Protecting children from online danger

With just two years of perspective, 13-year-old Ashley can explain exactly how she came to be a victim of online sexual solicitation.

It happened toward the end of fifth grade and into her sixth-grade year, when her best friend changed schools. On top of not having a solid friendship, Ashley had self-esteem issues and was going through an awkward stage.

Having had a phone for about a year, Ashley started playing an online game that allowed her to chat with other players. Eventually the conversations with some of the people she met in the game moved to text messaging and a chatting app called Kik.

“I didn’t have anybody at school, so instead of hanging out with somebody at lunch, I could just sit there and text,” she said. “I was just looking for somebody who was nice. I was just looking for a friend. That’s not obviously what I got.”

She had two long-term conversations with people she thought were a little older than she was, teenagers at most. But Ashley had actually been talking to what appeared to be adult men coaxing her into sharing sexually explicit photos.

The world is increasingly at the fingertips of children, as studies show that more and more youths have access to the internet through phones, tablets and laptops.

Across the nation, the number of potential child sexual exploitation cases that are forwarded to law enforcement has been increasing rapidly over the past few years. And that trend is also true in Washington, which is already among the states with the highest number of case referrals. Clark County is fortunate in that it has a unit of detectives dedicated to investigating internet crimes, and chief among the group’s goal is keeping safe the children who venture online.

Trust vs. safety

Ashley’s mom Mary describes her daughter as a by-the-book kind of kid — she’s smart, earning all A’s in her classes. She’s shy, polite and always follows the rules.

Ashley and Mary agreed to tell their story to the Columbian on the condition that their names would be changed.

When Ashley’s 10th birthday rolled around, Mary gave her daughter a phone. Ashley had been asking for one for years, but it became necessary after a miscommunication one day when her grandparents tried to pick her up from school.

“I was a clueless parent,” the Vancouver mother said. “I said, ‘Here, you can have my old phone with all of the smart technology that’s on it. I trust you.'”

It wasn’t until around Christmas time 1 1/2 years later that Mary discovered that there was a problem. While they were wrapping presents, Ashley was constantly taking breaks to use her phone. Mary wanted to have quality family time and got frustrated. She warned her, but when Ashley kept returning to the device, Mary told her to hand it over.

“Her response was holding it to her chest. She said, ‘No, no. Can I explain something first?'” Mary said.

Mary took the phone as Ashley, upset and crying, went to her room.

It didn’t take long for Mary to see what was happening. Her daughter had been talking to strangers, having sexual conversations and exchanging compromising photos — and from the ones she could see, those on the other side of the conversations appeared to be adult men.

Hiding under her covers in her room, Ashley said she was worried her mom would be mad at her and that she’d think Ashley was “a slut.”

But when Mary came to Ashley’s room, she wasn’t mad. The overpowering emotion she felt was concern.

“She was destroyed. This had utterly destroyed her,” Mary said. “I didn’t beat her up; I made sure she knew that I loved her. I didn’t blame her. I said, ‘We can fix this, I’ve got your back.'”

Mary helped Ashley to see it wasn’t her fault. She showed her what manipulation looks like.

The men Ashley had been chatting with had gotten her to trust them and made her feel special. They bombarded her with compliments. They used phrases such as “I’m so lucky to have you.” They’d throw out sexual comments to see how she responded. They’d remind her how they’d helped her while playing the video game and told her she owed them.

“It’s not about not being able to trust your kids, it’s remembering that they don’t have all the tools that we have,” Mary said. “They haven’t been manipulated and so don’t recognize that for what it is.”

Mary held her daughter’s hand as they went to counseling and to the police, where they met Vancouver police Detective Rob Givens.

Battling villains

Givens’ desk is covered with heroes — a Superman figurine, a Captain America mug and a knight wearing silver armor with a sword and shield.

“I grew up with larger-than-life heroes that went up against the impossible odds,” he said.

Givens said that even as an adult, he still appreciates them for their stoic goodness and the uncompromising ethics. Their stories represent the pinnacle of what we strive to be, he said.

“I look at those things and I have a reaction where it makes me want to be a better person,” he said.

And in many ways, when Givens is investigating potential crimes like what happened to Ashley, he’s David going up against Goliath.

As a member of the multiagency Digital Evidence Cybercrime Unit, Givens works alongside six other detectives and digital forensic investigators to combat crimes happening on the internet.

While that includes crimes such as identity theft, a majority of the cases they investigate involve locating suspects trying to exploit or hurt children. And Givens said it’s hard to keep up.

The unit is receiving 200 to 300 cases a year, meaning on any given day, Givens is balancing about 25 different investigations. It also puts him in a constant state of triage — starting each day by deciding which case presents the most potential danger to a child.

Sometimes the unit does stings, allowing them to go after suspects in a proactive way. They post ads aimed at identifying those seeking to have sex with children. They then arrest those who respond and take a substantial step toward meeting the victim. Those arrested face charges that range from communicating with a child for immoral purposes to attempted rape of a child.

One such sting took place last month at a house in a typical middle-class Vancouver neighborhood.

