Friday, July 15, 2005

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Cracking down on pedophiles

Police look out for kids through Internet program

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Heather Lackey knows there are predators trolling the Internet chatrooms looking for their next child victim to fulfill their sexual fantasies because she’s come face-to-face with them seven times.

One of the alleged predators came to Peachtree City hoping to make Lackey, whom he thought was 15-year-old, the star of his pornographic movies. Another alleged predator came to Peachtree City hoping Lackey would act out his fantasies that included bestiality.

But unfortunately, the encounter didn’t end like the alleged pedophiles had wished. Instead of acting out their illicit fantasies, they found themselves in handcuffs, being led into a jail cell at the Fayette County Jail.

Lackey is a police officer with the Peachtree City Police Department and is charged with a unique mission of nabbing pedophiles who target children on the Internet.

When Lackey logs onto the Internet, all she has to do is mention that she is a 15-year-old girl from Peachtree City and pedophiles flock to her like bees to honey, she indicated.

“Just like any chatroom you start talking to people in general and before long they want to get you in a private room,” Lackey said.

That’s when the pedophiles goes to work, her boss, Police Chief James Murray, indicated. It doesn’t take long before the pedophiles make their move on the alleged 15-year-old.

“In the first two hours, they’ve already committed the crime,” Murray said.

Lackey has seen amazing success since Murray kicked off the Online Protection of Children program. Lackey has rounded up seven pedophiles through her Internet chatroom patrols.

The most notable arrest was that of E. Darryl Dean, the former superintendent for the Pike County School System. The latest arrest involved an employee for Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta who moved from California two weeks before his arrest.

Many of the people Lackey catches are well-educated, married and have good jobs. Of the seven arrested, five were white, one was Middle-Eastern and one was African-American, officials said.

Lackey, a 28-year-old mother of a baby son, used to be surprised by the backgrounds the alleged pedophiles had. But “not anymore,” she said.

Lackey knows she is doing an invaluable service by patrolling the Internet chatrooms. People call and thank the Peachtree City Police Department for their efforts all the time, officials said.

“It’s good to know that you are hopefully protecting children in the community,” said Lackey who has been involved in the program for two and a half to three years.

Murray has always been interested in protecting children. But he decided to start looking into the problems with pedophiles after he arrested humor columnist Billy Murphy.

Murphy, who has since been convicted of sexually exploiting children, had an affair with a 15-year-old in another town. Authorities in the other town wouldn’t prosecute because the girl turned 16, the age of consent.

Murray was furious.

“I said this is wrong,” Murray said. “I just can’t understand why they wouldn’t protect a child. That child is an innocent child. We decided we would take a look at it and we started looking around and it was just unbelievable the number of pedophiles that were in the Internet chatrooms.”

Murray said he doesn’t hide the fact that his department is aggressive about removing pedophiles from the Internet. He indicated pedophiles are a threat to a place like Peachtree City, that is so close to the Atlanta airport. He said so many children in Peachtree City are latchkey kids and have liberal access to the Internet, which means there is an enormous risk.

“We have been very open about it because I want pedophiles to know,” he said. “There’s no cure for pedophiles. They just don’t cure. I’m sure some people say you can cure them by doing certain things but I’ve never in my career seen a real true pedophile be cured.

Murray indicated he won’t give up on his quest because he believes it is important to protect children from pedophiles.

“We feel we are doing a service not only in Peachtree City and Fayette County, but other places where these people are having contact with children in other communities,” Murray said.