myself that this 

would not be how it all ends, that my parents would not find their only daughter’s dead 

and battered body in this evil man’s filthy house. I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, let it end that 

way. So I resolved to live. Breath by breath. Moment by moment. 

And I did. I made it through, a miracle of survival, when so many other girls have 

been less fortunate. And I can’t say if it was faith, or luck, or personal resolve that saved 

me. And it doesn’t really matter. I truly feel that something greater than myself has 

directed me. I am alive. I was given the second chance that so many others had been 

denied. 

I promised myself in those dark and painful days and endless nights that if I were 

spared, if I were given a second chance at life, I would share my horror, to teach others - 
131

maybe you - how to avoid becoming his next victim. I would help them understand that 

the mentor you thought you found online might become the tormenter who steals your 

heart, your innocence and your faith in mankind. And ultimately, your life..... 

Mac failed. While the emotional and physical scars may last a lifetime, he didn’t 

shake my faith in myself or in mankind. He may have stolen days, weeks, months, he 

may have taken my childhood, but the rest of my life is mine. And I have reclaimed it. I 

will not allow him to torment me anymore. Only I have the power to control my future. I 

refuse to be defined by his betrayal of my trust, by his cruel sadistic acts or by those dark 

days, however devastating they may have been. I have a mission and an important role to 

play. I want to inspire others to move on, past their exploitation, to find their own life 

mission. I was spared and given a second chance. And I don’t intend to waste it. I will 

continue to speak to young people and dedicate my life to helping catch criminals, like 

Mac. I am also helping, here, to build KatiesPlace.org and as a volunteer with 

WiredSafety.org and others. 

So, please don’t remember me as the girl who was torn, twisted, confused, lured 

abducted and abused. Remember me for what I will accomplish. Please don’t let this 

tragedy define me. I am so much more than that. And so are you. Join me in this mission. 

Together we can change the world, one child, and one life at a time. You can read about 

miraculous rescues and the dedicated and courageous men and woman responsible for 

bringing victimized children to safety here at KatiesPlace.org. And you can e-mail me 

through this site. Please, be safe...be aware...

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Ms. Sullivan. And Ms. Hahn, you are 

recognized for 5 minutes. Give her the microphone. 

MS. HAHN. It is heavy. Oh well. Thank you for having me this 

afternoon. As we all know, youth bullying is not a new issue. I am sure, 

growing up, many of you may have been a bully’s victim or at least 

knew someone who had been called degrading names or in others way 

been harassed. But bullying is one that can be easily overlooked as kids 

will be kids. 

 Bullying has become a universal issue that affects both boys and 

girls regardless of age or circumstance, and over the past few years has 

grown in epic proportions, from name-calling and to kids throwing sticks 

and stones on a playground to invading a person’s home via text 

messaging and the Internet. Thanks to the technologies of today, 

computer, websites, and cell phones, it has become increasingly easier 

and more appealing for bullies to seek out victims. Kids who might have 

been hesitant to participate in bullying in the past can now hide behind 

an anonymous screen name without fear of being caught. 

 Name-calling, physical attacks, death threats, these are all things that 

I have personally gone through. At the age of 12 and a half, I wound up 

in a state of depression. I am able to be here today and to spread my 

story across New Jersey because I have gone through years of counseling 

and was able to recover. Unfortunately, that is not the case for every 

child. We have kids committing suicide, as most of you know. As a 

victim of severe bullying both online and off line for years, I fully 

understand the long-term effects bullying can have on a child. My 
132

bullying experience started with a rumor that quickly escalated into 

verbal abuse and physical abuse, and eventually on to the Internet. The 

bullying lasted for almost 6 years of my life. I changed schools, but even 

that did not stop the bullying, because the bullies found new ways to 

torment me. For me, the worst part of being bullied was when it was 

over the Internet, cyber bullying. Because you have no idea who your 

attackers may be, they can hide behind a screen name, remaining 

anonymous, while the victims become increasingly vulnerable and 

defenseless, such as myself. They can say cruel and malicious things, 

threatening, or even pretend to be other people. Personally, I received 

instant messages and e-mails saying we are going to kill you, and in 

detail with what gun, what knife, what they were going to do with my 

body when they were finished with me. I wouldn’t go to the bathroom 

alone if I were you. You better watch your back. We are going to get 

you. I am 21 years old now I can honestly say that the scariest thing I 

have had to face in my life was cyber bullying; and it is something I 

continue to fear every day I sign on a computer. 

