A statewide initiative aimed at nabbing child sexual predators is so successful, some state lawmakers want more money for it. However, extra funding for just about anything these days is easier said than done.
Law enforcement and lawmakers credit the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) program for prosecuting more than 300 pedophiles last year. Some say that number would be higher with more money.
One man caught by ICAC in Louisa County, James Dollins, was convicted on 75 counts of child pornography last fall. "This is the worst case I've ever seen at the local state or federal level," said Louisa commonwealth's attorney Rusty McGuire of Dollins' case.
He set up a fake Facebook page posing as a female college student so teenage boys would send him nude pictures. Dollins was one of more than 300 internet pedophiles arrested in Virginia last year, thanks in part to state funding from ICAC. With that success, law enforcement and some lawmakers want to expand it.
State Senator Creigh Deeds said, "There are people out there preying on children every day and we just can't stand for it."
Deeds' initial legislation in 2010 called for $1.8 million in funding. That money comes from a $10 fee per charge paid for by convicted sex offenders. That fee has generated an extra $650,000, money that goes to the general fund and not straight to ICAC. Now, Senator Deeds and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wants to collect to fight child predators worldwide.
"Normally we're focused on here in Virginia, but the internet doesn't know those boundaries and the bad guys use them against us. They try to hide behind those boundaries," said Cuccinelli.
Advocates say for every Facebook pedophile like Dollins, there are many more out there that police don't have the resources to catch. Senator Deeds hopes this funding request won't cause much of a problem. He says after all, the money generated from those fees was intended to go to ICAC in the first place.
