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One hundred twenty-three victims of child sexual
exploitation were identified by U.S. Immigration
and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland
Security Investigations (HSI)
special agents during an international operation
aimed at rescuing victims and targeting
individuals who own, trade and produce images of
child pornography. Of that number, 44 children
were directly rescued from their abusers and 79
were identified as either being exploited by
others outside of their home or are now adults
who were victimized as children.
HSI
launched Operation Sunflower in November 2012 to
commemorate the one-year anniversary in which
the identification of a sunflower-shaped highway
road sign led to the rescue of an 11-year-old
girl in Kansas. Operation Sunflower was executed
through the first week of December 2012, but
victim identification and rescue efforts
continue under
HSI's
Operation Predator.
"The sexual abuse of young children, often at
the hands of people they trust, is a particular
wrong," said ICE Director John Morton. "Whenever
our investigations reveal the production and
distribution of new child pornography online, we
will do everything we can to rescue the victim
and prosecute the abuser even if takes us years
or around the world to do it. A relentless fight
against child exploitation is the only answer."
HSI
and partner law enforcement agencies arrested
245 individuals during the operation, which took
place Nov. 1 to Dec. 7. Of the 123 victims, 110
were identified in 19 U.S. states.
Of the 123 victims identified during Operation
Sunflower: five were under the age of 3, nine
were ages 4 to 6; 21 were ages 7 to 9; 11 were
ages 10 to 12; 38 were ages 13 to 15; and 15
were ages 16 to 17. Twenty-four of the victims
identified are now adults who were victimized as
children. Seventy were female and 53 were male.
HSI
victim assistance specialists, located in
offices around the country, provide direct
assistance to victims and families, and work
with both child and adult victims to provide
referrals for services and resources in their
area. The specialists remain involved during the
investigation and often beyond the sentencing of
the perpetrator.
Focusing on Victim Identification
In 2012,
HSI
special agents, working closely with the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
(NCMEC),
partially identified multiple individuals across
the country who were sexually abusing young
children and taking photos or videos of the
acts. Special agents worked with the Department
of Justice and its Child Exploitation and
Obscenity Section to issue national
Jane and
John Doe warrants to arrest these
perpetrators and rescue their victims. The most
recent case was solved
two weeks ago in Florida.
Now, the public's help is being sought with any
leads that can help provide clues in several
cases and rescue more victims.
"We applaud our partners at ICE for their
worldwide work in identifying these victims of
child sexual exploitation and for helping to
remove these children from extremely dangerous
situations," said NCMEC CEO John Ryan. "We know
that there's more work to be done. Anyone could
know these victims, not knowing that they're
being harmed. They could be your neighbors'
children, your child's classmate, or even your
own child. We thank Director Morton and everyone
at ICE for their strong commitment to rescuing
the most vulnerable of victims."
Seeking 'Jane and John Doe' and Two Other
Unknown Suspects
On Monday,
HSI
special agents in Los Angeles obtained a Jane
and John Doe warrant based on a longstanding,
unsolved case involving a widely distributed
series of child pornography images. The
photographs, which authorities believe were
taken about 11 years ago, depict a male and
female adult sexually molesting a girl who looks
to be about 13 years old at the time. Although
the male suspect's face has been purposely
obscured by an unknown person, the female
suspect's face can be seen in a number of the
images. John Doe appears to be a white male, 40
to 50 years old; Jane Doe appears to be a white
female, 35 to 45 years old. The suspects would
now be approximately 11 years older. The female
suspect has several tattoos, including: a black
tattoo on her right hip resembling a butterfly;
a tattoo on her right shoulder blade depicting
the outline of a curled up cat; a tattoo with
words across the top of her left wrist; and a
tattoo of unknown design on the upper portion of
her left breast.
Based upon detailed forensic analysis,
investigators suspect the abuse depicted in the
images may have occurred in Los Angeles,
possibly in the San Fernando Valley-area.
HSI
special agents in Los Angeles have interviewed
dozens of individuals seeking further leads in
the case, but they have yet to confirm the
suspects' or victim's identities. Although the
victim is likely an adult now,
HSI
continues to investigate the case in the hope
that the perpetrators can be located and
prosecuted, preventing the abuse of future
victims.
The sexual abuse images in this case were first
discovered by
HSI
special agents in Chicago in 2007 in an
unrelated child pornography investigation. The
material was submitted to NCMEC's Child Victim
Identification Program, which determined the
victim had not yet been identified and could be
in danger of ongoing sexual exploitation. After
determining there was probable cause to believe
that the abuse occurred in California in
approximately 2001, NCMEC referred the case to
HSI
Los Angeles for further investigation.
The images of two other unknown suspects, wanted
for questioning in other unsolved child
pornography investigations, are also being
publicized. Anyone with information or tips that
can assist in these investigations is encouraged
to call 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or visit
www.ICE.gov/tips. Tips may be reported
anonymously.
The identity and whereabouts of the victims and
the perpetrators in these cases remain unknown.
The Sunflower Case
Operation Sunflower is named after the first
case conducted one year ago under the agency's
newly created Victim Identification Program.
Operation Sunflower commemorates the one-year
anniversary of this first successful rescue
under the new program.
The Sunflower case began in November 2011 when
Danish law enforcement officials shared with
HSI
their discovery of material and posts on a chat
board indicating that a 16-year-old boy was
planning to rape an 11-year-old girl. The
suspect was soliciting advice on a pedophile
board and posting images of the girl. One image
held a clue that proved to be invaluable to
investigators: a yellow road sign visible from
the window of a moving vehicle. The road sign
depicted a sunflower graphic that was unique to
the State of Kansas.
For days,
HSI
special agents drove in pairs along Kansas
highways, seeking a comparison between the
images in the photos and the actual locations.
Just 13 days after receiving the material, and
by combining sophisticated photo forensics with
traditional law enforcement methods, special
agents located the residence in a small Kansas
town. These efforts made it possible for law
enforcement to intervene and rescue the girl
before she was further victimized.
Additional Statistics and Information
In fiscal year 2012, 292 victims were identified
or rescued as a direct result of
HSI
child pornography investigations. Fiscal year
2012 is the first year in which
HSI
tracked the number of victims rescued as part of
its child sexual exploitation investigations.
This number does not include the hundreds of
victims rescued overseas by foreign law
enforcement agencies as a result of
HSI
cases and leads.
Also in fiscal year 2012, a record number of
child predators — 1,655 — were arrested on
criminal charges related to these types of
investigations. Since 2003,
HSI
has initiated more than 24,000 cases and
arrested 8,720 individuals for these types of
crimes.
HSI
arrested 1,335 predators in 2011 and 912 in
2010.
Operation Sunflower was conducted as part of
Operation Predator, a nationwide
HSI
initiative to protect children from sexual
predators, including those who travel overseas
for sex with minors, Internet child
pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and
child sex traffickers.
HSI
encourages the public to report suspected child
predators and any suspicious activity through
its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by
completing its
online tip form. Both are staffed around the
clock by investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing
children may be reported to NCMEC, an Operation
Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour
hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.
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