ICAC Task Force makes 100th arrest

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The state attorney general's office has reached a milestone in the fight against Internet sex criminals.

Samuel Hugh Wilds was arrested two days ago. A 53-year-old from West Columbia, Wilds has been handed a dubious distinction by the state of South Carolina. He's the 100th person busted by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

Attorney General Henry McMaster announced the arrest, "So we've built a network in South Carolina that is attempting to do what we can to protect the children of this state."

McMaster has long waged war on internet predators. "It is a frightening thing for all parents to understand that this is going on."

He led a campaign that included the 2004 passage of a law that says criminal solicitation of a minor on the net is a felony. The Criminal Solicitation of a Minor law passed quickly through the Legislature and became law in April of 2004. At that time, agents of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) provided all of the investigative work on the Internet.

In 2005, McMaster sought to expand the Task Force to include local law enforcement agencies. To date, 37 law enforcement agencies across the state have joined the Task Force. In all, 75 law enforcement officers are associated with the Task Force.

Through a grant from the US Department of Justice, the Attorney General's Office provides training for officers from each member agency, as well as computer equipment needed to conduct the undercover Internet sting operations. The first of the member agencies' officers began completing their training by March 2006, meaning the bulk of the arrests announced today have come from an intense effort that has spanned approximately 17 months.

McMaster said the 100 arrests are only a fraction of the predators who are still out there.

"The bad news is that we have discovered that Internet sexual solicitation is like a new drug. It is non-prescription, it is corrupting, it is defiling, it is poisonous and it is often fatal to the recipient. And these predators are all over the internet."

The Attorney General's Office has prosecuted 33 of the individuals arrested, resulting in 31 guilty pleas and two guilty findings by jury.

McMaster says South Carolina has been on the leading edge of this issue, calling the state a model for the rest of the nation.

The operation has not been glitch-free, though. Take the case of former Aiken Assistant Solicitor Anthony Odom. In July, a judge ruled the state had improperly used federal law to get information on Odom and other suspects from phone companies and internet service providers.

The ruling is on appeal, and McMaster's staff is confident. Megan Wines, the SC Assistant Attorney General, says, "We feel like our laws and our procedures are solid and that it is not going to affect the outcome of cases."

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• South_Carolina
• ICAC

[negative74]

mcmaster is crooked and fabricates evidence.curious?note @2:04 megan wines talking how "their procedures are solid" has participated in covering up crimes of people who work in her office. "Officer Mike Wines, who busted Corning with a prostitute in Columbia’s Elmwood Cemetery Monday afternoon, is married to Megn Wines–who works with Corning in McMaster’s office." we also have evidence of her fabrication on papers she signed. :) google "sex predator task force ignores judges ruling"

[TheJaneo7]

I hope very much that internet predators are caught and punished, but the story is not all that it seems to be. In Cuyahoga County, OH, DA Bill Mason does not go after actual predators who are trying to entice or threaten children. He uses Limewire to procure low quality indictments of people who look at porn on the internet and may have never even gone looking for child porn. No children were rescued in his 1.4 million dollar of tax money "sting." "Like shooting fish in a barrel." he said.