Governor signs into law legislation proposed by Attorney General Biden and General Assembly’s Kids Caucus to expands efforts to stop predators from hurting kids

Dover – Delaware’s children now have stronger protections from online sexual predators under legislation that was proposed by Attorney General Beau Biden and the co-chairs of the General Assembly’s Kids Caucus and signed into law today by Gov. Jack Markell.

HB 256, sponsored by Rep. Debra Heffernan, D-Brandywine, and Sen. Harris McDowell, D-Wilmington, received overwhelming support in the state House of Representatives and Senate earlier this spring.

“Nothing is more important to me than protecting our children,” Attorney General Biden said.  “Our kids and our families have been made more secure by the work of the Delaware Child Predator Task Force which works tirelessly to proactively identify the worst predators in society – those who target children.  This new law gives the Task Force and law enforcement across our state more powerful tools to put predators behind bars where they belong.”

“The safety of our children is our top priority,” said Governor Markell. “We continue to work together to shield our children from harm and hold those who hurt them accountable. This bill strengthens those efforts.”

HB 256 makes clear that a sexual predator is guilty of the charge of sexual solicitation of a child online whether the defendant solicits an actual child or an undercover investigator whom the predator believes to be a child.  The bill also elevates that offense from a Class C to a Class B felony in cases in which the predator actually travels to meet the subject he is soliciting online, whether that subject is a child or an undercover investigator.

“With more and more young people using electronic devices to communicate with a broader audience, law enforcement need every tool possible to help keep our children safe and protect them from sexual predators,” said Rep. Debra Heffernan, D-Brandywine Hundred South. “Gone are the days of just worrying when your child goes to the park or store. They can be solicited inside the home at any hour of the day. We have now updated our laws to include all electronic devices and modes of communication that sexual predator could use to sexually solicit a child and make sure that any predator caught faces the appropriate punishment.”

“Thanks to the Child Predator Task Force’s hard work, we know the seriousness of this problem in Delaware,” said McDowell, D-Wilmington North.  “We hope this law will further protect our children by increasing the criminal penalties for those convicted of attempting to solicit them for sex by keeping those most heinous criminals off the streets for longer stretches.”

The bill builds on the work done by Delaware’s Child Predator Task Force which, since its creation in 2007, has secured the conviction of more than 190 predators and the rescue of 120 children who were being abused or being groomed for future victimization.  The Task Force is charged with initiating proactive investigations to track down and arrest sexual predators, and it is increasingly focused on conducting undercover online investigations to finding predators lurking online looking to meet children.  The legislation signed into law today ensures that predators caught in these undercover investigations are held accountable for their acts.

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Dover – Attorney General Beau Biden announced today that an investigation by the Delaware Child Predator Task Force has led to the arrest of a Milford-area registered sex offender who now faces charges that he dealt in child pornography.

“Child pornographers are child predators,” Attorney General Biden said.  “That’s why our Child Predator Task Force works day and night to identify these threats to our kids and take them off the streets.”

On Wednesday, June 18, 2014, as part an investigation into the distribution of child pornography online the Child Predator Task Force executed a search warrant at a residence in the unit block of E. Yorktown Road in Milford.  An occupant of the residence, 23 year-old Eric Robert Aldrich, a registered sex offender currently on supervised probation, was identified during the investigation.  Aldrich is prohibited from having internet access as a condition of his probation and was taken into custody at his probation office on the day the search warrant of his home was executed.

During their search of Aldrich’s residence, detectives seized three computers and other digital media.  A forensic preview of the evidence revealed multiple videos of child pornography.  As a result, Aldrich was arrested and charged with 25 counts of Dealing in Child Pornography.  He was arraigned via video phone by JP Court #2 and was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution in lieu of $500,000 secured bail.

The Child Predator Task Force investigation continues.  A booking image of Aldrich is attached.

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Dover – A pair of bills proposed by Attorney General Beau Biden to make Delaware’s children safer passed the state Senate on  Tuesday.

“Nothing is more important than protecting our kids,” Biden said.

HB 256, sponsored by Rep. Debra Heffernan and Sen. Harris B. McDowell III, will strengthen law enforcement’s ability to stop sexual predators from hurting children. Specifically, the bill makes clear that a sexual predator is guilty of the charge of sexual solicitation of a child online whether the defendant solicits an actual child or an undercover investigator whom the predator believes to be a child.  The bill also elevates the offense from a Class C to a Class B felony in cases in which the predator actually travels to meet the subject he is soliciting online, whether that subject is a child or an undercover investigator.

