Brian Leads Fight Against Child Predators
Today Brian announced a new initiative to combat child predators: “Alicia’s Law.” From the press release:
Delegate Brian Moran (D-Alexandria) was joined by Alicia and Mary Kozakiewicz, Bedford Sheriff Mike Brown and the National Association to Protect Children to announce “Alicia’s Law” (HB1189) named after Alicia Kozakiewicz – the 13 year old girl who was abducted by an internet predator, held hostage, and tortured in his Virginia basement. “Alicia’s Law” will create a strong statewide network of highly trained law enforcement to track down and arrest child sex predators. Delegate Beverley Sherwood (R-Winchester) is chief co-patron of the initiative.
“Child Sex predators not only invade our homes and our lives, they trample on our most important and basic virtue – the innocence of our children. We can and must take aggressive steps to crack down on these predators,” said Delegate Moran. “As the father of two young children, I know parents no longer only worry about an intruder breaking into their home, or a prowler on the street, they have to worry about the predator who logs into their home every night.” Approximately one in five children who use the Internet regularly received a sexual solicitation online in the last year.
The Washington Post reported on the initiative:
Alicia Kozakiewicz was 13 when she was abducted and assaulted in a Herndon basement by a man she met online. Four days after her disappearance, a team of law enforcement officers who specialize in cybercrime tracked her down.
Kozakiewicz, now 19, will be in Richmond on Wednesday for the presentation of a proposal, called Alicia's Law, that would provide state money to a pair of law enforcement task forces, including one in Northern Virginia, that target online criminals who are involved in pornography and lure children into one-on-one meetings.
"A child is worth it,'' Kozakiewicz said in an interview from her home in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. "You can't put a price on a child."
Dels. Brian J. Moran (D-Alexandria) and Beverly J. Sherwood (R-Frederick) will announce the proposal, which includes setting aside $18 million in the next two-year budget to combat online crimes against children.
Moran and Sherwood, along with Kozakiewicz and experts from across the state, will announce the proposal at a news conference Wednesday morning. Later, Kozakiewicz will meet with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D).
About one in every five children who used the Internet regularly received a sexual solicitation in the past year, according to a study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Experts from the Justice Department and the FBI testified recently before Congress that child exploitation continues to grow rapidly.
Virginia is facing a $600 million budget shortfall this year, and an economic downturn is expected to make the next two-year budget tight. Some House Republican leaders have expressed skepticism about funding any new programs, but this proposal has the backing of Sherwood, who heads the subcommittee on public safety appropriations.
