More than 70 pedophiles have been arrested in New York State, marking what officials are calling the largest bust of people who “possess, produce or distribute sexually explicit images of children" in history.
The investigation—known as Operation Caireen—monitored activity on more than 150 Internet Protocol addresses from April 4 to May 15, and unearthed a shocking display of depravity in the local community. The common misconception surrounding pedophilia is that it's largely perpetuated by misanthropic, ostracized men already spat out by society. The truth is, this sickness transcends socio-cultural boundaries.
The sheer volume of confirmed and suspected instances of individuals engaging in the sexual exploitation of children identified through Operation Caireen is shocking, and the professional backgrounds of many of the defendants is troubling. We can no longer assume that the only people who would stoop to prey on children are unemployed drifters. — James T. Hayes Jr., special agent in charge of the federal homeland security office in New York
Among the dozens of people arrested the net of the law snagged a sordid school of fish, including a rabbi, two nurses, two police officers, an au pair and perhaps most nauseating of all? A den master with the Boy Scouts of America and a Little League baseball coach.
While 70 people participating in child porn is sickening enough, the Interwebs have enabled these folks to copy and disseminate these images to thousands of people across the world. The emergence and expansion of the "Dark Web" (consisting of websites that have been purposely and systematically designed to stay off search engines) has resulted in a a dramatic spike in child pornography, forcing officials to develop new software and tactics to penetrate perverts' encrypted computers.
Maybe the NYPD should partner up with some psycho-pharmacologists to get their chemical castration on.
Image: ThinkStock
