Child Porn Initiative Launches Today

Just hours ago we launched a national child porn initiative sure to be marked with the same commitment and vigor demonstrated in our decades-long crusade against clergy sex abuse. No child protection effort is complete without a focus on child pornography (in the U.S. alone there are more than 1 million child victims), and we now have the legal and technological capabilities to pursue great numbers of perpetrators nationwide.

The foundation of our initiative is built on Masha’s Law, a federal statute that gives children the right to sue anyone who produces, distributes, or possesses their pornographic images for damages of no less than $150,000 per download. Masha’s Law was enhanced by Congress in 2006 to encourage civil litigation. Last year, there were 85,000 reports of child pornography and Federal prosecutors were only able to prosecute about 1,400 cases. Masha’s Law will bridge that gap. We will bridge that gap.

Our initiative begins with a filing against Gregg Alan Larsen. Larsen is a former Special Education teacher at St. Paul Central HS who allegedly used a hidden camera to film children in the bathroom of his foster home. When authorities confiscated Larsen’s hard drives they found more than 100,000 images and videos of children engaged in sexual conduct.

What’s unique about the case filed against Larsen is that we named 100 defendants in addition to Larsen, all of whom downloaded child pornography from Larsen’s hard drives. The production and consumption of child pornography is rarely a solitary act. There are vast communities engaged in file sharing and every single person involved leaves a distinct electronic trail. Perpetrators have been using the power of the internet to exploit children and now we’re using that same power to detect, expose, and prosecute them. The message is simple: if you even dare to look, you will be caught.

Below is a Statement by Sgt. Bill Haider on the Child Porn Initiative

The Dark Path of Bro. Raimond Rose

By Patrick Noaker

Just how serious is the situation of Bro. Raimond Rose sexually molesting students? So far, 19 former students of Bro. Rose have reported that they have been sexually abused by Bro. Rose. These students go as far back as 1966 at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis, continuing to Cretin High School in St. Paul, then to the Dunrovin Retreat Center, Pacelli High School in Stevens Point Wisconsin, Shanley High School in Fargo North Dakota, DeLaSalle High School in Concord California and then to the Minnesota Department of Corrections Juvenile Detention Facility in Red Wing Minnesota.
Yesterday, I joined with another courageous former Shanley student in filing the 19th lawsuit involving Bro. Rose. In this case, in what has turned out to be foreshadowing of sorts, Bro. Rose took Shanley student Kevin Price to visit juvenile detention facilities in Western North Dakota. During these trips Bro. Rose sexually abused Kevin after getting him intoxicated. We now know that a few years later, after multiple reports of sexual abuse of students, the Christian Brothers allowed Bro. Rose to work in juvenile detention facilities where he sexually abused the kids there. It is difficult to believe that there wasn’t a very calculated and sinister aspect of Bro. Rose seeking work in juvenile detention facilities as far back as the late 1970’s when he visited some facilities with Kevin Price. This is a very dark path for a very dark perpetrator working for a very dark religious order. Will Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and California ever recover from the wide swath cut by Bro. Rose and the Christian Brothers? How many more were sexually abused who have not come forward? What can these communities do to recover from the widespread sexual abuse of their children?


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