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Prepared remarks of Attorney General John Ashcroft
FBI Press Conference, March 18, 2002

"Operation Candyman" Press Release follows

[FBI Executive Assistant Director Bruce Gebhardt announced Operation Candyman and then introduced the Attorney General.]

Good afternoon. Thank you Bruce. I am pleased to be able to be with you today, and to be able to commend everyone who has worked to make Operation Candyman a success since it began in January of 2001.

The work of the nation's law enforcement officers to make America's children safe now extends well beyond the physical world into the electronic universe of cyberspace. Many Americans use the internet, and the internet's e-mail groups, as productive forums where like-minded individuals can stay informed of current events as well as discuss things such as sports, travel destinations, occupational news, or their favorite TV shows.

Unfortunately, some in this country have used the internet to exploit America's young people by creating e-mail groups to promote and trade pictures of children being sexually exploited, and abused. It is clear that a new marketplace for child pornography has emerged in the dark corners of cyberspace. There, in e-groups hidden in the vastness of the internet, innocent boys and girls have been targeted by offenders who view them as sexual objects. These offenders have tried to use the technology and anonymity of the internet to trade child pornography, and they must be stopped. Today, I'm pleased to thank everyone who has been working to do just that.

Operation Candyman demonstrates both the scope of the problem of child pornography in this country, and the commitment of our nation's law enforcement efforts to shut it down. In the past 14 months, all 56 national FBI field offices investigated hundreds of individuals who were subscribers of "The Candyman" e-group. These individuals are spread across the country, and some hold positions of trust by parents such as bus drivers, teachers, or other educational roles. Operation Candyman is working to protect America's youth from those who would exploit the trust of children and parents.

When we pursue child pornography, the path often leads to evidence of real sexual predators who have abused real children. For example, in the days leading up to today's national arrest operation, the FBI has charged 86 people on child pornography grounds - and 27 members of the Candyman e-group have been arrested who have admitted to molesting 36 children.

The FBI's efforts to initiate and lead Operation Candyman are not just appreciated by me - they are appreciated by every American parent. In particular I would like to thank Bruce Gebhardt, the FBI's Executive Assistant Director, for his leadership and dedication to this effort, the Crimes Against Children unit, and the FBI's Houston field office that worked to shut down the Candyman egroup, and other cybergroups, after their discovery. They also worked to coordinate the resulting field investigations. I should note that this operation is just one part of the FBI's Innocent Images National Initiative to investigate child pornography and individuals who travel to commit sexual offenses against children.

I also commend our U.S. Attorney's offices as well as the state and local law enforcement officers who assisted the FBI in their year-long investigation and with today's national arrest operation. In particular, the Houston U.S. Attorney's office worked alongside the FBI's Houston office throughout the entire operation.

Also, the Child Exploitation Section of the Justice Department's Criminal Division played a role in coordinating and assisting the efforts of the U.S. Attorney's offices nationwide to investigate and prosecute the offenders that have been identified over the past 14 months. I thank them for their work to make this operation possible.

Indeed, the protection of our nation's children is a responsibility that we all share, and the coordination and cooperation that has been demonstrated by Operation Candyman is essential to its success. As many of you know, the Department of Justice has long been working to build a national network of state and local law enforcement agencies to respond to child pornography and cyber-enticement offenses through initiatives such as the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline that encourage citizens to report suspicious online activity to law enforcement.

Today's announcement emphasizes the resolve of the FBI, the nation's U.S. Attorneys, and the Department of Justice to make sure that the information highway does not become a free-fire zone to target children. There will be no free-rides on the internet for traffickers of child pornography. Today I'd like to warn those who illegally prey on America's innocence: all levels of our nation's law enforcement will work together to use every resource available to identify, investigate and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law.

By investigating, prosecuting, and preventing child pornography, we are working to protect America's children and prevent future kids from becoming victims.

I'd like to thank everyone again for your work on this very important issue.

For Immediate ReleaseMarch 18, 2002
Washington D.C.FBI National Press Office
Operation Candyman

The FBI today announced that more than 89 persons in over 20 states have been charged in the first phase of a nationwide crackdown on the proliferation of child pornography via the Internet. During the course of this investigative initiative, known as ““Operation Candyman,”” over 266 searches have been conducted, with more searches anticipated. To date, 27 persons have been arrested and admitted to the prior molestation of over 36 children. More arrests are anticipated during the week and in coming months. Individuals identified as subjects in ““Operation Candyman”” include Little League coaches, a teacher’’s aide, a guidance counselor, school bus driver, foster care parent and professionals in the medical, educational, military and law enforcement fields.

““Operation Candyman demonstrates our commitment to protecting our nation’’schildren from sexual predators. The FBI’’s investigation has already resulted in the arrests of many individuals who have targeted children as their victims. This extensive operation should serve as a warning to others that we will find and prosecute those who target and endanger our children,”” Attorney General John Ashcroft said.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said, ““The FBI will diligently pursue and arrest those individuals who exploit our children by distributing, producing and exchanging child pornographic images.””

““Operation Candyman”” should serve as an example that the FBI will not tolerate the collectors and distributors of child pornography who continue to exploit our children,”” Mueller said. ““We will diligently shut down any and all websites, Egroups, bulletin boards, and any other mediums that will foster the continued exploitation of our children.””

Egroups, maintained by Yahoo, allow individuals to correspond with like-minded persons via email, chat, bulletin boards, and file transfers. ““Operation Candyman,”” named after its Egroup Uniform Resource Locator, (URL), www.egroups.com/groups/thecandyman was a year-long undercover operation conducted by the FBI’’s Houston Child Exploitation Task Force and the United States Attorney’’s Office, Southern District of Texas. The task force is comprised of select investigators from the FBI and the Houston Police Department. The Candyman Egroup allowed collectors and distributors of child pornography to use online resources to retrieve and distribute child pornography.

All 56 FBI field offices, nearly every U.S. Attorney’’s Office across the country, and the Department of Justice’’s Criminal Division, through its Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section, have participated extensively in this investigation in an effort to identify members of the Candyman Egroup, and will continue an aggressive investigation until all identified perpetrators have been successfully arrested and prosecuted. In addition to the Candyman Egroup, the FBI has initiated investigations into other Egroups that facilitated the distribution, production and exchange of child pornography. It is estimated there were over 7,000 members of the Candyman Egroup, with some 2,400 residing in foreign countries.

Executive Assistant Director Bruce J. Gebhardt, Criminal Investigative Division, said FBI field offices carried out ““Operation Candyman ”” in concert with local and state law enforcement agencies around the country. ““Without the continued support of local and state law enforcement, it would be difficult for the FBI to combat such an enormous tasking of this magnitude,”” Gebhardt said.

To combat the proliferation of online child sexual exploitation, the FBI established a nationwide initiative code named ““Innocent Images.”” The Innocent Images initiative is composed of 23 task forces in 56 FBI field offices around the country, their sole investigative purpose is to investigate and eradicate online sexual exploitation of children and the production and distribution of child pornography.

Since their inception in 1995, Innocent Images task forces have initiated over 5,700 investigations and have arrested and convicted over 3,000 persons. The task forces are made up of FBI, state and local law enforcement, United States Attorneys, and other federal and state agencies. At FBI Headquarters, Criminal Investigative Division, Crimes Against Children Unit, coordinated ““Operation Candyman.””