WSACP

April 25, 2002
London Police carried out more than 70 search and arrest operations around Britain on Tuesday as part of a crackdown on Internet child pornography. Sarah Borges, a spokeswoman for Hertfordshire police, the force coordinating the crackdown, did not immediately know how many people were arrested. The warrants give officers permission to search homes or businesses, seize property and make arrests. They were carried out early Tuesday in 34 districts throughout Britain and Northern Ireland, Borges said. Investigators focused on suspected pedophiles who use Internet chat rooms to exchange images of children. "Today's nationwide operation should send out a loud message to those people who use chatrooms to trade in indecent images of children," said Inspector Keith Tilley, head of the Hertfordshire police child protection and investigation unit.Inspector Terry Jones of the Greater Manchester Police abusive images unit said the operation was aimed at examining the activities of those who trade in child pornography and determining whether they have access to real children.

April 24, 2002
A North Texas junior high teacher was released on bond Monday after being arrested on a charge of displaying harmful material to minors.

In Joshua, a town south of Fort Worth, police said students at Loflin Middle School told them Lester Van Dyke, 40, presented adult material to his classes throughout this school year.

"He would show us dirty jokes and pictures of naked people on the Internet," eighth-grade student Nicole Robinson said.

Police said they recieved a six page confession from Van Dyke on Friday afternoon.

"(The students) told me that he would turn the computer around and show the nude photos to them, and make jokes about them," Joshua Police Lt. Annabeth Baker said.

Several students also said that Van Dyke, who was a coach and taught science classes, went even further in some cases.

"He would rub on people's legs, look down shirts, and talk to us about sex," Robinson said.
Parents picking up their children were very upset by the news.

"It's sad," one parent said. "It's really sick."

"I'm very stunned that you didn't think that was a problem," one mother told her son.

Individual students said they were reluctant to speak out about the issue because they didn't want to be the only one to say anything. Some students also said they were afraid Van Dyke would flunk them if they told anyone, or that they wanted to protect him because they liked him as a teacher.

Van Dyke was arrested after a teacher overheard students in the lunchroom talking about seeing the pornography.

March 19, 2002
The FBI said Monday 27 people who have confessed to molesting 36 children have been arrested in a major investigation into child pornography over the Internet.

"When we pursue child pornography, the path often leads to evidence of real sexual predators who have abused real children," said U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.

The investigation, dubbed "Operation Candyman," focused on an e-group, or online "community," whose 7,000 members uploaded, downloaded or traded images of sexually exploited children.

"Forty individuals in 20 states are now in custody, with another 50 expected by week's end," FBI Executive Assistant Director Bruce Gebhardt.

"They include members of the clergy, law enforcement officers, a nurse, a teacher's aide, a school bus driver, and others entrusted with protecting, nurturing and educating the American youth," he said.

Gebhardt said special priority was placed on arresting suspects in positions of trust.

"These individuals must be stopped," Ashcroft said during the news conference at FBI headquarters in Washington.

"There will be no free ride on the Internet for traffickers of child pornography," Ashcroft said, warning those who engage in that activity would be tracked down and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

The 14-month investigation of the international ring involved all 56 FBI field offices across the country and law enforcement in other countries.

Officials said the images used by the ring were not child erotica or images of nude children playing.

Mike Heimbach, chief of the FBI's Crimes Against Children unit, described the images as "very explicit ... hard-core sexual exploitation of our children."

Investigators identified 7,000 e-mail addresses linked to the "candyman" e-group, with 4,600 in the United States and 2,400 in other countries. Subpoenas were issued for addresses in the United States. The FBI office in Houston, which led the investigation, then focused on 1,400 subjects, breaking them down into two groups. Those suspects were then prioritized by the amount of activity -- how many images they would upload, download or trade. Within that group, special focus was given to people who held positions of trust -- including clergy, members of law enforcement or the military, teachers' aides and others. Two of the pornography ring suspects are Roman Catholic priests, the FBI said. Since January, accusations have led to dozens of priests nationwide being suspended or forced to resign and priests' names being turned over to prosecutors. The operation was named after an e-group the investigation centered on -- the candyman -- in which individuals communicated about and distributed child pornography. "As its name indicates, the candyman e-group had a single purpose in mind as well: To exploit and degrade children," Gebhardt said. "The FBI is committed to protecting America's children from pedophiles and pornographers

March 19, 2002
They took away their bullets and stuck them in front of computers in the office where they can't do too much harm. They thought their careers were over, but posing as thirteen-year-old girls in chatrooms can yield prosecutorial pay dirt once in a while when the moon is right. And sure enough, untrusted FBI Special Agents nailed ninety slobbering pedos which Yahoo! was sheltering in its 'Candyman' egroups online community. Kudos, ladies and gentlemen; you may well have earned your bullets back.
Forty pervs are currently in handcuffs, and another fifty are expected to be rounded up by week's end. Among the sickos currently in custody are police officers, athletic coaches, and sundry military, medical and clerical workers. Among the clerics, only the two Catholics have been meticulously identified by denomination in the American press, in keeping with America's rabid anti-Catholic inclinations. The others may be Jews or Buddhists or Muslims or lowbrow America-First Protestant proles, but this detail is not regarded as newsworthy by Reuters, Yahoo! News, NBC, or the Washington Post. The Yahoo! group in question, www.egroups.com/groups/thecandyman, is believed to have contained upwards of 7,000 members, most of whom will, regrettably, escape prosecution. "Operation Candyman demonstrates our commitment to protecting our nation's children from sexual predators. This extensive operation should serve as a warning to others that we will find and prosecute those who target and endanger our children," US Attorney General John Ashcroft nevertheless said on Monday. 'Commitment', perhaps; but 'effectiveness' is another story. One in seventy isn't quite the ratio we're looking for. We admire the effort, and the spirit as well; but perhaps it's time to let the Special Agents who still have their bullets contribute a bit as well.