Police Track Predators into Cyberspace
By Emily Stranger, The Brunswick News, Ga.
Jun. 30–Glynn County police are trying to keep children in the Golden Isles safe from Internet predators.
In the past month, the department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has arrested suspects in two separate cases.
The task force is a team of two investigators trained to hunt Internet predators who prey on children.
The most recent suspect was apprehended June 20. Investigators questioned and arrested Taulsa Ray Lambert, 33, at police headquarters and charged him with one count of computer pornography, according to a Glynn County police report.
Lambert, who was living in Glynn County but has a McDonald, Tenn., address, had allegedly solicited a child or another person he believed to be a child via the Internet, police said.
Taulsa’s arrest follows the June 12 arrest of Dustin Ray Waren, 27, of Brunswick, who was charged with two counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Police had said the two counts of sexual exploitation are connected with photographs or images of child pornography on the Internet.
Cybercrime against children has become a national dilemma. Crimes include possessing, distributing or manufacturing child images on a computer or using the Internet to entice children for sexual or indecent purposes.
The county task force was formed a little more than a year ago and is the brainchild of Glynn County Police Capt. Marissa Tindale, who felt that a local team was imperative.
“Internet crimes against children is a huge plague to our society and is happening all over the United States,” she said. “The Internet has become a way for predators to find victims and it’s something I wanted to get involved with for a long time because it’s happening here, too.”
The two investigators, picked for the job because of their Interest and skills, have traveled around the United States for specialized training.
They work with 42 other regional and state Crimes Against Children Task Forces across the country, including the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, spearheaded by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and funded with state and federal money.
Besides pursuing predators, the local team of investigators tries to educate children.
Tindale said they’ve been invited by several schools to talk to students about Internet safety.
“You’d be surprised how many sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders have free rein over the Internet and go anywhere they want with no parental controls,” she said.
“I think a lot of parents assume the Internet is a safe environment, but it’s not. A lot of children go into chat rooms and that’s where a lot of initial contact with these predators is made.”
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