A law enforcement poster displaying the faces of dozens of child-exploitation suspects nabbed through Operation Janus here in Texas stirs mixed emotions. There is gratitude for the dogged investigative work of the FBI and multiple local law enforcement agencies and relief that the operation rescued 28 children from abusive situations.
But there is also horror about the fact that so many children, including infants, were exploited. And there is dismay in the realization that these traumatic experiences will trail the children for the rest of their lives, even if their abusers are successfully prosecuted and imprisoned. Once child pornography is uploaded to the internet, it’s virtually impossible to eliminate. Countless people can save the images in their devices and keep sharing them.
Detective Jeff Rich with the Plano Police Department has investigated internet crimes against children for years, and he stays in contact with victims, some who are now adults.
“Imagine your victimization being published on the internet for everybody to look at and the thought process that would go through your mind as a child and later as an adult wondering (which) people have seen those. Wondering if the guy standing in front of you at the grocery store, you perceive them to be looking at you weird — is it because they’ve seen your stuff?” Rich said. “Those types of horrors are what our children, young adults and even older adults have to deal with for their lifetime.”
This, however, is not a reason to despair but to redouble efforts to catch predators. Internet companies, from social media giants to file-sharing firms to pornography sites, must be relentless about weeding out child pornography and reporting bad actors to law enforcement. People who abuse children and who traffic in child pornography must be punished to the fullest extent of the law, but companies that facilitate the exchange of this material and look the other way also must be held accountable.
The 59 suspects arrested through Operation Janus face charges from possession and distribution of child pornography to sexual assault. Tips came from internet companies and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Court records show at least one suspect was sharing child porn through eMule, a peer-to-peer file-sharing application.
Dallas police said multiple people were arrested as a result of online chats with undercover agents the suspects believed to be children.
Law enforcement officials told us the child victims who were identified as part of this operation were rescued from a variety of circumstances. Some children were removed from their homes, or police intervened to cut off connection to their abusers, mostly relatives or acquaintances. One case was a kidnapping.
Another case involved a 15-year-old runaway who returned home safely after Dallas police investigators spent hours searching online for the teen, who was eventually found with a trafficker.
Rich, the Plano police detective, has a warning for those who share child pornography.
“We vigorously defend our children,” he said. “If people are out there sharing this type of material, they have a very real possibility of being on the next poster.”
The Dallas Morning News
