More than 80 people were arrested Monday in 26 different states, 27 of whom have been charged with molesting children, in a major investigation into child pornography on the Internet.
Those arrested include two Roman Catholic priests, Little League coaches, a teacher’s aid, a guidance counselor, a school bus driver and professionals in medicine, education, law enforcement and the military. One of the Catholic priests had been arrested in the Baltimore area and one of the law enforcement officers was from Pittsburgh.
The nationwide investigation, dubbed Operation Candyman, initiated one year ago according to Steve Anthony, supervisory special agent for the Memphis office of the FBI.
“As part of our responsibility, we noticed child pornography being downloaded and discovered certain sites as well,” Anthony said.
The operation then turned into a national investigation initiated by the Houston FBI offices.
According to Anthony, there weren’t any individuals from the Memphis or surrounding areas arrested on Monday, but that could change.
“We’re working numerous cases initiated with Candyman and we do anticipate charges from the Memphis area,” Anthony said.
Over 7,000 people were registered as members of the Candyman “e-group,” including 4,000 people living outside the United States. The private community Web site was operated by Yahoo!, the Internet search portal, which was not aware of the group’s activities.
In 2001, the FBI’s Crimes Against Children unit opened 1,541 cases against people suspected of using the Internet to commit crimes involving child pornography or abuse compared to 113 cases in 1996. The FBI had 20 employees devoted to cases involving Internet crimes against children in 1995, compared to about 150 agents now.
In 1995, the FBI created a nationwide task force code named Innocent Images. Since then, agents devoted to the effort have initiated over 5,700 investigations and have arrested and convicted more than 3,000 people.
U.S. law enforcement officials and experts on pedophilia generally agree there is a link between child pornography and the sexual abuse of children. The U.S. Postal Inspection Services said last year 36 percent of child pornography investigations undertaken by its inspectors since 1997 led to child molesters.
“We have, in the past, discovered individuals downloading child pornography on the Internet,” Anthony said. “However, Operation Candyman is the first of this magnitude as an overall joint operation by all of the FBI offices.”
More arrests are expected in the coming weeks and months.
