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Trumbull prosecutor says cyber sex-abuse skyrockets
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The examples of Trumbull County residents committing sex crimes against children in recent decades are many and shocking, but the number of cases that involve recorded or transmitted images is at an all-time high, county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins says.
Such crimes increasingly involve the use of computers, cellphones, video cameras and Internet sites, and they require investigators and prosecutors to have high levels of expertise in the use of technology, he said.
The prosecutor’s office has more pending cases involving children recorded in sexually oriented situations or shown on webcams than at any time since 1986, when Watkins’ office started its Child Assault Prosecution Division.
“What we’re seeing are more bizarre and vicious acts against children,” Watkins said. “People who commit these vile acts against children need to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
As a result, Watkins announced last week that assistant prosecutor Gabe Wildman has been assigned to take a specialized role within the Child Assault Prosecution Division to handle prosecutions involving child pornography and recorded sexual abuse of minor children.
Wildman and prosecutor’s investigator Gary Hetzel now make up the Child Porn and Cyber-Abuse Unit.
“By having one prosecutor handle these cases, there should be more efficiency and uniformity in handling these types of cases,” Watkins said, adding that it also will help for police departments to know which assistant prosecutor to contact when these cases occur.
The conviction of Timothy Gaut of Hubbard on 21 felony sex charges, including nine of rape, provides an example of the type of criminal and technology involved, Watkins said.
Gaut, then 34, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison in 2008 after an Internet sting was conducted by the Fairfax County (Va.) Police Department’s Internet Sex Crimes Against Children Task Force and a federal officer.
Officers posed as a step-father and an 11-year-old girl on an Internet chat room, finding out that Gaut wanted to perform sex acts on the 11-year-old.
During the course of the chats, Gaut sent the investigators video of himself engaging in sexual conduct with a 6-year-old girl. Gaut was convicted of charges related to the video, as well as crimes related to assaults on the girl in the months and years before that.
To help Wildman and Hetzel carry out their duties, the prosecutor’s office is spending $3,000 to provide them with additional equipment and training, Watkins said.