Prepared Remarks of Attorney General

Alberto R. Gonzales
at the Summer Conference of the
National District Attorneys Association
Santa Fe, New Mexico
July 31, 2006
Good morning. Thank you, Paul.

I’m glad to have this chance to thank all of you for the work you do, individually
and as an association. You are a vital partner on so many fronts: the war on terror,
our efforts to eliminate gangs and violent crime and the struggle to protect our
children and communities from the corrosion of crystal meth.

And I am here today to talk about another campaign that we are engaged in
together, but instead of addressing what the laws we’re enforcing are, I’d prefer to
begin by talking about who those laws are for.

I want to talk about the nine-year old girl who was molested by a hotel camp
counselor on a family vacation, and how – in the state of shock, hurt and confusion
over what had happened to her – she actually feared that her parents might love her
less because of what had happened.

I want to talk about Jessica Lunsford, who was raped, wrapped in plastic bags and
buried alive, left holding a stuffed dolphin, alone, to die by asphyxiation. She was
just nine years old.

I want to talk about 13-year-old Sarah Lunde, whose attacker fractured her skull
and broke her jaw, blows to the head that killed her – before dumping her body in
an abandoned fishing pond.

And I want to talk about Jetseta Gage, who was ten years old when a family friend
abducted her, took her to an abandoned mobile home southwest of Iowa City, raped
and killed her.

Jessica, Sarah, and Jetseta’s killers all have something in common. They were all
known sex offenders at the time of the girls’ murders.
Protecting our children from predators is a tough, terrible reality of your job and of
mine. We must stay focused on what we are trying to prevent and that means talking
about these horrific crimes frankly.

I believe I speak for all of us when I say that we’d prefer to never have to prosecute
another child molester or rapist. We’d desperately prefer to stop those crimes before
they happen.

Because a child who has been molested, unthinkably violated, bears a scar so deep,
so lasting, that all the justice in the world can never soothe it completely. We can
never make things quite right, ever again. There is no moment when we can say
“it’s all better” – the phrase that every parent knows to mean: “it’s over; it’s okay;
you’re safe.”

As a law-enforcement official, and as a parent, there is no crime that I am more

dedicated to preventing. I know that all of you feel the same way. We want to be
able to tell America’s children, our children, “you’re safe.”

Just as any parent would lay down his or her own life to save their child, we all feel,
deep down, that protecting the most innocent among us is more important than
anything else we do.

As prosecutors, I know you have felt something beyond determination on these

cases. You have likely experienced everything from the deepest sorrow to the
darkest rage. And, worse, you have probably felt an overwhelming frustration that
such tragedies continue despite our efforts.

But despite this frustration, you get up every morning to fight another day.

You’re able to do that because you know that our job of criminal prosecution has
the power to bring both justice and protection to society. Justice is satisfying,
though it does not reverse the damage of the crime. The protection that comes from
removing criminals from the streets is what brings hope to us and to the people we
protect.

We know we can’t bring back those innocent girls I just mentioned. We can’t bring
back Adam Walsh or erase the terrible past for kids like Elizabeth Smart. But we
can make sure that the depraved criminals who abduct, hurt, and sometimes kill
children won’t strike again.

The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, signed by the President
last week, will help us prevent these crimes. It requires sex offenders – like the men
who abducted Jessica, Sarah and Jetseta – to be registered and stay registered –
even when they move from state to state. And the requirements have teeth – it is
now a federal offense for these monsters not to register and stay registered. And let
me assure you, this is a law we will enforce aggressively.
The new bill also helps us keep these degenerates off the streets and away from our
kids even after they’ve been released from prison, reducing the chance that they’ll
ever be within arms-length of their potential victims.

The Child Protection Act also enhances the penalties for various federal violent
crimes and sexual offenses against children, allowing us to lock up those who abuse
and exploit children for as long as possible.