The bill, which has been endorsed by the General Assembly’s Kids Caucus, builds on the work done by the state’s Child Predator Task Force over the past seven years to track down and arrest sexual predators. Since 2007, the Task Force’s work has led to the conviction of more than 180 predators and the rescue of 119 children who were being abused or being groomed for future victimization.  The Task Force has increasingly focused on conducting proactive undercover online investigations to find predators lurking online to meet children.  The Senate made a slight technical amendment to the bill, sending it back to the House for final approval.

“Thanks to the Child Predator Task Force’s hard work, we know the seriousness of this problem in Delaware,” said McDowell, D-Wilmington North.  “We hope this bill will further protect our children by increasing the criminal penalties for those convicted of attempting to solicit them for sex by keeping those most heinous criminals off the streets for longer stretches.”

The second measure, HB 309, sponsored by House Minority Whip Deborah Hudson and Senate President Pro Tempore Patricia Blevins, will protect Delaware youth against the potentially harmful effects of mechanical tobacco substitutes known as “electronic cigarettes,” or “e-cigarettes.”  The bill passed the Senate overwhelmingly and now makes its way to the Governor.

Under the bill, a person would be prohibited from selling or distributing these e-cigarettes – defined as “tobacco substitutes” – to minors, and it prohibits minors from purchasing the products.  State Representatives Michael Barbieri, Paul Baumbach, Debra Heffernan, Joe Miro and Mike Ramone are also co-prime sponsors of the legislation, which also has the support of the Division of Public Health and the Division of Tobacco and Alcohol Enforcement.

“We’re just starting to learn about the health risks associated with e-cigarettes,” said Blevins, D-Elsmere. “And we have an obligation to keep young people from getting addicted to them, especially while the jury is still out on whether they’re a safe product.”

E-cigarettes have become increasingly popular, with sales for e-cigarettes having doubled each year since 2008.  Only a few clinical studies have been conducted on e-cigarettes to-date, and the results provide no definitive answer yet on the health effects of e-cigarettes, prompting the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to state that consumers of e-cigarette products have no way of knowing “whether e-cigarettes are safe for their intended use, how much nicotine or other potentially harmful chemicals are being inhaled during use, or if there are any benefits associated with using these products.”

Additionally, in 2009, the FDA analyzed two brands of e-cigarettes and found that they contained trace elements of hazardous compounds found in antifreeze.  As a result, 41 Attorneys General – including Attorney General Biden – urged the FDA last September to test and regulate e-cigarettes.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the percentage of U.S. high school and middle school students using e-cigarettes doubled between 2011 and 2012.  The National Youth Tobacco Survey shows that the percentage of high school students reporting ever using e-cigarettes jumped from 4.7 percent in 2011 to 10 percent in 2012 and an estimated 1.8 million young people are reported as trying e-cigarettes in 2012.

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Wilmington – Attorney General Beau Biden announced that a Newark man indicted last year for producing and distributing child pornography pled guilty for his crimes yesterday.

In December, 2012 a proactive online undercover investigation by the Delaware Child Predator Task Force into the distribution of child pornography resulted in the arrest of John M. Figura and his indictment by the New Castle County Grand Jury on 25 counts of Dealing in Child Pornography.  During its ongoing forensic examination of the hundreds of thousands of files containing child pornography seized from Figura, Child Predator Task Force detectives determined that Figura produced approximately 100 images of child pornography found in his possession.  Moreover, these images depicted three elementary school-ages girls who were positively identified and were known by Figura.  As a result, in November, 2013 the Attorney General’s office secured an additional indictment charging Figura with 71 counts each of Sexual Exploitation of a Child and Dealing in Child Pornography for producing child pornography between 1998 and 2007 compiling and/or distributing those files.  In addition, the November indictment charged Figura with 1 count each of Rape 2nd Degree and Unlawful Sexual Contact for physically assaulting two of these young victims in 2007.

Yesterday morning Figura, age 44, pled guilty in New Castle County Superior Court to 9 counts of Dealing in Child Pornography, 1 count of Sexual Exploitation of a Child, and 1 count of Unsolicited Sexual Contact 2nd Degree.  Figura faces a minimum 20-year prison term when sentenced by Judge M. Jane Brady on August 1, 2014.  Figura has remained incarcerated on $1.5 million cash bail since his December 19, 2012 arrest.

Yesterday’s conviction follows the arrest of three individuals by the Child Predator Task Force over the past month – two on child pornography charges, and the re-arrest of a third defendant for rape.

