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Ohio legal chief cracks down on ‘scum’ who molest children
By Marc Kovac
COLUMBUS
Attorney General Mike DeWine has this blunt message for sex offenders who prey on children, particularly those who have skipped out on their court-ordered registration requirements:
Law enforcement will find you, they will prosecute you, and you will be heading to prison for a long time.
“We’re going to go after these predators, and we’re going to lock them up, and we’re going to keep them locked up,” he told reporters Friday.
DeWine made the comments during a press conference where he announced a new initiative to crack down on adults who commit sex crimes against children.
The effort includes the creation of a new “Crimes Against Children” unit within the attorney general’s office, with 15 new hires who will specialize in identifying individuals who share child pornography online or who use the Internet seeking encounters with youngsters.
The office also will dedicate two attorneys in a special-prosecutions unit to focus on crimes against children, create a rapid response team to assist victims, offer special training for local law enforcement on related crimes and publicize sex offenders who are on the lam.
The latter includes more than 100 who have skipped out on required registrations.
“All these clowns, these scum, they all have a warrant issued for them,” De- Wine said. “What we’re going to do, frankly, is publicize this and get these pictures out. It’s no different than the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted. You put pictures out, you can ask the public to help find them, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
DeWine said his office has been working on the initiative for months, prior to recent charges against a former Penn State University football coach accused of sexually abusing young boys.