 So on the Internet, you have no idea who the bully is. I was in class 

looking at every student as if he or she was the enemy. Because of the 

bully’s mind games, I started having nightmares and couldn’t eat. I was 

physically making myself sick. The bullies got inside my head and made 

me paranoid, always looking over my shoulder and wondering who the 

invisible attacker was. After receiving online threats such as we are 

going to kill you and I wouldn’t go to the bathroom, I refused to go to the 

bathroom while in school. My grades dropped drastically because I 

couldn’t concentrate. I was threatened all the time and afraid to go 

anywhere by myself. I wouldn’t even leave my house without my 

parents. This continued on and off from sixth grade all throughout high 

school. Some weeks were quiet and I thought things might be calming 

down. I would think, well, maybe the bullies got tired of me and moved 

on to someone new now, as awful as that sounds. But as soon as I got 

comfortable, the abuse would start all over again. 

 As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t escape the situation. I couldn’t run 

away because there was nowhere to hide. You are probably thinking like 

most people do and ask me, why didn’t you just block the screen name or 

turn off your computer? Well, I did just that and still the bullying 

continued. I would block the screen name and in a matter of seconds a 

new one would be created. Usually the cyber abuse would happen over 

the weekends, where there was a sleepover or a party, and instead of 

listening to music or watching a movie, they would sign on the Internet 

for hours and just create screen names for hours. I would shut off my 

computer and not go on for weeks at a time. As soon as I would sign 

back on, the bullying would start all over again. 
133

 At first, like many kids do, I tried to ignore the bullies, thinking I 

was being oversensitive and hoping that by not bringing attention to 

them, they would just go away. Not only did the bullies not go away, the 

bullying grew progressively worse and more physical. I was pushed off 

a school bus onto the concrete and slammed into the glass doors of the 

school, receiving several concussions. I couldn’t hide the bullying 

anymore and my parents reported every situation to the school. Nothing 

was being taken care of. When a bully threw sheet metal at my face, my 

parents then took this issue to the board of education, only to find no 

records in regards to the bullying I endured. My bullying experience was 

swept under the carpet. But now with State laws on bullying requiring 

all schools to have an anti-bullying policy in place and detailing 

consequences for bullies, that can no longer happen. It is vitally 

important for victims and parents to know this. 

 It has always been extremely important to me to get my story out to 

those who may be facing the same situations I faced in school. Kids 

need to know that they are not alone and even more importantly, they 

need to realize that positive things can come out of negative situations. 

In 2004, I started a Tolerance/Anti-Bullying program, bringing my 

message into dozens of schools across the State of New Jersey, reaching 

students from third grade through high school. The program structured 

around my personal experiences, shows how bullying can affect its 

victims and their families. The program soon earned the respect of the 

New Jersey State Attorney General’s Office, and in October of 2004, I 

was asked to be the New Jersey State advocate for the New Jersey Cares 

About Bullying campaign. As part of the Bias Crime Unit, I speak at 

State conferences and lectures. 

 I also work with i-SAFE, as you know, which is a national nonprofit 

Internet safety organization. i-SAFE teaches safe and responsible 

Internet use through classroom lesson, through parent programs at home, 

and through unique peer-to-peer student mentoring. As an i-SAFE 

mentor, I help teach students how best to avoid becoming a victim of 

cyber bullying and other online threats, like predators. I teach, among 

other lessons, the four R’s: recognize inappropriate behavior, refuse 

requests for personal information or a meeting, respond assertively, and 

report inappropriate online behavior to their parents and their Internet 

service provider. I also challenge students to become i-MENTORs 

themselves, which empowers them to spread Internet safety education to 

their fellow students, their parents and others in their community. There 

are 234 student mentors in New Jersey alone. Websites like 

myspace.com are attracting millions and millions of kids. Many log on 

daily because it is fun to be a part of an online community; however, far 

too many of them are not aware of the risks or dangers. Rumors and 
134

gossip, whether true or false, are spread around the world instantly. 

