Public Safety

Law enforcement agencies pooling resources to fight Internet child porn, abuse

By |

By MICHAEL KRANSZ
Capital News Service
LANSING — The recent arrest of a Marquette County man for allegedly furnishing child pornography and sexually assaulting a minor illustrates a growing collaboration among law enforcement agencies to track down sexual predators who use digital devices. Andrew Caron, 43, of Forsyth Township has been arraigned on 29 counts of furnishing and producing child sexual material and 10 counts of criminal sexual conduct, including penetration and oral sex, with a child under 13, Undersheriff Michael Klein of the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office said. To catch Caron, the sheriff’s office conducted a seven-month investigation with help from the Forsyth Township Police Department and a State Police cybercrime unit in Traverse City, Klein said. The investigation is ongoing to determine if there is more than one victim, Klein said. The case reflects intensified investigations into Internet-related sex crimes involving children, experts say.

Public Safety

New technology helps nab child pornographers

By |

CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE
By ERIC FREEDMAN
LANSING – Massive amounts of electronic data. A worldwide web that stretches, literally, around the globe. A network of purveyors and viewers of child pornography. And grim, grim stories that reflect the high-tech ways that law enforcement agencies investigate such crimes. Using the latest forensics technology, federal and state agencies collaborate on many child exploitation cases through the Michigan Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, according to State Police Detective Sgt.

Public Safety

As child porn increases, so do arrests, sentences

By |

By ERIC FREEDMAN
Capital News Service
LANSING – A Lowell man is sent to federal prison for 30 years for producing child pornography at his mother’s day care center. The ex-host of a Christian radio show in Grand Rapids gets a 40-year federal prison term and a 25-to-50-year state prison term on child pornography and sexual assault charges. A Williamston High School biology teacher is accused of possessing child pornography and using a school computer to commit a crime. A Traverse City-area man is slated for another court appearance on child pornography charges. They’re among a wave of recent arrests and prosecutions across Michigan, reflecting the priority that law enforcement agencies place on child pornography cases, officials say.