ICN Community News
Indiana Central News
Terre Haute, Indiana
Terre Haute, Indiana
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Southern District of Indiana INDIANAPOLIS - United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today that members of the Hamilton County Metropolitan Child Exploitation Task Force are being recognized with a U.S. Attorney’s Office Excellence Award for their involvement in the prosecution of multiple cases as a result of the U.S. Department of Justice Project Safe Childhood initiative. The Hamilton County Metropolitan Child Exploitation Task Force is comprised of police officers from the Carmel Police Department, Fishers Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Task Force. “I am extremely proud of the work of the members of the Hamilton County Metropolitan Child Exploitation Task Force,” said Minkler. “I applaud the task force for their perseverance, their hard work, especially in often difficult subject matter, and their tireless effort in rescuing multiple minor victims from sex predators who exploited them sexually.” “The Carmel Police Department is proud to be a partner in Project Safe Childhood,” said Chief Jim Barlow. “The officers assigned to this project are tasked with a very difficult, but rewarding job. The hard work of the members of Hamilton County Metropolitan Child Exploitation Task Force has spared countless children the horrors of being future victims. We are so pleased with the outcome of this project and would like to thank everyone involved in its success.” “The arrests made in partnership with the Hamilton County Metropolitan Child Exploitation Task Force reflect the success that results from the cooperative efforts of federal, state, local, and international law enforcement agencies,” said Special Agent in Charge James M. Gibbons. “We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to safeguard one of our most precious resources, our children.” The Project Safe Childhood (PSC) initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. The threat of sexual predators soliciting children for physical sexual contact is well-known and serious; the danger of perpetrators who produce, distribute, and possess child pornography is equally dramatic and disturbing. The Department of Justice is committed to the safety and well-being of every child and has placed a high priority on combating sexual exploitation of minors. PSC is implemented through a partnership of U.S. Attorneys; Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces; federal partners, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Marshals Service; advocacy organizations such as the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC); and state and local law enforcement officials in each U.S. Attorney’s district. The Project Safe Childhood cases highlighted below were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Steven D. DeBrota and Kristina M. Korobov.
United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler also announced the successful results of Operation Dry Dock, a sophisticated law enforcement investigation targeting offenders using internet and telephone social networking tools to sexually exploit children and trafficking in child pornography in the United States and worldwide. To date, this Operation successfully identified 18 children in the Southern District of Indiana, Kentucky, South Africa, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, and Canada. It also led the prosecution of at least 11 different offenders, including Jorgensen and the following, among others:
Garrick Jorgensen, 39, Crestline, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count each of Distributing Child Pornography and Sexual Exploitation of a Child and was sentenced to 204 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Learn more about Project Safe Childhood by visiting the Department of Justice's website at https://www.justice.gov/psc. Comments are closed.
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CommunityArchives
March 2021
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News Writer: Lucy Perry
EMAIL: lperrynews@gmail.com |