—Yesterday, in Indianapolis, Indiana, two men were convicted and sentenced for their roles in creating and maintaining the child pornography website called Cache.
These arrests were a result of an international investigation that infiltrated this child pornography network . The Cache network had up to 1000 members who participated in a very sophisticated file sharing network of child pornography. Some of the pornography in Cache was created exclusively for the members. The two men received sentences of 30 years and 19 years in prison for their involvement with this website. Infiltrating and shutting down a major international child pornography network is definitely a good start, but the story does not end here. What about the children who were sexually exploited, photographed and filmed by these men? How are we going to help them?
Federal law has provisions designed to help these victims of child pornography. For example, there is the federal Masha’s law that allows a victim of child pornography to sue those who manufactured, distributed and even downloaded any images of the child from the internet. Our law firm recently brought a case under this law in Minnesota.
In addition, as part of the sentencing process in a criminal case, there is the opportunity for the victim(s) to make a claim for actual damages against the perpetrator(s). Even though this process has many challenges, with assistance of an attorney, it can still be used to get a money judgment against a child pornographer who is convicted of child pornography.
It is very important to remember that putting the child pornographers in prison is very important in our fight to combat child pornography. However, we must not forget the most important part of equation, helping the children who were exploited in order to create the child pornography.
I think that this quote says it all:
“When I was a little girl, and when I was being photographed and raped I used to try to send messages with my eyes down the lens and hoped that one day a good person might see and come to help us.”
(Letter from a child pornography victim read by Raymond C. Smith, Asst. Inspector in Charge, Child Pornography and Adult Obscenity, U.S. postal Inspection Service in testimony before Congress, April 6, 2006.)
About the Author: Patrick Noaker is an attorney with Jeff Anderson & Associates who handles cases involving child sexual abuse, exploitation and pornography.