Madison County Sheriff's Office Issues Response To Handling Of Child Exploitation Cases From Internet Vigilante Groups

EDWARDSVILLE - The Madison County Sheriff's Office issued this release on Thursday afternoon about what it described: "some concerning and inaccurate social media posts about our response(s) and handling of child exploitation cases from internet vigilante groups."

"First and foremost, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office is committed to keeping our children safe and thoroughly investigating complaints of child exploration. In addition, we often take proactive approaches during these investigations. In recent years, we received cases from these groups. Due to evidence and legal issues, they were not suitable for prosecution upon consulting with prosecutors.

"On July 29th, 2020, around 5:30 p.m., a vigilante group contacted the Madison County Sheriff’s Office and we explained the legal liability and referred them to the proper jurisdiction to handle the matter which was within the city limits of another jurisdiction. The Madison County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed with this jurisdiction that the internet vigilante group never contacted the proper authority in the matter or provided any advanced notification.

"While the Madison County Sheriff’s Office understands the overall goal of these groups, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office strongly discourages citizens from engaging in vigilante activities. These stings can be dangerous and endangers safety of the citizens in the vicinity when the group makes contact with the offender(s). There is an extreme inherent risk of injury and civil liability to the groups should they develop a potential offender and unlawful detention issues. Thus, it is imperative to notify law enforcement on the onset of the case, not minutes before they meet with the offender. Vigilante actions risk interrupting an ongoing authorized investigation because they don’t de-conflict with law enforcement agencies. This results in dangerous criminals walking free. It appears their overall goal is to exploit the suspect and not prosecute the individual.

"The Madison County Sheriff’s Office has two deputies primarily dedicated to a Digital Forensic and Cyber Crime Unit. The deputies are members of the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the United States Secret Service Central and Southern Illinois Financial and Cyber Crimes Task Force. These groups and cases have recently been involved in large operation stings during joint investigations. Since the inception of the Cyber Crime Unit, it has initiated or been the primary investigating authority in hundreds of cases around the region. Locally, the unit has arrested of over seventy offenders for child exploitation cases within the jurisdiction of the Sheriff’s Office. The Unit has rescued numerous children from the hands of their abusers.

"We encourage the community, witnesses, and victim(s) to have the courage and come forth to report any activity them deem suspicious if a child is at risk of sexual or physical abuse."

- Madison County Sheriff's Office Capt. David Vucich, Chief of Investigations.

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