Tue Mar 12, 8:21 PM ET
By Leonard Novarro
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - The man charged with abducting and murdering 7-year-old Danielle van Damhad 64,000 sexually provocative images of what appeared to be teenage girls in his computer files, investigators said on Tuesday.
Testifying at a preliminary court hearing in the case against David Westerfield, police said a search of his computer equipment also included about 100 pictures of girls engaged in sexual activity, girls provocatively posing with animals, or` performing sexual acts with animals.
San Diego Police detective James Watkins, a computer specialist, told San Diego Superior Court he seized "highly organized" computer files from Westerfield's home.
The files, stored on four computers, a palm pilot (news - web sites), CD-ROMs and computer disks, also contained several animated series, including one depicting a young girl being bound by rope and raped. The girls appeared to be teenagers rather than pre-pubescent children, Watkins said.
Other forensic experts, confirming previous police reports, said they had found bloodstains matching Danielle's in Westerfield's motor home and on one of his jackets, and had found Danielle's fingerprints in his motorhome.
ALTERED PHOTOS?
Boyce also suggested the girls in the photos might have been "morphed" together from various images of older women and altered to look younger. "Some people look older than others at different ages, don't they?" the attorney asked Watkins.
"Some look younger too," Watkins said.
The photos were introduced over the defense's objections after prosecutor Jeff Dusak argued that they provided a motive for Danielle's abduction, which has remained unclear.
http://www.missingkids.com/download/porn_1.pdf
CHILD PORNOGRAPHY: IT IS A CRIME
Why do pedophiles collect and disseminate child pornography? Special Agent Lanning states, "It is difficult to know with certainty why pedophiles collect child pornography and erotica. There may be as many reasons as there are pedophiles. Collecting this material may help pedophiles satisfy, deal with, or reinforce their compulsive, persistent sexual fantasies about children. Some child erotica is collected as a substitute for preferred but unavailable child pornography."1
Lanning further states Collecting may also fulfill needs for validation. Many pedophiles collect academic and scientific books and articles on the nature of pedophilia in an effort to understand and justify their own behavior…. In this material pedophiles share techniques for finding and seducing children and avoiding or dealing with the criminal justice system.
Pedophiles swap pornographic photographs the way boys swap baseball cards. As they add to their collections, they get strong reinforcement from each other for their behavior.
The need for validation may also partially explain why some pedophiles compulsively and systematically save the collected material. It is almost as though each communication and photograph is evidence of the value and legitimacy of their behavior.
Some of the child pornography and erotica collected by pedophiles is saved as a souvenir or trophy of the relationships with children. All child victims will grow up and become sexually unattractive to the pedophile. In a photography, however, a 9-year-old stays young forever.2
Pedophile profile: Young, white, wealthy
Associates of an Infoseek exec arrested for using chat to solicit a minor may have been shocked and surprised, but not the FBI.
As it turns out, a corner office at a high-profile, high-tech company isn't such an unlikely place to find an online pedophile -- not according to records being yielded from a three-year-old Federal Bureau of Investigation crackdown on Internet pornography.
Of the 413 people arrested as part of the agency's "Innocent Images" investigation since 1995, "only a handful have not been upper-middle-class, educated white men," said Special Agent Pete Gulotta who serves as the investigation's chief spokesman. "They're almost all white males between the ages of 25 and 45.
"We've had military officers with high clearances, pediatricians, lawyers, school principals, and tech executives," Gulotta said of those arrested under Innocent Images.
Here are some you might want to check out later.. A Profile of the Child Molester
preadators
Child abuse investigations
National Conference
Dr. Chaiken reported that of the 95,000 sex offenders in State prisons, 60,000 most likely committed their violent sex crimes against children under age 18. The majority of those serving time for violent sex offenses against children committed their crimes against victims age 12 or under. He endorsed the implementation of the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which collects more detailed crime information, leading to higher quality crime data and, ultimately, stronger laws.
a safetynet for internet
MORE INFO
Hackers against pedophelia
Valor tracks down pedophiles over the Internet, breaks into their computers, erases any child porn images he comes across and destroys their hard drives. Then he hacks into the target's Internet Service Provider to change the log-in message so that every user who tries to get on the net that day learns that one of their members was found in possession of kiddie porn. For good measure, he sends the pictures and directory to the ISP's systems administrator, "so they don't come after me," Valor says. Valor tracks down pedophiles over the Internet, breaks into their computers, erases any child porn images he comes across and destroys their hard drives.
Graphic Pedophiles always have been out there. The Internet didn't create them. But it gave them a huge and seemingly anonymous arena in which to trade child pornography or to lure children into sexual encounters. Just like the real world, much of the Internet is safe for children. But electronic conversation areas called chat rooms or chat channels allow direct, unsupervised contact between adult strangers and children, most of whom would never talk to adult strangers face to face. What more could a sexual predator ask for? "Historically, pedophiles thought they were alone out there," McCants said. "Now it's booming on the Internet because they feel validated. It almost makes them more aggressive." Put pedophiles together with millions of teen-agers discovering their sexuality and surfing the World Wide Web, and you have a situation ripe for abuse. "Your children are actually with some stranger in their bedroom," Hubbell says of online predators, called "travelers" by investigators. "These guys will travel all over the country to meet these kids who say yes."
Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal to a new federal law banning the sale of sexually explicit material on military bases. Such a law is warranted considering the rash of sex scandals in the military. The less provocation the better. However, rapists and pedophiles, for whom such a ban is needed even more so, are free to purchase, view and display obscene material. ,P. In a recent case in New Jersey, Judge Alfred Wolin of Federal District Court in Newark handed down an outrageous decision. A suit was filed by two pedophiles who challenged a law banning pornography from the state’s Avenel correctional facility for repeat sex offenders. (Washington Times, 7/2/98) Judge Wolin stated that the law’s broad language was unconstitutional and that the state failed to prove that such a ban would rehabilitate prisoners. (New York Times, 7/23/98) According to the 1986 Attorney General’s Commission on Pornography, more than half of rapists say they were provoked to commit an offense by pornography, and 42 percent of child molesters "implicated pornography" in their crimes. (Washington Times, 7/2/98)
In Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio enforced a ban of all depictions of frontal nudity in his jails. One inmate, when he was denied his subscription to Playboy, filed a suit citing First Amendment violations. In the papers he filed, the inmate claimed he was denied access to newsworthy interviews and investigations. (Washington Times 7/28/98) A three-judge panel in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco declared Arpaio’s ban unconstitutional. Again, broad language was the reason given. The panel did suggest that a more specific definition of "sexually explicit" would create a new case. (Washington Post, 7/18/98)
The following was posted by Val Pal not so long ago..
To: FresnoDA
SOURCE First three paragraphs not included in this post.
Many of these offenders have extensive collections of child pornography or child erotica that feed their fantasy world. These photos and drawings will typically be cut outs from newspapers and magazines that other people would find inoffensive or even innocuous. Pedophiles will frequently videotape children from television shows and commercials. They will also attend sporting events in schools and surreptitiously tape these events. Undoubtedly, the notorious video clip of JonBenet Ramsey participating at a Colorado beauty pageant has found its way into the video libraries of pedophiles across the country.
These collections of pornography are often considered the pedophile’s most valued possession (Lanning, p. 28). The collection represents years of work and symbolizes, in tangible form, his inner most sexual fantasies and thoughts. The collection will consist of slides, commercial photos, souvenirs, toys, Polaroids and virtually any other type of material that relates to or displays any minute reference to child sex. Child erotica collections will vary in quality and quantity, often depending upon the economic status of the collector. Police have found that the older the pedophile, the more extensive the collection will be. Since true child pornography requires a clandestine effort to obtain, the majority of these collections will be erotic in nature as opposed to pornographic. And often the focus will be upon one or two aspects of sexuality. Preferential child molesters especially, preserve these types of collections and will do anything to safeguard them. Offenders have been known to make formal requests to the police agencies to return these items after their case has been adjudicated.
The pedophile collector falls into three general categories: closet, isolated and the sharer. The closet collector maintains and views his erotica in secret and does not molest children. This type of collector builds his collection in a clandestine manner and keeps its existence a secret. Sometimes, he will maintain this collection for years without the knowledge of a live in spouse. The isolated collector is actually engaged in molestation and will display the material to a victim. The sharer-collector trades and displays the material with others and may do so for profit. He also will molest children and keeps company with other pedophiles. Since other criminals, like burglars, muggers, car thieves, rarely collect artifacts relating to their criminality, why do pedophiles collect? The answer to that question lies in the psychological characteristics of his condition. He has a twisted sexual compulsion for children whose origins are separate and apart from criminality. His deviance is defined as criminal only because society has deemed it so. Some pedophiles believe that they have done nothing wrong and are simply more enlightened than the general public. They feel they are part of a special progressive movement and one day society will come to accept, what they see as, their sacred ritual of adult/child sex.
From a practical standpoint, collections serve crucial needs for the pedophile. First, child erotica and pornography are utilized in his crimes. The pedophile will display this material to a victim in order to lower his inhibitions and introduce him to the possibilities of sex with an adult. This is a very important step in the seduction process. Secondly, the pedophile will use the material for his own sexual gratification. Often it is used in the arousal phase prior to sexual activity with victims. Still others will use photographs of the abuse to blackmail their victims into further sexual activity. After engaging in sexual acts with an adult, a complex set of emotions engulfs the victim. These emotions include humiliation, attachment to the offender and fear of exposure. The victim becomes extremely fearful that his friends and family will learn of the sexual activity and he will suffer harsh consequences. Pedophiles are familiar with these feelings and will use those emotions against the child. Pornography plays a pivotal role in the child sex offender’s life. But most importantly, it is the tool of his trade used to induct his victims into his sexual fantasies. This is why law enforcement is always on the alert to the onslaught of pornography on the web. [1] Authors Best and Luckenbill discuss the characteristics of loners, colleagues and peer deviants in Organizing Deviance (1992). [2] Reported by CNN January 28, 1997.
A lot has been made that the pornography didn't amount to much. But this article points out that a large portion of a pedophiles collection will not be necessarily illegal images. Were the non-pornographic images described at the PH?