Police task force created locally to lure, prosecute online predators

by Ben Caballero CAB03003@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

Rexburg police are taking the offensive against online sexual predators. Posing as young teens in Internet chat rooms, the police plan to use new software to record evidence about, trace and prosecute these predators.

Rexburg Police wanted to be proactive instead of reactive in these situations, said Captain Randy Lewis of the Rexburg Police Department. Several law officials received special training last spring and recently obtained software to help them find and prosecute online predators.

Rexburg is the only city in Idaho that Captain Lewis knows of besides Boise with a full-fledged task force dedicated to catching online predators.

The task force’s main goal is to locate and prosecute people who would travel to Rexburg to harm children and also to fight online child pornography, said Lt. Shane Turman of the Rexburg Police Department and a task force member. They also want to educate people on how to avoid interaction with online predators.

While the task force was started just several weeks ago and is still being tested, Rexburg Police already have recorded examples in their system — one of a predator posing as a talent scout to lure in what he thought was a young teenager.

Turman demonstrated to reporters by logging into a Yahoo chat room using a fictitious profile and name of a 13-year-old girl. Almost immediately the fictitious identity was approached and several explicit offers were made. Turman said the longest he has ever waited for contact of this sort is about 90 seconds.

Once interaction takes place, the police begin tracing the predator by working with the chat-room host, such as Yahoo or America Online, recording evidence into their system, locating the predator’s IP address and ultimately finding and prosecuting them. Turman and the other two members of the task force will devote time every day to luring in online predators by posing as young teenagers.

Troy Evans is the deputy prosecutor for Madison County and one of the three-man task force. He said that the success rate in prosecuting online predators once caught is about 85 percent. When the jury and public learn what the offenders have done, he said, they are livid.

Tips Turman gave to parents include not allowing children to have their own private computer with Internet access and talking to their children often about their experiences online. He said parents should watch their children and monitor which Web sites they access.

The task force is made up of two Rexburg Police officers and a county prosecutor.