International Child Porn Bust has Alamance Co. Connection

An Alamance County man is among 12 Americans charged in a massive international child porn ring that uncovered more than 400,000 images.

It is stomach turning stuff involving children under five.

On your side investigates as WBTV's Jamie Boll has been working with the FBI to help us shed some light on this growing problem.

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The internet is where so much of this ends up, but as we have shown you in our reports over the past month, the internet is also where these crimes often begin.

Predators are finding access to our children can be way too easy.

FBI agent Colleen Moss spends her time pursuing child molesters. It's a cyber chase that never ends.

Moss said, "I can work this 24/7, seven days a week for the rest of my life and will never get there."

That is because the numbers are overwhelming.

Every year, there are almost 70,000 arrests nationwide involving sex crimes against children.

Remember, many more of these crimes are not even reported and the internet is making it easy, way too easy, for child predators to get after our children.

FBI Agent Doris Gardner said, "Every session when you get on line could potentially be an opportunity for a pedophile to find a child."

Gardner helped start "Innocent Images," the FBI program tracking down on-line predators.

She says parents are the best weapon. "Parents need to understand that the internet is like neighborhoods. It is like good neighborhoods, bad neighborhoods, places you don't want your children to go after dark."

Agent Gardner says parents should put the computer in a common area, not it in the child's bedroom.

Keep a close eye on the computer itself. Check the files for content.

And parents should keep up on the latest technology and should not allow personal pictures to be posted on the net.

She also says parents should limit the amount of personal information posted.

Those are the things that can make your child an easy target.

But mostly she says it's about communication.

Gardner said, "The best thing is to talk to your child, know what they're doing and sit with them and say 'look, I don't know how this works, will you show me?' And the children are wonderful teachers."

And as Agent Moss points out, these are the crimes that never stop punishing the victim. "And that child will never escape that abuse, because once something is released on the internet, it's out there permanently, there is no way to retract it."

And think about it, with this international ring busted this week, there are hundreds if not thousands of victims.

20 of them have been ID'd and rescued so far.

The FBI says it will take years to find the rest.