Global Pedophile Ring Crushed

Concerned Women for America ^ | 06/20/07 | Matt Barber

[Woodland]

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that law enforcement officials have infiltrated and broken up a major online pedophile ring. Details continue to emerge. The AP reports:

"LONDON - Police smashed a global Internet pedophile ring, rescuing 31 children and rounding up more than 700 suspects world-wide, authorities said Monday.

"'Any individual who thinks they [can] carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a very rude awakening,' said Jim Gamble, chief executive at the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Center and chairman of the Virtual Global Taskforce.

"The investigation involved agencies from 35 countries and lasted 10 months.

"Police rescued 31 children, some of them as young as a few months. More than 15 of the children were in Britain. Some 200 suspects are based in Britain, the center said. The ring was traced to an Internet chat room called 'Kids the Light of Our Lives' that featured images of children being subjected to horrific sexual abuse.

"The host of the Web site, Timothy David Martyn Cox, 27 years old, of Buxhall, who used the online identity 'Son of God,' admitted to nine counts of possessing and distributing indecent images, authorities said. After his arrest in September, authorities were able to infiltrate the chat room and collect evidence on the other members," concluded the AP report.

Matt Barber, Policy Director for Cultural Issues with Concerned Women for America (CWA), said of the news, "It's hard to imagine anything more evil and despicable than the sexual exploitation of children. The fact that this pedophile ring has been broken up is great news, but much more needs to be done. In most states, possession of child pornography is a misdemeanor. This is just unacceptable. Every time a pedophile views child pornography, he re-victimizes that child. Possession of such materials should be a felony offense.

"Here in America, all but eight states have adopted some form of 'Jessica's Law' to substantially increase penalties for convicted child sexual predators. The recidivism rate for convicted pedophiles is extremely high, and for the sake of our children, those eight states need to get with the program to keep these monsters behind bars." (Jessica's Law is a 2005 Florida law named after nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford, who was murdered by repeat child sexual predator John Couey. The states that have not yet passed some form of Jessica's Law are Idaho, Illinois, Wyoming, Colorado, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Hawaii and Vermont).

"Believe it or not," said Barber, "There are actually those who would soften - or remove altogether - penalties for adults who have sex with children. Aside from the clear moral implications of such proposals, studies have established that children don't have the maturity or the emotional capacity to consent to such activity.

"Most people aren't aware that there is an organized effort worldwide to abolish age of consent laws and legalize adult-child sex. Taking their cues directly from the homosexual lobby's playbook, pedophiles are pushing hard to have their vile sexual proclivities legally defined as a 'sexual orientation,' with all of the associated legal 'rights' and protections.

"The political climate is not such right now that the pedophile lobby is in a position to achieve widespread success, but now that the government has begun to recognize some sexually deviant behaviors as legally protected 'sexual orientations,' it's no wonder that pedophiles are lining up behind the homosexual, 'transgender' and polygamy lobbies demanding their own collection of special 'rights,'" concluded Barber.

[randog]

How many DU accounts went quiet?

[ToddBush]

I know they aren’t our favorites, but that’s kind of low.

[PeterFinn]

That's kind of accurate.

[bcsco]

Benburch & Will the Pitt fer sure.

[VRWCmember]

In a related story, hundreds of new high school teaching positions are open across the country.

[Calpernia]

Related:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1852172/posts
Toronto police help British authorities smash global pedophile ring, 700 arrested

CEOP report at post 30.

[Calpernia]

Yes it is.

[Screamname]

Oh no, not again!

[oyez]

There are actually those(psychopaths ) who would soften - or remove altogether - penalties for adults who have sex with children.

How about removing the penalty for murder for parents and grandparents who choose to terminate those that mess with their children.

[antiRepublicrat]

Every time a pedophile views child pornography, he re-victimizes that child.

I agree on the felony thing, but they don't need to push it this far beyond logic. Consumption creates the market, the market is based on harm to kids, thus consumption creates harm to kids and creates demand for more harm. But viewing it again doesn't do any more harm to the individual child than has already been done.

[Always Right]

I know they aren’t our favorites, but that’s kind of low.

Low, but accurate

[Recovering Ex-hippie]

whoa....your “logic” is ridiculous in this situation.
I guess if one photo of you being brutalized was seen by one person that would be bad, but after that one, what difference would ten thousand more viewings have?

Wow, you twisted thinking is beyond logic...not just incorrect logic.

[mjrsgrlnMD]

Which part? It is not necessarily accurate to assume that anyone who is in possession of child pornography as it is defined today is a pedophile, a term which has a very specific psychiatric meaning. This is muddying the water, confusing REAL exploitation of children, actual abuse, with many other sorts of offenses lumped together in the current atmosphere of hype and hysteria. That’s the first problem I have with this and similar articles/positions/laws. The second is a more ephemeral issue but just as disturbing: I’m not sure how possession of ANY picture of ANY thing (not production, not distribution for profit, simple possession)can constitute a felony...I understand that child pornography is a terrible, terrible thing, I really do, but it is the abuse of the children involved that is the crime, not the pictures themselves. People who abuse children are terribly dangerous and sick. People who look at pictures of such abuse MIGHT be terribly dangerous and sick, but they might also NOT be, and I’m not sure how you can justify prosecution, felony prosecution no less, built on what you think someone might do based on what sorts of pictures they have in their possession. Even when “protecting the children” is the motivation.
Finally, I question the facts quoted in this article. The overwhelming majority of children who are sexually abused are abused by family members. THAT is fact, even though it makes us ill to think about it, and the overall recidivism rate for all classifications of sexual offenders is extremely low. True child predators, like any other predator, are extremely dangerous, should be confined, and fortunately relatively rare. The FBI and other law enforcement need to do a much better job of stopping this stuff from making it to the web by going after the abusers of children, but felonizing everyone who possesses it isn't the answer.

[subterfuge]

rounding up more than 700 suspects world-wide

Names. We need names.

[subterfuge]

How many are teachers or are leaders of child advocate groups?

[stinkerpot65]

Pedophilia will be the next liberal cause.

[Mr. K]

I noticed that one sentence too... liberal-think

[Spunky]

I can imagine that this 17 year old here where I live viewed pictures like those of the victims and so he then acted out on it.

RICHLAND, Wash.- "The myspace.com page of a 17-year-old child rape suspect has disturbing images of him with guns and numerous references to drug use.

James Wamsley is charged with raping a nine-month-old boy on Memorial Day.

Technically there's nothing incriminating on the site, and nothing on the site can be used in court.

The injured baby has been released from a Spokane Hospital."
Tri-Cities

Also we just moved to a newly developed neighborhood where there are no fences yet. The neighbor, not directly behind us, lets her little two year old girl run around outside naked all the time. With the knowledge of all the pedophilia and sexual abuse of children I just can't imagine a mother allowing that. She has no idea who all her neighbors are.

[antiRepublicrat]

I guess if one photo of you being brutalized was seen by one person that would be bad, but after that one, what difference would ten thousand more viewings have?

Exactly. The harm was done once. If such viewings create a demand for more brutalization, then I could be harmed again. But perv looks at a picture and harm is somehow teleported across the world, don't think so.

If anybody has a righteous cause, it's these people going after the producers and consumers of child porn. They are the last people who need to be using hyperbole.

BTW, read recently that Microsoft developed software to help police track this scum on the Internet and gave it away for free. Well-deserved kudos there.