Young children are posting pictures of themselves and they reveal 

personal information that can lead a cyber predator right to their front 

door. Schools and parents need to do more to teach students how best to 

be safe on the Internet. 

 So far, 45,600 students have been taught i-SAFE lessons in New 

Jersey schools, but unfortunately, I was not one of those kids. I did not 

have the benefit of i-SAFE Internet safety lessons in any of the schools I 

went to before or during the time I was being bullied online. My parents 

and I were left in the dark about what to do and I suffered greatly. Now, 

based on my experience with middle and high school students, I know 

firsthand that Internet safety education works. i-SAFE makes it cool to 

be cyber safe. i-SAFE’s Internet curriculum and community outreach 

programs connect with kids, enabling them to participate in a fun activity 

to help them better learn Internet safety lessons. The same with parents. 

Parents, who often just give up when it comes to computers and 

technology, learn how to keep their children safe online through iPARENT boards and instructive parent night presentations. 

 At the conclusion of my presentations to students and parents, I 

challenge them to take action, take action to make a difference; take 

action to become an i-MENTOR; take action to demand that your district 

use i-SAFE. So in that spirit, I call on Congress to take the same action, 

take action by passing legislation requiring Internet safety education be 

taught in all schools so every student will get quality and possible 

lifesaving education. With that curriculum in place, beginning at an 

early age, students will learn to take control of their online experiences 

and be able to recognize and avoid dangerous, destructive and illegal 

online behavior, and to respond appropriately. Thank you for your time. 

 [The prepared statement of Samantha Hahn follows:] 

PREPARED STATEMENT OF SAMANTHA HAHN, I-MENTOR, I-SAFE AMERICA

Youth bullying is not a new issue. Growing up, many of you may have been a 

bully’s victim or at least known someone who’s been called degrading names, or in other 

ways been harassed. But bullying is something that can be easily overlooked with a “kids 

will be kids” attitude. 

Bullying has become a universal issue that affects both boys and girls regardless of 

age or circumstance and over the past few years has grown in epic proportions, from 

“name-calling” and throwing “sticks and stones” on the playground to invading a 

person’s home via “text messaging” and the Internet. Thanks to the technologies of today 

(computers, web sites, and cell phones) it has become increasingly easier and more 

appealing for bullies to seek out victims. Kids who might have been hesitant to 

participate in bullying in the past can now hide behind an anonymous screen name 

without fear of being caught. 

Name calling, physical attacks, death threats, nightmares, depression, counseling, 

and recovery—as a victim of severe bullying both online and offline for years, I fully 
135

understand the long-term effects bullying can have on a child. My bullying experience 

started with a rumor that quickly escalated into verbal and physical abuse and eventually 

onto the Internet. The bullying lasted for almost 6 years. 

I changed schools three times. But even that did nothing to stop the bullying, 

because the bullies found new ways to torment me. For me, the worst part of being cyber 

bullied was on the Internet because you have no idea who your attackers may be. They 

can hide behind a screen name, remaining anonymous while the victim becomes 

increasingly vulnerable and defenseless. They can say cruel and malicious things, 

threaten, or even pretend to be other people. I received instant messages and e-mails 

saying, “We're going to kill you”; “I wouldn't go to the bathroom alone if I were you”; 

and “you better watch your back.” 

So on the Internet, you have no idea who the bully is. You're in class looking at 

every student as if he or she is the enemy. Because of the bully's mind games, I started 

having nightmares and couldn't eat. I was physically making myself sick. The bullies got 

inside my head and made me paranoid, always looking over my shoulder wondering who 

the invisible attacker was. After receiving online threats such as “We’re going to kill 

you” and “I wouldn’t go to the bathroom,” I refused to go to the bathroom while in 

school. My grades dropped drastically because I couldn't concentrate. I was frightened all 

the time and afraid to go anywhere by myself. This continued on and off from 6th grade 

all through high school. Some weeks were quiet, and I thought things might be calming 

down. I would think, “Wow, maybe the bullies got tired of me and moved on to someone 

new.” But as soon as I got comfortable, the abuse would start all over again. 