I appreciate the disincentive that increased sentencing can bring. Statistics show that
1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys are sexually exploited before they reach adulthood…
and it is our duty as public servants to change those numbers, to step between
sexual predators and our children, to put up a shield of safety.

The desire to reduce crimes against our nation’s most innocent and most vulnerable
was the basis for the Justice Department’s Project Safe Childhood launched earlier
this year. The Child Protection Act gives this DOJ initiative statutory authority. Its
implementation will require close coordination and cooperation among all levels of
law enforcement. We do our best work when we work together, and that’s why it’s
important to me that we have this time, today, to re-focus our efforts and re-
dedicate ourselves as a team.

As you know, the Internet – perhaps the greatest invention of our generation – has
also, unfortunately, made it easier for the depraved among us to prey upon the
innocent. This is where our collective efforts need to focus today.

The Internet provides elements that criminals love: a cloak of anonymity, speed of
communication and global access to potential victims. It also allows them to brag
about their crimes, creating a sick field of competition to see who can produce the
most unthinkable photos or videos of rape and molestation. In their perverse eyes,
this means the younger, the better.

Each image that they create and distribute to their deranged cohorts literally
documents a crime scene: a young toddler tied up with towels, desperately crying in
pain, while she is being brutally raped and sodomized by an adult man.

Videos of very young daughters forced to have intercourse and oral sex with their
fathers. Pictures of older men forcing naked young girls to have anal sex.

Sometimes the criminals use webcams so that other molesters can watch their
disgusting acts live.

As law enforcement officials, I know that you have seen the same images; I know
you understand the problem. But it bears repeating so that our public audience
understands and does not forget what our fight is really about.

The Internet has provided these criminals with limitless back rooms, dark shadows
and escape routes. It has made it hard to find the criminal but terribly easy to see
the crime.

So law enforcement is faced, once again, with staying one step ahead of the
criminal mind. The battleground has switched from dark alleys and basements to the
hidden rooms of cyberspace. We must deprive these criminals of their cloak of
secrecy and shine light into the shadows where they lurk.

The Project Safe Childhood initiative, with statutory authority granted by the Adam
Walsh Child Protection Act, will seek to stem this surging tide of online exploitation
and abuse of our children. The initiative is broad: we’ll work to investigate and
prosecute more cases in the federal system, to coordinate better with state and local
law enforcement, to train more officers, and to do a better job educating parents and
children about the dangers they face online.

We at the Department are proud to provide assistance and organization and funds…
but as all of you know, those who are closest to the crimes and the victims are in the
best position to really effect change.

State and local prosecutors, and especially district attorneys, will be critical in the
overall success of Project Safe Childhood.

It is through greater coordination and collaboration that the Project will protect
children from the crimes that cause wounds that never heal.

This is why I have directed U.S. Attorney in every district across the country to
bring all the prosecutors and investigators in their district together, to create
strategic plans that will map out the way in which the districts will attack this
problem. We need District Attorneys to be a central voice, and a key partner, in this
effort. Because of your experience and expertise we want you to work closely with
U.S. Attorneys in deciding how cases should be handled in each district, and in
which forum cases should be filed.

In addition to investigations and prosecutions, we seek your help in reaching out to

communities to educate parents and children about online safety. As District
Attorneys, you know your communities the best. We look to your leadership and
ask for your guidance in directing the Department’s focus in community outreach
and educational efforts.

I feel strongly that Project Safe Childhood offers additional opportunities to help our
kids. I know that many of you have been focused on this issue for years, fighting for
America’s children without rest. For example, there is Jim Reams, County Attorney
in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, who for many years has developed and
taught courses on how to investigate internet crimes against children. And Jim is his
own pupil. He has prosecuted many of these heinous crimes. I’d like to mention just
one—the case of Jessie Labrie. Labrie was a daycare worker who offered to baby-
sit for children in their parents’ homes. Parents would leave for the evening thinking
their child was in good care, when in reality Labrie was molesting them. Jim Reams
successfully tried Labrie before a jury for molesting one child and obtained a
sentence of 20 to 40 years. Labrie later pleaded guilty to molesting 3 more victims,
one of whom was previously unknown to the police. I was struck by this case
because who hasn’t left their child with a babysitter. It could happen in any town in
America. Like Jim, many of you are leaders on the Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Forces – strong and effective organizations that Project Safe
Childhood will complement and support.

