BURLINGTON, Vt. – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) – working collaboratively with our law enforcement partners including the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont – had numerous prosecutions throughout Vermont in 2011.
Each year, millions of children fall prey to sexual predators. These young victims are left with permanent psychological, physical, and emotional scars. ICE HSI targets and investigates child pornographers, child sex tourists and facilitators, human smugglers and traffickers of minors, criminal aliens convicted of offenses against minors and those deported for child exploitation offenses who have returned illegally. Seeking to end this criminal activity and protect children worldwide, ICE HSI developed Operation Predator, an initiative to identify, investigate and arrest child predators and sexual offenders. Operation Predator draws on ICE's unique investigative and enforcement authorities to safeguard children. Coordinated nationally and internationally, Operation Predator brings together an array of ICE HSI disciplines and resources to target these child sex abusers.
"As we enter a new year, these prosecutions should serve as a public reminder that child exploitation and the despicable behavior of child predators will not be tolerated in Vermont and elsewhere," said Bruce M. Foucart, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in New England. "The reminder is also an assurance that we are continuing to strengthen our partnerships with U.S. attorneys and all of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners to aggressively identify, arrest, prosecute and punish those who continue to prey on our children."
"Child exploitation cases involve some of our society's most vulnerable victims," said U.S. Attorney Tristram J. Coffin, District of Vermont. "We intend to continue pursuing these cases aggressively with the help of our partners at HSI and the state and local level."
The ICE HSI office in Boston, which oversees investigations throughout New England, investigated and prosecuted – or is in the process of prosecuting – the following significant cases in Vermont throughout 2011:
The majority of these individuals will be required to register as sex offenders anywhere that they live, work or go to school. Criminal indictments are only charges and are not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
All of these investigation involved numerous federal, state and local law enforcement agencies throughout Vermont, including:
Without the participation of these law enforcement agencies, the ability to successfully investigate, arrest and prosecute child predators would be limited.
ICE HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.
You may also visit us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, or access this news release on your mobile device.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE is a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423 or complete our tip form.