Keeping Children Safe from Online Predators

Prosecutors can only describe the actions of as “disturbing.”

 The Middle River couple pleaded guilty earlier this year in federal court to two counts of sexually exploiting minors to produce child pornography. However, those charges don’t even begin to describe the horrific acts Nicklas, 35, and his fiancée, Honea, 27, committed against children.

Undercover Baltimore County police detectives received videos and images of child pornography from a computer at the couple’s home.  A search warrant was executed at their home on July 30, 2009 discovered more than 600 images of child pornography involving prepubescent children and sadomasochistic conduct were seized.

A joint investigation by Baltimore County Police and the FBI revealed that between at least Feb. 15-July 30, 2009, Nicklas and Honea arranged to obtain videos depicting the sexual abuse of children and to sexually abuse children in order to make their own videos.

Nicklas and Honea also had young girls change clothes at their homes as the couple recorded them. In addition, Nicklas also sexually abused young girls in order to produce child pornography.

Some of the child pornography seized from Nicklas and Honea’s home included at least six videos created by the couple depicting him sexually abusing a baby girl.

Now, Nicklas and Honea are likely to spend decades in federal prison. Nicklas was sentenced in March to 60 years in prison, followed by supervised release for life. If her plea is accepted, Honea will be sentenced on June 8 to between 30 to 35 years in prison, followed by supervised release for life.

Protecting Children Nationwide

Nicklas and Honea were just two of the 198 defendants who have had federal sexual exploitation against children charges filed against them since October 2006 as part of Maryland’s Project Safe Childhood program.

The program, launched nationally in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, is an initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation. Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

“We’re here to sound an alarm,” said Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein during a news conference on Friday. “The cases we’ve been prosecuting have really highlighted for us the dangers of that children face today on the Internet.

“If your child is surfing the internet without supervision, your child is probably viewing pornography on the internet, your child is chatting with strangers on the internet, your child is probably chatting with pedophiles,” Rosenstein said.

Rosenstein said the proliferation of technology such as computers and smart phones, along with the expansive use of social media sites like Facebook have made battling child exploitation perpetrators ever more difficult while requiring a collaborative effort among local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

“There was a time when you couldn’t produce videos because the equipment was expensive and hard to purchase while photos had to be sent to a store to be developed. Now, you can print photos and make videos off your own computer and it never goes through third party,” Rosenstein said. “Simply, it has become easier to produce and harder to police."

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reports it has reviewed 48 million images of child pornography since 2002 with hopes of catching predators, but more importantly, identifying and rescuing victims. The center also worked with Internet service providers last year to shut down 7,663 websites that contained child pornography.

“Project Safe Childhood has sent a clear message that dealing with child exploitation cases is a major priority of this country,” said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. “The sheer scale of this problem is enormous, and really is limitless thanks to technology. All the barriers keeping these people away from child pornography have been removed.”

Maryland State Police Lt. John Wilhelm is commander of the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force. He said viewing images of child exploitation on a daily basis is stressful work, but it is also very rewarding when they can arrest a child predator and/or rescue a victim in cases similar to Rice's daughter

“The feeling of rescuing someone is unbelievable,” Wilhelm said. “The number one priority of our work is to locate and rescue victims of abuse. There are countless of victims out there, and while the Internet has made it easier than ever for people to track down images, it also provides us great tools in tracking down these people and placing them under arrest.”

 It Could Be Anybody

In years before the use of the Internet, Rosenstein said, child predators had to stalk out their victims at places like a playground or park while those who wanted to view child pornography had to go to an adult bookstore or find a way to purchase it through mail order.

Now, Rosenstein said, all anyone needs is an Internet connection to conduct a quick search online to view images of children being exploited from around the world. He said his office has tracked down victims in Maryland after law enforcement officials in countries like Canada and Australia were alerted by local residents of potential abuse discovered online.

“The image of the creepy guy in a trench coat stalking kids is nowhere near the type of child predator we’re dealing with today,” Rosenstein said. “The perpetrator could be anyone from a teacher and a police officer to a family member or a close friend that had access to your children.”

Baltimore County Prosecutor Lisa Dever, chief of the State’s Attorney’s sex offense unit, said having a partnership with the federal government in these cases has been an outstanding tool in going after those that view and produce child pornography.