• On April 16, a result of the investigation into the distribution of child pornography images and videos online, the Child Predator Task Force, assisted by a uniformed member of DSP Troop #6, executed a search warrant at a residence on the 500 block of Stenning Drive in Hockessin.  During the search detectives identified a person of interest, who was taken to DSP Troop #2 for further investigation, and detectives recovered six computers, several external hard drives and other assorted electronic evidence.  A forensic preview of the evidence revealed multiple files containing child pornography. As a result, investigators arrested the person of interest, Daniel M. Tessier, age 52, and charged him with 25 counts of Dealing in Child Pornography. Tessier was arraigned via videophone by JP Court #2 and was taken to James T. Vaughn Correctional Center in lieu of $250,000 secured bail.
• On April, 2, as part of an investigation into the distribution of child pornography on the Internet that was initiated after receiving a referral from Pennsylvania authorities, the Child Predator Task Force and the Delaware State Police executed a search warrant at a residence on the 23000 block of East Trap Pond Road in Georgetown.  Investigators made contact with a person of interest, Jason A. Carboni, age 42, the sole resident of the Trap Pond Road address, when he departed the residence that morning and he was taken to DSP Troop #4 for further investigation.  As a result of the search warrant, multiple computers and other digital media were seized and taken to the DSP High Technology Crimes Unit for forensic analysis. A forensic preview revealed that a seized computer contained multiple images of child pornography.  Carboni was subsequently charged with 13 counts of Dealing in Child Pornography.  He was arraigned via video phone by JP Court #2 and is being held in lieu of $260,000 bail.
• On April 3 Stephen M. Parsons, age 25, was rearrested on rape and other charges stemming from an ongoing Child Predator Task Force investigation.  Parsons was originally arrested on March 21 on 25 counts of Dealing in Child Pornography as a result of a Task Force investigation into the distribution of child pornography.  The ongoing investigation revealed evidence that Parsons sexually abused a child under his care as well as pornographic images depicting that child.  As a result, Parsons was rearrested at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center, where he was being held on the March 21 charges, for the additional charges of Rape 1st Degree (3 counts); sexual abuse of a child by  a person in trust (1 count), continuous sexual abuse of a child (1 count), sexual exploitation of a child (4 counts), unlawful sexual contact with a person under 13 (5 counts).

“Those who collect and distribute child pornography are predators, and tragically our experience has demonstrated that the predators who possess these horrific images and videos all too often also commit physical crimes against kids,” Biden said.  “That’s why our Child Predator Task Force is hard at work every day acting to take these criminals off the streets and keep our kids safe.”

Booking images of Figura (top left), Tessier (top right), Carboni (bottom left), and Parsons (bottom right) is below.

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Proposal by Attorney General Biden, General Assembly’s Kids Caucus expands efforts to stop predators from hurting kids

DOVER –  Legislation that will strengthen law enforcement’s ability to stop sexual predators from hurting children won overwhelming approval Thursday in the state House of Representatives and now goes to the Senate for consideration.

House Bill 256 is sponsored by Rep. Debra Heffernan, D-Brandywine, and Sen. Harris McDowell, D-Wilmington, who are co-chairs of the General Assembly’s Kids Caucus. More than 20 other legislators have signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors.

The bill builds on the work done by the Child Predator Task Force over the past seven years to track down and arrest sexual predators. Since 2007, the task force’s work has led to the conviction of more than 180 predators and the rescue of 120 children who were being abused or being groomed for future victimization.

“The Child Predator Task Force put police and prosecutors side by side to identify and bring to justice the worst predators in society – those who want to hurt our children,” said Biden, who has also asked the legislature’s budget-writing committee to fund an additional prosecutor and investigator for the task force that he helped create shortly after taking office in 2007. “Protecting kids is my top priority and why I ran for Attorney General. This legislation will make kids safer by giving law enforcement more tools to take predators off the streets and put them where they can longer hurt children.”

The task force has increasingly focused on conducting undercover online investigations to finding predators lurking online looking to meet children. The legislation ensures that predators caught in these undercover investigations face appropriate charges and punishment.

With more and more young people using electronic devices to communicate with a broader audience, law enforcement need every tool possible to help keep our children safe and protect them from sexual predators,” said Rep. Heffernan, D-Brandywine Hundred South. “Gone are the days of just worrying when your child goes to the park or store. They can be solicited inside the home at any hour of the day. This bill will update our code to include all electronic devices and modes of communication that sexual predator could use to sexually solicit a child and makes sure that any predator caught faces the appropriate punishment.”

Specifically, the bill makes clear that a sexual predator is guilty of sexual solicitation of a child online whether the individual is soliciting an actual child or an undercover investigator whom the predator believes to be a child. The bill also elevates the offense from a Class C to a Class B felony in cases in which the predator actually travels to meet the individual he is soliciting online, whether the subject is a child or an undercover investigator.