Kane County announces unit dedicated to investigating child porn, sexual exploitation of children
A new special unit investigating child pornography and online sexual exploitation of children aims to improve Kane County's fight against people who perpetrate those crimes.
Kane County State's Attorney Jamie Mosser announced the Child Exploitation Unit on Monday. It started work, however, in August.
Since then, it has looked into 187 tips, resulting in 55 investigations and criminal charges against nine adults, Mosser said. The unit identified 40 underage victims, she said.
"I'm extremely proud of this initiative," Mosser said.
The unit is a collaboration between her office and the Kane County sheriff's office, with help from the St. Charles Police Department. The Kane County Board agreed to fund two full-time investigators, several forensic analysts and a prosecutor.
Mosser said they started the unit because many of Kane County's police departments don't have the resources to investigate all the reports they receive.
Nationally, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates there were 30 million reports of online exploitation in 2021, up 42% from 2019, Mosser said.
Mosser hired Assistant State's Attorney Robert Dore in 2021. He had become an expert in the topic while working for the Kendall County state's attorney. Mosser gave him the task of figuring out how more of the reports in Kane County could be investigated.
The first thing he did was to ask the DuPage County sheriff's Forensic Investigative Unit to look at data from the top five internet service providers in Kane County to figure out which towns seemed to have the most illicit activity. It turned out to be the Tri-Cities area.
The St. Charles Police Department is allowing the Child Exploitation Unit to use its computer forensics laboratory for its investigations.
"We praise any work we can get from local state's attorneys," said Tim Diamond, Illinois deputy attorney general for criminal justice. "I want to welcome you to the fight."
The Illinois attorney general's office oversees the Illinois Crimes Against Children Task Force. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children routes tips it receives to that task force, which may then alert local authorities.
Mosser said child pornography and sextortion "are not victimless crimes. Every time somebody views this, the child continues to be victimized."