EXEMPLARY PROJECT

Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force

Dave Pettinari, Commander, Pueblo County (CO) Sheriff's Office 

Since early 1999, the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) and the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) have maintained a proactive presence on the Internet to target and interdict sexually exploitative and abusive acts toward children through the interventions of the Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

These two departments were one of only 10 jurisdictions in the nation funded that first year by the Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to provide proactive Internet enforcement. Since then, numerous other local agencies such as the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Canon City Police Department have joined the effort in Colorado. Nationwide, the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are involved with the 45 existing task forces in the fight.

Pueblo County Sheriff Dan L. Corsentino is very proud of the Internet Crimes Against Children unit, and its accomplishments over the last seven years. “This issue has reached critical proportions nationally, as predators send child pornography and entice children for the purpose of molesting them,” said Corsentino. “We are thrilled to participate, and are pleased with our contribution to taking these serious criminals off the streets and away from our kids.” 

Detective Richard Hunt of the CSPD, who wrote the initial grant under which the Colorado Springs Police Department and Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office operates, PCSO Detective Robert Miller and Commander Dave Pettinari, and CSPD Lieutenant Eldon Strohmer were involved from the onset in developing procedures and methods that this task force has used to successfully arrest nearly 200 Internet predators to date. Today, Lieutenant Bryan Grady and Detective Joel Kerns head the CSPD team, and Detective Larry Salbato replaced the retiring Detective Miller as PCSO’s undercover online investigator.

Besides enforcement, these officers work diligently to elevate community awareness of the problem and educate the public on preventing this crime from happening to children. The PCSO’s team gives an average of 30 presentations yearly to school children, parents, and educators. “Education of young children in elementary school, as well as in middle and high schools, is critical to stem the ever-increasing tide of children being victimized by cyber predators,” said Assistant Sheriff Chip Deluca, who oversees the high-tech crimes/ICAC unit.

Behind the scenes, many hours were spent developing procedures for proactive and reactive operations and case-management systems to document reported offenses and investigative results. The original developers of the Colorado ICAC devised response protocols that foster collaboration, information sharing, and service integration; and they actively sought quality training and technology opportunities for fledgling and experienced online investigators. 

Commander Pettinari, who built the third computer forensics lab in the state, personally processed numerous computers seized from enticement-of-a-child suspects. Now Colorado Springs and Douglas County handle a sizeable forensic workload as well. Without this forensics capability, an ICAC task force would be hard-pressed to swiftly process the evidence needed for charging suspects, and later for court presentation and testimony. 

Pettinari also developed a comprehensive set of digital files to help other units around the country get a start on building their own computer forensics units and ICAC units. To date, he has sent these "starter kits" to more than 700 agencies nationwide that requested his help. The commander has also published 25 articles on computer crime and Internet investigations in national magazines and trade journals.

The task force’s first arrest was a “traveler” case.  A 47-year-old Boston-area man, with a previous arrest and conviction for distribution of child pornography, traveled to Colorado Springs to have sex and “disappear” with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl. The investigation revealed that had this been a real child, the traveler planned to take her to Mexico where she was to be impregnated to produce an infant that was to be turned over to another colleague for molesting.

In another case, a Kansas man, who investigators firmly believe is a serial killer (though proof was never conclusive), was arrested in Pueblo, Colorado and received four years in prison for the enticement-of-a-child charge.

Among the more high-profile arrests was one involving an Air Force captain, who formerly headed a top-secret satellite program at the National Reconnaissance Office. He was arrested when he also traveled to Pueblo to meet up with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl. He was administratively discharged from the Air Force and is now a convicted sex offender on probation.

The Colorado Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has provided assistance to numerous other agencies, statewide and across the country, with search warrants, computer (Internet) checks for information, and technical assistance where local agencies don’t have the expertise in-house. 

The Pueblo ICAC unit has succeeded in establishing case law that underpins the arrest of travelers where “no real victim in being” challenges have been successfully addressed with case law found elsewhere that says that “factual impossibility is not a defense,” the perpetrator’s criminal intent was to travel to have sex with a young child. However, better legislation is needed in Colorado to address child pornography possession, now a misdemeanor. Likewise, stiffer sentences for first-time offenders are necessary to curtail this very dangerous activity where young child victims are concerned.

Other critical issues include learning and staying current with computer technologies, which can quickly outstrip investigative methods on which officers have trained; overcoming arguments against the need to investigate these type crimes; and conducting competent forensic examinations to underpin and back up ICAC investigators’ cases.

The Colorado ICAC has the following insights to share with other law enforcement agencies that want to start an ICAC unit:

• Local agency budget and staffing constraints often dictate that, if the agency is to commit to ICAC-like enforcement, commanders generally ask an officer to do this “part-time.”  The PCSO experience has been that working these issues “part-time” is nearly impossible given the complexity and length of the investigations and the need to constantly “patrol” cyberspace. Also, computer forensics, with its inherent complexity given the ever-changing tactics of criminals and the need for updating skills, is difficult to do “part-time.”  Agencies should consider dedicating full-time officers to these ventures if they ever hope to get beyond the learning curve and devote the time and effort needed to achieve quality investigations that lead to sure prosecutions.

• Lack of resources to support prosecutorial efforts can be a problem.  While law enforcement officers have gotten funding for equipment, salaries, and training through OJJDP and ICAC, prosecutors are just now getting the training they need to address this genre of crime. Equipment packages and salary subsidies may be necessary to encourage judicial districts to aggressively prosecute Internet crimes against children.

In an era when electronic crime has grown by leaps and bounds, a law enforcement presence is not only needed, but also required to protect the young people who use online resources. The Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office has pioneered law enforcement efforts against Internet crimes against children.

Commander Pettinari can be reached at davepet@cops.org and Detective Salbato at salbato@co.pueblo.co.us.