As hard as I tried, I just couldn't escape the situation. I couldn't run away because 

there was nowhere to hide. You're probably thinking: “Why didn't you just block the 

screen name or turn off the computer?” Well, I did just that, and still the bullying 

continued. I would block screen names and in a matter of seconds a new one would be 

created. I would shut my computer off and not go on for weeks at a time but, as soon as I 

signed back on, the bullying started all over again. 

At first I tried to ignore the bullies by thinking I was being oversensitive and hoping 

that by not bringing attention to them-they would go away. Not only did the bullies NOT 

go away, the bullying grew progressively worse and more physical. I was pushed off the 

school bus onto the concrete and slammed into the glass doors of the school, receiving 

several concussions. I couldn’t hide the bullying anymore, my parents reported every 

situation to the school. Nothing was being taken care of. When a boy threw sheet metal at 

my face my parents then took the issue to the Board of Education only to find no records 

in regards to the bullying I endured. My bullying experiences were swept under the 

carpet, but now with state laws on bullying requiring all schools to have an anti-bullying 

policy in place and detailing consequences for bullies, that can no longer happen. It is 

vitally important for victims and parents to know this. 

 It has always been extremely important for me to get my story out to the ones who 

may be facing the same situations I faced in school. Kids need to see they are not alone 

and even more importantly they need to realize that positive things can still come out of 

bad experiences. In 2004 I started a Tolerance/Anti-Bullying program bringing my 

message into dozens of schools throughout the state, reaching students from 3rd grade 

through high school. The program, structured around my personal experiences, shows 

how bullying can affect its victims and their families. The program soon earned the 

respect of the New Jersey State Attorney General’s Office and in October 2004 I was 

asked to be the spokesperson on victim’s behalf for the state’s Anti-bullying Campaign 

“New Jersey Cares about Bullying.” As part of the Bias Crime Unit, I speak at state 

conferences and lectures. 

I also work with i-SAFE, a national non-profit Internet-safety organization. i-SAFE 

teaches safe and responsible Internet use through classroom lessons, through parent 

programs at home, and through unique peer-to-peer student mentoring, 
136

As an i-SAFE mentor, I help teach students how best to avoid becoming a victim of 

a cyber bullying and other online threats, like predators. I teach, among other lessons, the 

four Rs: recognize inappropriate behavior, refuse requests for personal information or a 

meeting, respond assertively, and report inappropriate online behavior to their parents 

and their Internet Service Provider. I also challenge students to become i-MENTORs 

themselves, which empowers them to spread Internet safety education to their fellow 

students, their parents and others in their community. There are 234 student mentors in 

New Jersey alone. 

Web sites like myspace.com are attracting millions and millions of kids. Many log 

on daily because it's fun to be part of an online community. However, far too many of 

them are not aware of the risks or dangers. Rumors and gossip—whether true or false—

are spread around the world instantly. Young children post pictures of themselves, and 

they reveal personal information that can lead a cyber predator right to their door. 

Schools and parents need to do more to teach students how best to be safe on the Internet. 

 So far, 45,600 students have been taught i-SAFE lessons in New Jersey schools. 

But, unfortunately I was not one of them. I did not have the benefit of i-SAFE Internet 

safety lessons in any of the schools I went to before or during the time I was being bullied 

online. My parents and I were left in the dark about what to do, and I suffered greatly. 

Now based on my experience with middle and high school students, I know first hand 

that Internet safety education works. i-SAFE makes it cool to be cyber safe. i-SAFE's 

interactive curriculum and community outreach programs connect with kids, enabling 

them to participate in a fun activity to help them better learn Internet safety lessons. It’s 

the same with parents. Parents, who often just give up when it comes to computers and 

technology, learn how to keep their children safe online through 

i-PARENT Boards and instructive Parent Night presentations. 

At the conclusion of my presentations to students and parents, I challenge them to 

take action. Take action to make a difference, take action and become an i-MENTOR. 

Take action and demand that your district use i-SAFE. So in that spirit, I call on Congress 

to take action. Take action by passing legislation requiring Internet safety education be 

taught in all schools, so every student will get a quality and possible life saving 

education. With that curriculum in place beginning at an early age, students will learn to 

take control of their online experiences and be able to recognize and avoid dangerous, 

destructive and illegal online behavior, and to respond appropriately. Thank you. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Ms. Hahn. Well, Mr. Livingston and 

Mr. Herrera, what about her suggestion that Internet safety be a required 

course for students? 

