Harris County District Attorney Kenneth Magidson recently presented a check for $50,000 to the Pasadena Independent School District Police Department for the Houston Metro Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

The Pasadena ISD Police Department was selected by the Department of Justice and its Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention to lead the ICAC program in February 2008 because of the department's history of successful investigation of internet crimes against children. The Houston Metro ICAC Task Force is composed of multiple police agencies within the Harris County area who work cooperatively to investigate child exploitation crimes.

The funds are being presented to aid the investigation and prosecution of persons involved in Child Exploitation Crimes through the use of the Internet. These discretionary funds are available from the Asset Forfeiture Division and are funds seized from criminal activity. In this way, money seized from criminals is being used to aid in the capture and prosecution of defendants.

According to records, the number of these crimes has increased significantly as the use of internet has increased. Since the inception of the task force in February, over 50 cases involving Internet crimes against children have been investigated and brought before the Harris County District Attorney for prosecution.

Pasadena ISD Police Lt. Matt Gray has led the efforts behind the many internet crime stings conducted by the department over the past year, in addition to performing various other duties for the department. The district is working with 59 other law enforcement agencies and the National Center for Exploited Children as they investigate those who prey on children using technology and the internet.

"When investigating online child predators, the one thing that I always keep in mind is that there is always a 'live' victim somewhere," Gray said. "We then use the information we have to capture their offender and take them offline and off the streets."