“There are a lot of positive benefits to the Internet from shopping at home to being able to find the answer to virtually any question very quickly,” Dever said. “But, there is also a very dark side to the Internet and children have to understand that and parents have to educate their kids about those dangers.”

Among the recent successful Project Safe Childhood cases from Baltimore County are:

• , 45, of Essex, pleaded guilty May 6 to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet, and possessing more than 8,500 images of child pornography and more than 630 videos of suspected child pornography.

• age 30, of Dundalk, was sentenced on Feb. 4 to 66 months in prison, followed by supervised release for life, for distribution of child pornography. Among the discoveries by the FBI in its investigation of Pijanowski is that a preliminary review of one of the computers found in his bedroom and a DVD found in his car revealed more than 1,000 images as well as videos of child pornography, including images of prepubescent children, toddlers and sadistic images such as bondage.

• , 28, of Parkville, was sentenced on Jan. 24 to 15 years in prison followed by supervised release for life for sexually exploiting a child to produce child pornography. According to his guilty plea, Guzewicz introduced himself to a 12-year-old girl living in Massachusetts and soon thereafter, had the girl send him sexually explicit pictures of herself. Guzewicz called the victim many times by phone and sent her a sexually explicit picture which he represented was of himself.

 One Family’s Pain

Dever said federal prosecutions often lead to stiffer penalties than local legislation allows. Also, the county can use the threat of federal prosecution to garner a plea deal while many times keeping the victim from having to go through the traumatic experience of a trial.

This was the case for Jennifer Rice’s daughter.

The Glen Burnie woman discovered a 21-year-old Illinois man sexually assaulted her then 12-year-old daughter in March 2009 after he flew to Maryland to be with her.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office Vincent Louis Karczynski contacted the girl online through Myspace around October 2008. They continued to converse over the Internet and spoke and texted each other on their cell phones. They discussed meeting to have sex.

Karczynski met the girl on March 27, 2009 at Marley Station Mall where they “made out” while watching a movie in the theater. They pair met again at the mall the next day and had sexual contact during another movie. Karczynski wanted the girl to come back with him to the hotel he was staying at in Baltimore, but the girl refused.

On March 29, 2009, the girl’s mother found a text message on her daughter’s cell phone from Karczynski referring to the sexual contact at the theater. Shortly thereafter, the mother answered a call on the cell phone and a male voice stated “hey cutie can you talk.”

The caller hung up after the mother asked who was calling. The girl’s mother contacted Anne Arundel County police. The call was traced to the hotel where Karczynski was staying and he was arrested that day at the hotel.

Karczynski, who admitted to police he was in love with the girl and that they were engaged, pleaded guilty to traveling to Maryland to engage in sexual activity with a minor and was sentenced to 71 months in prison, followed by supervised release for life.

“It’s just something you never would think would come from your child,” Rice said. “I didn’t know what to think. I just could not believe that this was happening. I had the perfect child. She was great in school, had lots of friends and was involved in sports.

“She didn’t even like boys. But she started to change over the next few months. I thought she was just growing up and trying to be more like her older sister who is five years older.”

Rice said it took her daughter time to understand that she was actually a victim of abuse, but that she is slowly coming to terms with what happened to her.

"It took her a little while to recover, but she still has some fall backs," Rice said. "It's hard to talk about sometimes. There are some things I didn;'t want to know so I only know the basics of what I parent should know."

Rice said she believes Karczynski should have received a stiffer punishment, but got off relatively easy as a first time offender. Still, Rice added that she hopes he receives the help he needs in prison and is pleased that he will have to register as a sex offender and be monitored for life.

"Even though she was a willing participant, she understands she is a victim," said Rice of her daughter. "We have forgiven him because we couldnt go on living with hate. We hope he comes out a person that can be positive in this society."

Education is the Key

Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney, wants to stress that parents shouldn't just flat out bar their children from using the Internet and/or communication devices like smartphones.

A few simple steps, he said, can go a long way toward protecting children from becoming the latest victim. These steps include keeping the computer in an open location in the house where everyone can monitor Internet activity, along with "friending" your children on sites like Facebook and stressing the importance being aware of photos you post online.

"The Internet has a lot of great uses," Rosenstein said. "Kids need to be on the Internet and it a technolgical tool you need to function in society. But, you need tto recognize there is a dark side of the Internet and be alert to it."