As part of a statewide crackdown on Internet crimes against children, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office arrested four adult suspects and one juvenile April 5 in connection with the distribution of child pornography over the Internet. LCSO Detective Chuck Woodall said a total of 16 individuals in the county were round up as part of this multi-agency effort during the past two and a half months.
Woodall said some of the suspects were arrested before April 5 because some were registered sex offenders or there were children present in the alleged offenders’ homes.
“It just happens that (all) four (adult suspects arrested April 5) were soldiers. One lived off post and the other three lived on Fort Stewart,” he said. Woodall stressed this issue crosses all social, racial and economic lines and age groups, and said about half of the suspects he’s arrested on child-pornography charges were members of the military. Since the Army represents a cross section of America, it means this criminal element tends to show up in the military population as well as in the civilian community, the detective said.
“It’s almost predominantly a crime committed by males,” Woodall said. “Now, we are seeing more females involved in it, which is an oddity. I arrested one (woman) the middle of last year. But that is very rare.”
The four soldiers arrested were Derrick Albert, Jordan Romph, Daniel Malycky and Wade Junior McQueen, according to Georgia Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge Michael Fordham.
Romph, 24, was attached to the 226th Company, 3rd Sustainment Brigade. Malycky was with the 3-69th Armor Battalion, 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team and McQueen was with the 1-30th Infantry Battalion, 2nd HBCT. All three were Army specialists, according to Fort Stewart spokesman Kevin Larson. Additional information on Albert was not available by press time.
Larson said Fort Stewart and CID are cooperating with the sheriff’s office.
The five-month investigation, Operation Innocent Justice, was coordinated by the GBI and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. Warrants were executed in 40 Georgia counties last week, according to John Bankhead with the GBI.
The LCSO was one of 27 local agencies to participate. Five federal agencies, including the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Postal Service, and U.S. Attorneys Offices in the state as well as the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, joined in the sweep, Bankhead said.
A total of 55 suspects were arrested April 5 across the state, he said.
Woodall said the LCSO arrested six people in January and five in February on child-pornography charges, in addition to the five suspects last week, as part of the operation.
“We’re just scratching the surface,” Woodall said.
Bankhead said the Internet-crime task force uses technology to track and monitor suspects. He warned that criminals can use the same technology to prey on others.
“As a parent, monitor what your children are doing on the computer,” Bankhead said. “Prevent them from posting images of themselves; before you know it, they can be talked into posting nude photos of themselves or be lured somewhere by a predator.”
He added that parents also should monitor their children’s use of “any digital media,” including cell phones.
“If they see their children are in contact with a predator, they should immediately notify local law enforcement,” Bankhead said. “We, as parents, have to be savvy to what Internet crimes are going on, not just for ourselves, but for our children.”
Woodall agreed, saying predators can use sites like Facebook to select their victims.
“You don’t have to put a lot of information out there for them (predators) to find you,” he said. “Too many kids are putting their phone numbers on Facebook. You can’t make kids afraid of technology, but you have to make them understand it can be used against
them.”
Woodall said the LCSO only can go after “the worst of the worst” — those who are manufacturing and distributing child porn — because the department simply doesn’t have enough manning or funding to monitor Internet crime “24/7.”