The newspaper articles appear with heartbreaking regularity in every community across the country—stories about men and women committing sexual crimes against children. By the time we read about it the damage is already done, even though the perpetrator may be behind bars.

However, law enforcement agencies at every level have taken an increasingly aggressive stance against these crimes, and we're seeing real results.

We saw an example of those results earlier this week in California, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), along with our partners at the FBI's Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) Team and the U.S. Attorney's Office for Los Angeles, announced that a major investigation led to the arrest of seven men on charges of possessing and/or distributing images depicting the sexual abuse of children. The arrests were part of a larger investigation that has led to criminal charges against a total of 55 defendants.

In this case, the suspects were accessing peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks over the Internet to trade graphic images and videos of children being victimized. Thanks to coordinated efforts using sophisticated software that tracks the computers where these images are being stored, investigators were able to identify and target the predators.

The suspects may have thought the use of P2P technology would allow them to make their exchanges undetected. However, that is not the case—today's announcement shows that law enforcement is paying close attention to those who exploit and abuse children, and that the Internet is not an anonymous playground where they can commit their crimes in secret.

Among the defendants:Gary Samuel Cochran, a 50-year-old man previously convicted of child molestation and possession of obscene materials depicting minors engaged in sex acts. Earlier this year, investigators found evidence that Cochran was not only sharing child pornography, but that some of the images were pictures he had taken of a young girl;
Eric David Lacey, a 48-year-old man who was living above a child day care facility in Hollywood, California, while being sought in a North Dakota child pornography case featured on "America’s Most Wanted";
Evan Craig Stephens, 36, a registered sex offender with a previous conviction for child molestation; and
George Tyler Farmer, 39, who was previously convicted of molesting a 6-year-old girl.Targeting sexual predators who exploit children has been an important part of the ICE mission for more than five years. ICE launched Operation Predator in 2003 as a nationwide initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. Since Operation Predator's inception, ICE agents have made more than 11,000 arrests under the program.

This case ensures that dozens of will face justice for their crimes, and it is a positive step toward ensuring the safety of children. Just as importantly, these arrests send a clear message to sexual predators that they will be identified, they will be apprehended and they will face consequences.

Julie L. Myers,
Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)