Online Child Predators In Florida, Beware
Posted by: "Carol L"


A new bill dealing with cyber crime took effect on Monday. News 13's Emily
Lampa shows us that those who break the rules now faces years behind bars!
Nationally 77 million children are online daily, one in seven are solicited
for sex.
The state Attorney General estimates the numbers are more like one in five
here in Florida.
"We needed this law. I spoke to my sex crimes unit, my computer crimes unit
and my sex offender’s surveillance squad this morning and they're seeing an
increase in activity," Sheriff Kevin Beary from the Orange County Sheriff's
office said.
One example of this increase can be found on MySpace, the popular online
site reported over 29,000 child porn images on their network.
"if you are a child predator or if you are a child pornographer and you're
going to make these pictures or distribute them or you're going to try and
abuse our kids, you're going to know that there's one place for you and
that's behind bars," Attorney General of Florida, Bill McCollum, said.
Florida is now the first state to enforce the "Travel To Meet" law, which
will send a predator to prison for up to 15-years just for arranging a
meeting with a child.
"This law sets the precedent that we are not going to stand for it in
Florida," CyberCrimes Unit, Bureau Chief, Maureen Horkan said.
However, the law covers more than just soliciting sex from minors. You could
face 15-years in prison for pretending to be a minor. Distribution of child
pornography could land you in prison for up to 30 years.
"If you know about child pornography going on and you report it to law
enforcement, no one can effectively sue you for it. That is a good provision
of law," State Attorney, ninth Judicial Circuit Court Lawson Lamar said.
The law also requires known child predators to register all of their online
usernames through the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Those who do
not will be violating probation.
The State Attorney General's Cyber Crime Unit plans to hire as many as 50
new employees who will promote this new law and travel to schools to educate
children on the importance of Internet safety and spotting child predators.
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