DENVER (Lawfuel) – Troy A. Eid, United States Attorney for the District of Colorado, today announced that Colorado has been awarded a new position to prosecute child exploitation crimes. The position was awarded to the District of Colorado in part because of the fourfold increase in the prosecution of sexual predators by the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s Office in the past 18 months.
United States Attorney Troy Eid said that the office will be undertaking a national search for the best candidate to assume these new responsibilities.
The Department of Justice awarded 40 new prosecutor positions nationally on a competitive basis out of 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative. Colorado was selected to receive one of the 40 new positions.
“The Department of Justice has honored Colorado’s law enforcement community by awarding this new position,” United States Attorney Troy Eid said. “The Project Safe Childhood initiative has been aided by numerous local, state, tribal and federal investigative agencies.”
Project Safe Childhood cases are investigated by the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force based in Colorado Springs, and the FBI’s Innocent Images Project in Denver. In addition, cases are investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, as well as the U.S. Marshal’s Service, which apprehends offenders who fail to register. Prosecutions are also aided by local and state law enforcement partners, including the Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s Department of Justice and Regulatory Affairs.
The new position was awarded to support the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood (PSC) initiative. In February 2006, the Department of Justice launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorney’s Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
The District of Colorado’s PSC initiative is being coordinated by Assistant U.S. Attorney Roxane Perruso. It is being overseen by Special Prosecutions Section Chief Philip Brimmer.
