Washington County officials share how they track down online predators
The sex trafficking unit in Washington County, Minnesota, is making a huge impact with only a small number of people. Recent arrests of five men for sexually exploiting a 14-year-old girl have people wondering how they do it.
WCCO's Reg Chapman spoke with the detective and county attorney working hand in hand to keep kids safe from online predators.
"Every time a kid goes into their bedroom and closes the door, if they have their phone with them, they have access to almost the entire world," said Scott Haldeman, assistant Washington County attorney,
Haldeman prosecutes sex crimes. He says predators now hide behind keyboards to find unsuspecting young people to prey on.
"I think it is getting more brazen because these social media apps can cloud your identity. It is harder to find people," Haldeman said.
"I build rapport with them, we talk to them, we have to build some trust and then once they have that, they are able to talk to me about what happened," said Sgt. Danelle Erickson.
Erickson's passion is helping vulnerable kids. She says her experience working in schools is key to cracking cases of sexual exploitation.
"I was a school resource officer at Olson Middle School for almost 10 years and taught DARE. Everything I did there I was a juvenile detective, I was a school resource officer, I'm a mom all those things are in play when I build rapport with these kids," said Erickson. "Right now, it's all about online. People go online, and you don't know who you are talking to. They go online, they start talking and these people build trust with these kids, and then they start exploiting."
Her relationship with these victims helped track down five men suspected of sexually exploiting a girl this month.
The sex trafficking unit was hit hard by budget cuts, stripping the unit to one investigator. Erickson and Haldeman give this advice to cops on the beat.
"I was always telling officers when I'm training them, if you have that gut feeling that something is wrong, it's probably something wrong," Erickson said.
"If they are trained into seeing certain things, they can alert Sgt. Erikson and myself to what's going on and we can do a further investigation," Haldeman said.
And they say it's advice parents can use, too. The five men charged with felony criminal sexual conduct, if convicted, could face a maximum of 10 years in prison.
