Distributor of "How-To" Pedophilia Video Gets Caught

Just when you think you have heard about everything, something or someone comes along to prove you wrong. That is the case of a pedophile who was caught recently as he was spreading a "how-to" video to other pedophiles on the internet. The video, titled "How To Molest Your Child and Not Get Caught", was designed to teach others how to molest children without getting caught. Apparently that part about "not getting caught" still needs to be tweaked.

Robert Persiani, age 45 of South Chicago Heights, IL was arrested and charged with a Class X Felony following a four month long investigation. Persiani is unemployed and lives at home with his parents. He has reportedly done odd jobs but has not held down a regular job, except for his online pedophilia and distribution of hundreds of child pornography images.

This is just one more instance of how important it is for police officers to have the tools for tracing this kind of activity online. In this case, police officers in Stillwater, MN traced the pornographic materials to Persiani's home computer and notified South Chicago Heights police officers who made the arrest after confiscating his home computer in December, 2008.

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) which is a part of The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, has already begun to disperse some of its funding in order to help with this kind of problem. The $225 million in this grant will be dispersed to help state and local communities improve their local justice systems by providing training and technical assistance to local law enforcement agencies.

Grants for Internet Crimes Against Children Initiatives has an additional $50 million for disbursement to Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces (ICAC). According to the Department of Justice website, "this help encompasses forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance, victim services and community education." ICAC is a national network of 59 task forces working together for a common purpose, to develop effective responses to online victimization and child pornography.

People like Robert Persiani who prey on innocent children and spread their poison across the country and around the world via the internet will soon become sitting ducks within their own homes. The same internet that allows them to perpetrate pornographic crimes against children will soon become the means of locating and shutting down their business. As each person who spreads his web of pornography across the internet is found and arrested, the lives of hundreds and thousands of innocent children will change for the better.

Mr. Persiani is just one perpetrator who has been found and arrested, but by arresting this one man, many more pedophiles have been discovered within his network and hundreds of children have been rescued from the filthy clutches of these perverted villains. I would say that is money well-spent.

Sources:
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/1468169,030909childporn.article
http://www.protect.org/Newswire/Illinois/How-to-video-uses-children-to-teach-pedophiles.html
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/recovery/