 MR. LIVINGSTON. I think that makes an enormous amount of sense 

and that is what our trainings are going to be about and incorporating that 

into the--infuse it into the regular curriculum, where they are doing 

instruction on bullying and harassment. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Is bullying a real issue in the schools today? 

 MR. LIVINGSTON. Yes, a tremendous issue. And in fact, Mr. 

Herrera has a survey of students that was done at the Somerset High 

School. And in each question regarding bullying, it is a clear problem 

students indicate, maybe 150, 200 students, I think, were surveyed on 

this--indicates that they many times don’t report it. Many times they are 

bullied. Many times they don’t know what to do about it. And sort of 
137

some of this survey gives you a reflection of the helplessness, a feeling 

of helplessness. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, Ms. Hahn talked about cyber bullying, but I 

suppose there are all sorts of bullying, right? 

 MR. LIVINGSTON. Yes, yes. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Could you give me some examples of what you all 

have experienced, Mr. Herrera, in your school? 

 MR. HERRERA. Yes. Right now the Somerset County Vocational 

and Technical High School is following the oldest bullying prevention 

program, which was created by Dan Olweus in Norway. And the 

program is the core elements. What we did, we assessed our school 

needs through a questionnaire. We have an antiviolence evaluation 

response team currently in place. That is our school-base linkages 

program, and we identify and we prevent. We are a therapeutic, 

proactive community. We have ongoing in-service to teachers. We have 

the State Police come in and we decided to focus on the instructors who 

have the most contact and could identify students in need that are being 

bullied and harassed. 

 We increase supervision and supervision and supervision. And the 

challenge that we are facing now as school administrators is when the 

bullying and harassment occurs outside the school, and what are we 

going to do to address that? As school administrators, we are charged 

with responsibility and we can discipline students if it impacts the school 

environment. Outside of the school, we need the continued cooperation 

that we have with the various local and State agencies. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Do you feel like you have the discipline tools that 

you need? I mean, a lot of administrators of schools I talk to today sound 

like they are almost afraid to provide much discipline. 

 MR. HERRERA. I believe that right now we do. We also focus on the 

therapeutic and the rehabilitation of positive psycho-emotional growth of 

the students, so we target that in addition to the punitive, the educational, 

and the therapeutic. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And what is the relationship between bullying and 

child pornography? 

 MR. HERRERA. I think it starts off with harassment and I think the 

three-pronged--the bullies, then you have the victims. We do a lot of 

assertiveness training with our students, also, which I think is very, very 

important. And also the bystanders. The organization that Mrs. Aftab, 

which we will be investigating after today, is the peer-to-peer in a 

positive relationship, besides the meaningful conversations that students 

have with our instructors or faculty, but also with each other. So we are 

going to definitely be research-- 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Do you want to comment on that, Ms. Aftab? 
138

 MS. AFTAB. Yes, if I may. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Our specific 

on site on cyber bullying is tostopcyberbullying.org, and the connection--

to respond to your question, the connection between child pornography 

and cyber bullying is that cell phones that have photo capability and 

digital cameras are being used by cyber bullies to torment each other in 

sexual ways. Kids that are at a slumber party, there is a kid they don’t 

like, they wait until she is getting undressed and take her picture. 

Dressing rooms, locker rooms, bathrooms are being used to take pictures 

of kids. Up-skirt pictures are being taken with all kinds of different 

mechanics, a shopping bag, a purse opened to go next to somebody who 

has got a short skirt. These are then published on the Internet. They are 

all child pornography. They are also incredibly, incredibly humiliating. 

 We also have cases where--young people are not known for great 

judgment and a young girl may like a boy, and we had a case in 

Westchester, New York, where a girl liked a boy, so she took a video of 

herself in mock performance of oral sex and she sent it to the boy she 

liked, thinking that that would intrigue him into dating her. It didn’t and 

he shared it with his 100 best and dearest friends and it is all over the 

Internet. So this is a real issue. 

