During graphic presentations in Little Rock March 2 and 3, an international expert on Internet predators had a serious warning for educators and parents.
Children who enter Internet chat rooms and believe they are corresponding with “friends” could be headed for danger. Thousands of men are using the Internet now to meet minors and have sex with them. Through the Wide World Web, these child molesters and pedophiles can conceal their real identity and build up trust over time, said Robert Hugh Farley, a 30-year veteran of the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department in Chicago who worked undercover acting as a pedophile from 1997 to 2003 as commanding officer of the Child Exploitation Unit. He is currently a consultant for Interpol, the international police organization.
Farley was invited by the Diocese of Little Rock to give similar presentations to diocesan employees, priests and deacons at St. John Center and Catholic parents and parishioners at Catholic High School March 2. He also addressed 570 Catholic principals and teachers during the annual Professional Day at Catholic High School March 3.
During the presentations, Farley showed photos of pedophiles arrested in Chicago and the pornographic photographs and video images they used to lure minors. Farley also showed chat room dialogues he had with pedophiles while he was working undercover.
Farley encouraged audience members to think more seriously about the access children and teens have to the Internet, especially after school.
“The computer is like a gun; it is that dangerous,” he said.
The way cases of sexual abuse occur changed dramatically in 1997 when the Internet exploded, Farley said.
“Now everything is done on the Internet,” he said.
Pedophiles used to add to their “collection” of pornography by buying or sharing photographs, videotapes and Polaroid images. Internet chat rooms created an avenue for these men to meet minors, molest them and take photos of them. They also use the Internet to meet other like-minded people and discuss their interest in young people.
In the past, poor, uneducated men were more likely to commit the crimes.
“The Internet all the sudden brought out a new offender,” Farley said.
Wealthy people now have unlimited access to the Internet from the privacy of their homes and offices. It is not uncommon for police to arrest educated, middle- and upper-class men who are married. They are often undetected by their families because they use the Internet at work from 2-5 p.m. when children are home alone and using the Internet unsupervised.
Farley said the only way to truly protect children from Internet predators is to disconnect the Internet and allow them to use the computer only for word processing.
“If the computer is hooked online, someone will try to contact your child. Someone will do it,” he said.
Farley said parents need to realize the children feel safe using the Internet and will share personal information and photos that can be used by pedophiles to build “friendships.” He said children never realize that people online might be lying about their name, age and sex.
In order to prevent these crimes from happening, Farley made four suggestions.
Never put a computer in a child’s bedroom.
Never allow children to be online in the afternoon without an adult present.
“The offenders are all at work,” he said.
Never post personal information on blogs, or online diaries. Some social-networking Web sites parents should monitor are myspace, xanga, livejournal, HotOrNot and facebook, where children are posting their names, photos, ages, addresses and school names.
“This is where the sex offenders are going,” Farley said.
Never allow children to enter chat rooms.
“Everybody lies in chat rooms,” he said.
Most pedophiles are now using the latest technology in order to meet children online and befriend them. Most of them have web cameras and microphones, and they use online conferencing software such as Microsoft NetMeeting or free software called CU-SeeMe to have Internet “meetings” with the minors where they can see and hear the child.
They also use scanners and video creator devices to convert their old photographs into digital images. Many of them carry portable computer drives, such as USB flash drives, so they can save their pornography to an external device instead of storing it on their personal or work computer.
Sexual exploitation of children is moving beyond computers and into cell phones, text messaging and videophones, he said.
“As the kids are moving to mobile phones, the offenders are moving to mobile phones,” Farley said.
Macintosh’s iPod with a video screen is becoming very popular with pedophiles.
“The newest way to watch pornography is the iPod,” Farley said.
Following the public presentation at Catholic High School March 2, several parents shared their concerns about Internet dangers.
“I think the innocence of the children is a major factor,” said Phyllis DeClerk, a mother of a 14-year-old and 24-year-old and member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock. “I think children need to be told by their parents that it (Internet) is not a safe place. This brings to the forefront how naíve parents are as far as the content and what’s out there.”
For example, DeClerk said the sex chat rooms on mIRC, which is a client program for Internet Relay Chat, are “appalling.”
“I don’t use chat rooms personally because I don’t have the time to do that, but I can see exactly where he’s coming from,” she said.
Leann Hatley, a member of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church in Little Rock, is mother to four children ranging from 2 to 8 years old.
During the presentation, Farley showed an erotica video obtained by police from the home of a married couple arrested for wire tapping. Using a camcorder the couple filmed toddler, preschool and preteen girls at a public swimming pool and petting zoo. The footage showed only the lower half of the bodies of the girls.
“I always wondered what mindset do these people have. How would I know if they are looking at my kid?” Hatley said.
Keith Buchanan, another member of Our Lady of the Holy Souls Church and father of two sons, ages 12 and 14, said he is not surprised by the technology.
“Being in a business that is technology related, I can see where he’s coming from that it’s going to the cell phones. …”
“It doesn’t surprise me that the most innocent type of searches or Web sites have a sinister side to them,” he said. “And the kids just don’t know.”
After listening to Farley’s presentation, Buchanan said he realized he needs to be more proactive with his sons.
“You hate to snoop on them, but that’s really what it’s going to come down to; visiting their home pages and starting to look at the histories, looking at … things like that that can track where they’ve been and just confront them,” he said.
Tara Little contributed to this article.
