A man arrested this week in Osceola is charged with producing child pornography. When officers with a warrant arrived at the home of 37-year-old Terence Edgington, they say he admitted taking pictures of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and storing the photos on his computer.
An agency better known for dealing with illegal immigrants conducted the investigation — Tim Counts is a spokesman for “ICE.” Counts says the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement deals not only with immigration but also customs — laws dealing with goods and information that crosses international boundaries illegally. That applies to child pornography when it’s sent world-wide, via the internet. To accomplish that the federal agency created “Operation Predator.”
He says it’s nationwide — in fact, it’s a worldwide initiative to crack down on child pornographers, child-sex “tourists,” anyone who exploits children anywhere in the world. Since Operation Predator was begun in July 2003 he says they’ve used it to arrest 7-thousand, 856 people. He says that includes 103 people in Iowa. It’s a big issue, and Counts says the Internet has made it worse.
Whereas pedophiles used to have to print out “hard copies” of their photos of children and send them through the mail, Counts says “Now it’s as easy as a click of a button to send child pornography not only across the country but around the world.” One thing on their side is that pornographers don’t realize how well today’s investigators can see and find them, he says.
Counts says, “It’s amazing how our investigators are able to use CSI-like information and tools to identify, track down, arrest and prosecute child pornographers.” He says the agency’s succeeded in convicting child pornographers both here and in countries around the world.
In the situation in which Edgington’s been arrested in Osceola, Counts says if convicted he’ll face “an absolute minimum” of fifteen years in prison, up to thirty years, and possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines. Osceola Police and the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office helped in the investigation.
In mid-March, an Osceola woman was arrested in a worldwide crackdown on child-porn distribution rings, and charged with hosting an Internet forum where people distributed images of children being molested.