Detectives from all over the state participated. Some even slept at the house, since chats with suspects lasted into the wee hours. A large family room, nicknamed the War Room, was filled with rows of tables topped with computers that were online. Detectives chatted with suspected perpetrators in the room. Papers above each work station reminded investigators of the persona each detective was to emulate.

In the dining room, a pair of investigators researched the people on the other end of the chats — finding their Facebook pages, driver’s license photos and phone numbers.

Once a suspect made a plan to meet the “child” for sex, detectives swooped in and made the arrest. Eleven different suspects were arrested during the sting, which was held around Valentine’s Day.

After the arrests came more work — detectives continued their investigations, diving into the suspects’ lives to locate any actual child victims.

The unit does about six stings a year, but Givens said he wishes there was more opportunity for that proactive work.

“My philosophy is: If the bad people are chatting with me, that means they’re not chatting with your kids,” Givens said. “It allows me to run interference for (parents).”

Chasing abusers online

Federal law mandates that electronic service providers, such as Google and Microsoft, must notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of potential online child exploitation.

That organization’s CyberTipline saw 8.2 million reports in 2016, up from the 4.4 million reports made in 2015 and 1.1 million reports in 2014.

From there, the agency then forwards the information to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, or ICAC. The ICAC’s Seattle office sees between 350 and 375 cases a month — a number that has doubled over the past three years, said Seattle Police Capt. Mike Edwards, who heads the Washington task force.

Edwards said that Washington ranks in the top five ICAC offices for total volume of cybertips it receives and for the amount of trading done on the dark web, an encrypted network that allows for anonymous communication and file trading.

The ICAC investigators examined more than 600 million gigabytes worth of data in 2016, a majority of which was child pornography.

Studies show that a large percentage of those who consume and produce child pornography have also abused children.

Though previous studies show that 30 to 40 percent of child porn offenders have sexually molested a child, a 2009 study published by the American Psychological Association shows that number could be as high as 85 percent.

In 468 child exploitation cases investigated in 2016 across the state, detectives discovered 187 confirmed child victims.

“The numbers are daunting,” Edwards said. “There’s no place that isn’t touched by this. The internet doesn’t have any boundaries.”

To help combat the high numbers, Edwards is keeping a close eye on a bill proposed this legislative session that would create a more stable funding source for the state ICAC task force by diverting funds from unclaimed lottery winnings. Edwards said that money would help increase the number of investigators, buy more equipment and allow for more training.

Another bill gaining momentum in the Legislature would give the attorney general and prosecuting attorneys a faster way to serve subpoenas to electronic communication services.

“The process takes so long that sometimes the information we need is already gone,” said Rep. David Sawyer, D-Parkland, who sponsored one of the bills.

Sawyer said that the bills really come down to helping the most vulnerable people in our population.

“It is a moral responsibility to protect children,” he said. “If there is a reason for government to exist, I truly believe it’s for protecting children who are often incapable of advocating for themselves.”

A successful ending

Givens said that though he could tell that the people talking to Ashley had been grooming her, he ultimately couldn’t find enough evidence to prove a crime had occurred.

One of the problems was that when Mary first saw the messages, out of panic she deleted some of them. Givens said it’s a common instinct for parents to do that.

“The problem with that is you’re deleting evidence that helps law enforcement find the bad guy,” he said.

He remembers going home after investigating Ashley’s case and feeling terrible — it’s never a good day when an investigation ends that way, he said.

“The fact of the matter is it’s very frustrating for us, in all walks of law enforcement, when you can’t save someone,” he said. “Inconclusive endings to cases happen more than I am personally comfortable with.”

Givens said that though Mary and Ashley’s story wasn’t successful from a law enforcement standpoint, it was successful and inspiring in terms of online safety.

Givens recently spoke with Mary and learned about all the changes the family has made.

When she eventually got Ashley a new phone, Mary did so with more protections in place.

On top of regularly reviewing her daughters’ devices, Mary installed parental control software to monitor how her kids are using technology. It allows her to flag key words including body parts and words frequently misused by predators, such as “love” and “promise.”

And though Mary’s precautions sometimes annoy her, Ashley said she understands and has even become an advocate for safety among her friends.

“I knew about people like that, but I didn’t think I’d ever encounter one of them,” she said. By telling her story, she said, “everybody will get a better view of how real it actually is. These aren’t just people they tell you about to scare you.”

Mary said that another positive result of the ordeal was that her relationship with Ashley has improved dramatically.

When she wanted to date, Ashley asked permission from her mom, something Mary said she would have never done herself at 13. When she saw her younger sister had downloaded Kik, Ashley notified her mom. Mary has even overheard her daughter talking to her boyfriend about manipulation, calling him out when he’s trying to persuade her to do something.

“I’m so proud of her. She’s taken what was a really bad, horrible situation in a very young state and become a better person because of it,” she said. “She was already a great kid, this just adds another layer.”

Mary said that her biggest message to parents is to change their view on the technology they’re giving children.

When she was a child, Mary was taught to be scared of strangers — but those were strangers you met at parks or playgrounds. Now they’re online.

“I told (Ashley) that point blank, I failed her by not paying attention to what was going on on the phone,” she said. “Mom was asleep, but she’s awake now.”