Online Predators Prey on Kids

April 8, 2006 — -- Until the Capitol Hill hearings on sexual exploitation of children this week, no one knew the nightmare that 19-year-old Justin Berry has been living.

Like so many American children, Berry used the Internet to socialize, starting at age 13. But his online connections allegedly turned into more than 1,000 secret and abusive experiences with child predators.

"A few weeks after setting up my Web cam, one of these men approached me online with a proposal he would pay me $50 if I took my shirt off for a few minutes," he testified recently on Capitol Hill during a hearing on the sexual exploitation of children over the Internet.

One in five teens who are frequent Internet users say they have received an unwanted sexual solicitation. In the last three years, federal customs agents have arrested more than 7,600 suspected sex offenders targeting children, and there are about 3.5 million sexual images of children online in the United States.

"We have arrested people who are coaches, school principles, police officers, priests, corporate executives, really there are no boundaries," said Brad Russ of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force.

Experts say the Internet has now become a secret weapon for pedophiles -- offering anonymity and providing an outlet for their darkest desires.

A deputy press secretary for Homeland Security, Brian Doyle, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with trying to seduce someone he thought was a 14-year-old girl online. Unbeknownst to Doyle, he was chatting with an undercover detective, Sandy Scherer, in Polk County, Fla.

During a segment on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition," Scherer talked to eight people online while pretending to be a 14-year-old girl. A 37-year-old man asked for her phone number and wanted to meet with her, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

Judd said Doyle's exchanges included pornographic downloads and talk of specific sex acts. He allegedly provided his chat partner with his government-issued office phone and cell phone numbers, showed off his department I.D. and may have used his official computer to chat.