***

We will increase the federal assistance in this area, in terms of investigating and
prosecuting cases, and make sure that all federal resources are brought to bear in
helping you to fight these terrible crimes. And where federal law provides
advantages over the state or local laws in your jurisdiction, such as the federal
administrative subpoena power or the federal mandatory minimums, Project Safe
Childhood will help you take advantage of those laws.

There is so much work to do, and I want to close by giving two examples that I
hope will fuel your commitment to the task ahead. One is a specific challenge, and
the other, a story of success.

As we’ve looked at ways to improve the law enforcement response to the problem
of online exploitation and abuse of children, one thing we’ve consistently heard
from investigators and prosecutors is that many communications service providers
don’t retain records for a sufficient period of time. As you well know, this has
hampered, or even ended, numerous investigations across the country. It helps keep
up those walls of darkness that predators like so much.

Several months ago, I asked a working group within the Department to look at this
issue, and we’re working hard on ways to remedy this problem.

I’m interested in knowing whether this is an issue for your district. Have your
investigators or prosecutors been hampered in particular cases by a lack of records?
I’d really like to hear your views and stories on this issue, so please give us a call or
send me a letter with your thoughts.

***

I want to make a final point by telling you a story of a recent successful

prosecution.

On June 26th, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut announced that
Sonny Szeto, age 22, had pleaded guilty to one count of using the Internet to have
sexual contact with a minor and one count of possession of child pornography.
According to documents filed with the Court and statements made in court, Szeto
used the Internet to persuade a minor to engage in sexual activity. This particular
criminal used “MySpace.com” to lure an 11-year-old girl into having illicit sexual
relations. When law enforcement conducted a search of his residence, including his
computer and various computer media, they found hundreds of images of child
pornography.

Today, thanks to the coordinated efforts of the FBI and the Connecticut Computer
Crimes Task Force, this predator is off the streets, and America’s children are safe
from his vile intentions. He faces a minimum term of five years imprisonment, a
maximum term of 30 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for using the
Internet to engage in sexual activity with a minor. He also faces a maximum term of
10 years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 for possession of child
pornography.

Mr. Szeto is one of many pedophiles roaming the Internet today. But his capture
and prosecution is an immeasurable success because every sexual predator who is
incarcerated represents the incalculable: one, two, or maybe dozens of children that
have been protected, who can continue to have a safe and innocent childhood.

Regrettably, no single individual, or single arm of law enforcement, can shield our
kids from these unthinkable acts. The criminals’ network is too vast and their
numbers too great in our open and democratic society.

But we have a network, too. And it, too, is vast. It stretches from coast to coast,
from city to city, and includes every parent, every school, every police station, every
courthouse and includes every member of law enforcement. Our network, when
used to its greatest potential, can defeat these criminals who crush the very souls of
their victims.

Together, we can get the dangerous pedophiles off of our streets, out of our
neighborhoods and off of the Internet.

The partnership between U.S. Attorneys and District Attorneys, state Attorneys
General, and other prosecutors – as well as law enforcement at the local, state and
federal levels – will be key to Project Safe Childhood.

We will also work with nonprofit groups who bring a level of expertise and historic
perspective to the issue. We have to remember that there are so many people – both
in law enforcement and in civilian ranks – who have dedicated their lives to
protecting children from these crimes, and we must all hear them when they speak.
The threat is too great to limit our efforts, or to shut out those who could help.

I thank you for your dedication to this cause and I look forward to continuing this
fight, together.
May God bless and guide your important work, and may he continue to bless this
great nation. Thank you.

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