Utah Internet Investigators Receive "Child Defender" Award

September 7, 2007 -- The men and women who prowl the Internet to make it safe for Utah children are being recognized for their efforts. The National Law Center for Children and Families is giving the “Child Defender” Award to the Utah Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

“The work being done by the Utah ICAC Task Force to bring sexual predators to justice is very aggressive and very impressive,” says Richard Whidden, executive director for the National Law Center. “Law enforcement rarely gets the credit they deserve and it is an honor to recognize these dedicated public servants for protecting children.”

The award recognizes the Utah ICAC Task Force for having the highest rate of Internet predator arrests per capita in the nation. The task force had 61 arrests in 2005, 72 arrests in 206 and 46 arrests at the end of July of this year.

“This award is a great honor but the real satisfaction comes from knowing that sexual predators are being stopped and children are being spared from their enticements,” says Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

The Attorney General says two recent convictions from the task force show that the threat to children on the Internet is very real:

* Larry Lyle Buhler was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison for downloading and sharing child pornography. The 55-year-old had numerous videos on his computer of girls who were approximately 11-years-old having sex with an adult male. Buhler was convicted 20 years earlier for sexually abusing a child.

* Richard Glen Almy was sentenced to one to 15 years for enticing a minor over the Internet. The 44-year-old made arrangements to have sexual relations with an undercover agent who was posing as an underage girl. Almy walked four miles in cold weather to meet the girl when he was arrested.

“Utah’s task force is small but it packs a lot of punch,” says Ken Wallentine, Director of Law Enforcement for the Attorney General’s Office. “This award from the National Law Center means a lot because the center has also done a lot to protect children.”

The National Law Center for Children and Families (NLC) is a non-profit law center formed in 1991 and has since served as an agent of change and education in the areas of child sexual exploitation. The NLC trained Utah law enforcement officers and prosecutors on child sexual laws last September in Salt Lake City as part of its NLC PROTECTS seminar series, which has trained more than 600 law enforcement professionals in the last year.

The Utah Attorney General's Office oversees the Utah ICAC Task Force which includes investigators from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Utah Department of Public Safety, Utah Department of Corrections, Salt Lake City Police Department, Murray Police Department, West Jordan Police Department and the West Valley City Police Department. The task force is also affiliated with the U.S. Attorneys Office, Salt Lake City; Ada County Sheriff's Office, Idaho; Billings Police Department, Montana; Cache County Sheriff's Office, Duchesne County Sheriff's Office, Utah County Sheriff's Office and the Weber County Sheriff's Office.

See jail booking photos of Buhler and Almy posted below. For more information about the Utah ICAC Task Force and Internet safety tips, please visit http://www.attorneygeneral.utah.gov/ICAC/icacmain.htm. More information on the NLC can be found at www.nationallawcenter.org

Source: Utah Attorney General's Office

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