Records show that nearly all of the individuals arrested were later convicted. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is also charged with investigating child pornography cases. And though the cases it investigates concern kid porn sent through the physical mail, officers say numbers are up due to the Internet. He said people meet each other online, and trade and sell images offline. A CD can contain hundreds of images.
Officials say there is no typical child porn peddler.
That's just not it. Experts like Lane say the mainstreaming of child pornography shouldn't come as much of a shock, given the prevalence of the suggestive images of teen celebrities such as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. As a culture, we're spending more time promoting the sexuality of young people. A quick scan through hundreds of headlines over the last few years obliterates the myth of the raincoat man. A suburban couple in Fort Worth, Texas, a real estate investor in San Diego, a retired Air Force pilot in Kennebunk, Maine, an investigator for the Nevada Gaming Control Commission, and a Presbyterian priest in New Jersey are all among the hundreds of individuals charged with possession and distribution of child pornography over the last couple of years.