By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Many addicted to child pornography who move into child sexual exploitation don’t fit the stereotype you might have in your mind.
Buchanan County Sheriff’s Captain Thom Cates works with the northwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force and says it is rarely obvious who the perpetrators of child sexual crimes are.
“We all have a picture in our head,” Cates tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “Everybody has a picture in their head of a monster and if you dealt with some of our suspects on a daily basis, they are not monsters to deal with; normal people, charming people, people in positions of power and authority, people in trusted positions.”
This is the second in our two-part series on child pornography in the area.
Cates says a co-worker might even stumble upon child pornography on an office computer and, rather than confront their co-worker, they believe the excuse and, worst yet, erase the material. Cates doesn’t blame them. He says the material is shocking to the system. Still, law enforcement needs to know in order to make an arrest and put an end to it.
Cates adds the awful truth about child pornography is that those addicted to child pornography rarely stop at just viewing images. Cates says statistics show that 80% of those caught downloading child pornography have sexually assaulted a child, perhaps several children. Cates points to an extensive interview he did with someone after they were convicted of possession.
“And he had right around 30 victims that he had had over the course of his life, over half of which he didn’t even know their names.”
This is a stubborn problem, difficult to solve.
What is a parent to do?
Cates advises parents to be active in their children’s lives to keep them safe from sexual predators. He says parents need to create an open, taboo-free environment so children feel safe bringing up difficult subjects and experiences.
“Your children have to be able to feel comfortable coming to you if they are approached online, if they have made contact with somebody over the computer that maybe they shouldn’t have,” Cates says. “They need to still feel comfortable coming forward and talking to you as a parent about that.”
Again, an open door to talk could be the best way to fight this insidious, degrading crime.
“The biggest thing that I would like to impress is talk to your children,” Cates says. “That’s the biggest thing that I can say. Talk to your children. Be in a trusted position. Ask them to educate you on what you need to know as a parent.”
Cates adds parents should be careful what is posted to social media.
Also, report suspicious activity.
Cates says if you suspect a crime has taken place or have any suspicions that someone is possessing child pornography or engaging in child sexual assault, call the Northwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force at the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Department at 816-236-8800. Cates says you can also call your local police or sheriff’s department and they will contact the task force. After that, log on to the federal cybercrime hotline at cybertip.org.
You never know how much impact your tip can have.
Cates says one local case went national.
“We had a local case that ended up spiraling into a big national case and the suspect that we ended up arresting on it, at the time, he was probably the second highest producer of child pornography in the world.”
You can follow Brent on X @GBrentKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.