 In addition, you had asked a question about schools. One of the big 

problems we have is a constitutional issue with public schools. So cyber 

bullying typically happens, the actual act of posting it happens from 

home, from a cell phone outside of school premises after school hours, 

not using school equipment, not a school-sanctioned event. And right 

now, constitutionally, the cases have held that if the school takes action 

during school, so that in a situation like this one, not on the in person 

bullying, if something was posted from a slumber party that affected her 

and the school takes action, the schools are sued and they generally lose 

that lawsuit and it costs them $50,000 or $60,000. That has happened 

here in New Jersey frequently. Actually here in Warren Township, it 

was one of the first cases where criminal charges were brought against a 

cyber bully for taking these actions. So it is a real challenge. We have a 

risk management program, and the program out of Norway is the best 

bullying program, and there was actually Federal money that was given 

to a sheriff in Ohio and we will be working with him on dovetailing our 

cyber bullying program with the Norwegian program. So we will give 

you everything you need. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Ms. Hahn, are you still an advocate in the 

Attorney General’s Office? 

 MS. HAHN. Yes, I am. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And could you briefly explain the responsibilities 

in that position now? 
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 MS. HAHN. At all the State-wide cyber bullying conferences, I speak 

on victims impact and I share my story for the educators that appear, and 

the law enforcement there. And occasionally, very far and few between, 

I have gone to law enforcement training sessions where, there too, I share 

my story. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And you are finding that a lot of students have 

experienced this same bullying that you have, I am assuming. 

 MS. HAHN. Yes. At first it was very difficult for me, because I 

didn’t realize how many kids are going through experiences exactly like 

mine. Some students, yes, not as severe. Others, exactly like mine or 

more so. They, like myself, are having thoughts of suicide and why am I 

alive, and my teachers aren’t doing anything. I am going to faculty 

asking for help, and I went to my guidance counselor and they laughed at 

me, and this is a really big problem, especially knowing that there is a 

State law in effect. It is happening all over and I think, with going into 

the whole cyber bullying and everything, I think the older generation, 

parents, we have mentioned a couple of times that we live in a generation 

where kids have their own cell phone with the picture phones and their 

own computers or laptops in their own rooms. The door closes. Parents, 

mom and dad don’t know what is going on. They don’t know if their 

child is the bully or the victim. Private schools now are requiring every 

student to have a laptop to travel class to class. It is awful. I know, in 

2003, when the anti-bullying law was first passed, schools were giving 

classes and lessons and there were conferences and correctional officers 

were going through training. I have spoken to many, many faculties and 

they say that since then, there really haven’t been any training programs 

and that it is something that they want, especially Internet safety. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, thank you for the great job you are doing. 

And Ms. Sullivan, you, of course, testified in Washington, but tell me 

again how long you have been a Teenangel? 

 MS. SULLIVAN. For about 2 years now. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And you have spoken to how many different 

schools during that time? 

 MS. SULLIVAN. I graduated from my grammar school, so I went to 

my high school and I have spoken to them and some other schools in my 

area. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Right. 

 MS. AFTAB. And about Teen People. 

 MS. SULLIVAN. Oh. And then, I was honored by Teen People, as I 

said, when I was in Washington. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Right. Well, we appreciate the great job that your 

organization is doing, and we look forward to working with you. At this 

time, I will recognize Mr. Ferguson. 
140

 MR. FERGUSON. I look forward to meeting Spiderman. I was born 

in Bergen County and it ain’t cheap there, either. But first let me thank 

each of the five of you for being here. Each of you in your different 

ways is having a really positive impact on different aspects of a problem 

which we are learning more and more about. And it is disturbing, it is 

upsetting, and I know--I mean, I speak as a former teacher, I speak as a 

legislator, but I also speak as a parent, and the work that you are doing is 

extraordinarily important in different ways, by raising people’s 

awareness, encouraging people to learn more about the problems that 

some of this technology is raising. We know that technology brings so 

much good and so many opportunities for good, but it is a double-edged 

sword and it brings incredible opportunities for people to do bad things 

too, and that is what this is about. This is about--our investigation into 

this is about learning about what you all are doing on the frontlines and 

about how we can multiply the good efforts that you are doing to try and 

make other people aware of them. So first, let me thank you for that, and 

I know, Mr. Chairman, we are bumping up against our time constraints 

here, but I really wanted to get that out first and foremost, to thank you 

for testifying in front of our subcommittee and for the work that you are 

doing in the field and in your various areas. 

