County to expand team investigating child exploitation

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously this week to expand the county’s Child Exploitation Team, which investigates reported cases of the exploitation of children.

The board’s action approved an additional $962,062 to fund an additional Supervising District Attorney Investigator, two additional senior DA Investigators, and an additional DA Computer Forensic Examiner, according to a news release.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, tips coming into the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children increased 110 percent, from 1,245 in 2019 to 2,692 in 2020, the release stated. The dramatic rise in predators looking for victims online prompted the board’s decision.

“We must do everything possible to stop the horrific rise in the exploitation and victimization of our children,” said DA Chief of Investigators Joe DelGiudice. “The funding provided by the Board of Supervisors, made possible by Supervisor Karen Spiegel’s leadership, will give us the resources needed to combat this trend.”

Spiegel was also outspoken in her support of the board’s action.

“The expansion of the Riverside County Child Exploitation Team is a critical step in providing additional layers of protection for our children,” Spiegel said. “We need to stop the electronic exploitation of our youth which has been deeply exacerbated by the intensive use of online learning, digital gaming, social media, and daily virtual activities which are frequently un-supervised.”

The RCCET has identified or rescued 23 previously unreported minor victims since its creation in June 2020. One type of predator the team focuses on is the “traveler” – a predator who contacts victims online, then sets up a time and location to meet the child for sexual activity. Investigators take on the persona of an underage person in order to arrest the predator upon contact.

In 2020, RCCET investigators arrested 13 “travelers”.