~Moran’s leadership doubles capacity to catch online child sex predators ~

BEDFORD – House Democratic Caucus Chairman Brian Moran joined Bedford County Sheriff Mike Brown, TV Star Erik Estrada, and Alicia Kozakiewicz to announce that “Alicia’s Law” will double the capacity of law enforcement in Southern Virginia to arrest online child predators. The Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) recently arrested a Stuarts Draft, Virginia, man with dozens of images of child pornography and a local victim in his home.

In as many as 30 percent of cases, there will be a local child victim identified and saved. Materials seized often include hard-core pictures and videos of children as young as 18 months old.

“Alicia’s law is about arresting these predators and making sure that children don’t have to go through the same horrible experience that Alicia did,” Delegate Moran said. “By this time next year, there will be dozens more local police departments combating Internet predators. As a former prosecutor, I know that we must give law enforcement the tools to keep the streets safe – including the virtual streets on the Internet. These task forces will protect children from unspeakable crimes.”

Delegate Moran authored “Alicia’s Law” to create a stronger statewide network of highly trained law enforcement officers who will track down and arrest online child sex predators. He successfully secured an additional $1.5 million of new funding for the two regional ICAC forces. The initiative is named after Alicia Kozakiewicz – a 13-year-old girl who was abducted by an Internet predator, held hostage, and tortured in a Virginia basement.

"Delegate Brian Moran has moved the fight against the Internet sexual predators into overdrive with the passage of Alicia's Law,” Bedford Sheriff Mike Brown said. “His tenacious pursuit of this funding project sets the standard for future efforts in protecting our children from the sexual predators that use the Internet."

Over the past two years, the Department of Justice has identified half a million child pornographers nationwide and 20,000 computers containing child pornography in Virginia. However, local law enforcement only has the resources to investigate 2 percent of these cases. These new funds will be used to hire new investigators, purchase 21st century equipment and expand training programs for affiliated law enforcement officers.

"The majority of child protection legislation is named for children who are deceased and address those deficits that were so woefully inadequate in the hopes that others will be spared their tragic fate,” said Alicia Kozakiewicz, for whom the law is named. “Alicia's Law, however, applauds the excellence of the law enforcement task forces here in Virginia that saved my life and seeks only to ensure, through better funding, that each and every child will have that same quality of specialized intervention."

“Alicia's Law is a victory for human rights,” said Grier Weeks with the National Association to Protect Children. “It is the boldest state effort yet to fight back against the evil of child exploitation.”

A similar announcement was held in Northern Virginia with the leadership of the Northern Virginia Internet Crimes against Children Task Force.