 Mr. Livingston, could I just ask you about your district’s interaction 

with some of these social networking sites? Has the district had any 

contact with some of the direct networking sites, or the social networking 

sites, to express some concerns that you have had about some of what 

goes on here? 

 MR. LIVINGSTON. Not to my knowledge. They have had 

connections of concern among themselves and concerns about getting 

out the word and the message, and that is another reason now. The 

concerns have raised to such a level at this point that we are doing this 

training in the fall to bring up to, I think, some need to have this 

information. I think they need to hear what we are hearing today, the 

kinds of testimony you are hearing today, so they can bring it back and 

put it on the priorities. As you know, in schools, there are a million 

priorities. Everything is a priority. Everything is a mandate. And I 

think that kind of training will help to bring it to conscious level--more 

work on this and more training in terms of the students, getting to the 

students and the teachers. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Would you comment on that briefly, if you would 

like? 

 MS. AFTAB. Certainly. As you know, we have been inside all of the 

major social networks for the last year and a half. We started with 

MySpace when they were a twinkle in Tom’s eye. It had six million 

users in February a year ago, 2005. At our request, they created a special 
141

e-mail address and people to work with schools at schools at--it is either 

school or schools@myspace.com. They are issues. I am testifying 

tomorrow in Washington and you will hear more, and tomorrow we will 

be announcing a seal program. People have been yelling at us. They 

said that if I am an Internet privacy and security lawyer, I should take my 

expertise to work and help WiredSafety come up with a way of spotting 

the social networks who are doing a better job, who care more, who are 

implementing best practices, caring about kids’ privacy in the various 

settings, and you will be able to spot them because it will have our seal 

on the front of the page. So we will be talking about that tomorrow a 

little bit more. 

 It is a huge challenge and as the superintendent had testified, schools 

have these standards now, the No Child Left Behind. Schools don’t have 

time to implement Internet safety programs as a stand alone, because 

then something else is going to fall aside. So we have our new 

curriculum that you will be hearing about in the next month and a half. It 

launches in September. Totally free. It builds into everything you are 

doing scholastically. It is put together by Art Walinski, who you know, 

from New Jersey, part of the 21st Century Program. A real simple, short 

thing that will teach kids and adults about cyber bullying and especially 

about responsible use of social networks. So in little sneaky ways you 

have one from column A, two from column B. You have to come up 

with all of these little things that will work. And the social network 

challenge has changed the playing field. I don’t sleep anymore. 

Unfortunately, it hasn’t affected my eating patterns. But we have to do 

something and our tag line--Ellen, do you have the one about the more 

information you give your kids? We have two things that we are going 

to be launching and this is--well, I will be showing one tomorrow that is 

an animation, but this was put together on social networks and it is a 

print PSA, and that is it, and it is the more information you give your 

kids, the less information they will give a stranger. And I can’t train 

parents to teach their kids about Internet safety. I can teach them to talk 

to their kids and give them little snippets as part of our Take Back the 

Net initiative. Well, you will hear about that--it is time. And we now 

have the Mothers Against Internet Sexual Exploitation that will be 

announced, that was put together because of your hearings. Women, 

mothers come to me and say, we need to do something, so we are. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you. 

 MR. FERGUSON. Mr. Chairman, I am just very pleased to have this 

panel and our previous panels. I am very pleased that you brought this 

subcommittee’s hearing to our district here in New Jersey. I am honored 

that you are here and very much appreciate your work and our staff’s 
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work in putting this day together. I think it has been enormously 

instructive and I appreciate it and I yield back. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. Well, thank you very much for your continued 

leadership, Congressman Ferguson. And we have enjoyed being in New 

Jersey very much, and I want to thank all of the panels, and I would 

remind you that we do read all of the opening statements. I don’t read all 

of them, the staff reads all of them and we use that information to go into 

other areas. So we genuinely thank you for your time in preparing the 

opening statements as well as being here and giving the opening 

statements, and for your continued leadership. And we are always open 

to suggestions that you might have. So thank you very much. We have 

really benefited from this and look forward to working with you and look 

forward to seeing you in Washington tomorrow. 

 MS. AFTAB. Thank you. 

 MR. WHITFIELD. And with that, the hearing is adjourned. 

 [Whereupon, at 1:25 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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