WTNH News Channel 8 / News / 1999

	Bill boosts Customs anti-child pornography activities (Washington-AP) _ U.S. Customs officials pursuing Internet sex predators and other cyber-criminals would triple under a spending bill a House panel is considering Tuesday. The measure, promoted by Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., would boost spending for Customs' Child Pornography/Child Sexual Exploitation Program from $2.4 million to $10 million in 2000, allowing it to increase its current staff of 26 by 50. "The people who exploit children on the Internet think they can hide in cyberspace," said U.S. Customs Commissioner Ray Kelly. "They are wrong. We will find them and bring them to justice." The 2-year-old Customs program, which led to 228 arrests last year, concentrates on international Internet sex predators and traffic in child pornography. It turns over to the FBI domestic cases that it uncovers. "There's such a proliferation of child pornography on the Internet that law enforcement can't handle it," said Senior Special Agent John MacKinnon, who demonstrated at a news conference the many Web sites and chat rooms used by sexual predators. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are 10,000 Web sites maintained by pedophiles. Johnson has also introduced legislation that would make it easier for Customs to use wiretaps to obtain evidence against pedophiles and those involved in child sex tours. "I'm absolutely not concerned with entrapment," she said. "Child pornography is illegal in America." The anti-pornography money is part of a bill authorizing $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2000 and 2001 for Customs Service drug and other enforcement activities. The funding, more than $400 million above what the administration requested, provides $311 million over two years to place 1,745 new Customs employees along the borders and at major drug and money-laundering locations. The Customs spending bill easily passed the House last year but never cleared the Senate. Today's News Page. WTNH Home Page. ©1999 WTNH/WTNH-DT A LIN station.

Bill boosts Customs anti-child pornography activities
(Washington-AP) _ U.S. Customs officials pursuing Internet sex predators and other cyber-criminals would triple under a spending bill a House panel is considering Tuesday.

The measure, promoted by Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn., would boost spending for Customs' Child Pornography/Child Sexual Exploitation Program from $2.4 million to $10 million in 2000, allowing it to increase its current staff of 26 by 50.

"The people who exploit children on the Internet think they can hide in cyberspace," said U.S. Customs Commissioner Ray Kelly. "They are wrong. We will find them and bring them to justice."

The 2-year-old Customs program, which led to 228 arrests last year, concentrates on international Internet sex predators and traffic in child pornography. It turns over to the FBI domestic cases that it uncovers.

"There's such a proliferation of child pornography on the Internet that law enforcement can't handle it," said Senior Special Agent John MacKinnon, who demonstrated at a news conference the many Web sites and chat rooms used by sexual predators.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, there are 10,000 Web sites maintained by pedophiles.

Johnson has also introduced legislation that would make it easier for Customs to use wiretaps to obtain evidence against pedophiles and those involved in child sex tours. "I'm absolutely not concerned with entrapment," she said. "Child pornography is illegal in America."

The anti-pornography money is part of a bill authorizing $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2000 and 2001 for Customs Service drug and other enforcement activities.

The funding, more than $400 million above what the administration requested, provides $311 million over two years to place 1,745 new Customs employees along the borders and at major drug and money-laundering locations.

The Customs spending bill easily passed the House last year but never cleared the Senate.

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