It’s been a busy year for the local Cyber Crimes Task Force, which could be seen as good and bad.
The good: Dickson County Sheriff’s Office detectives Lt. Scott Levassure and John Patterson, both members of the task force, have uncovered a number of Internet crimes against children and other cyber crimes through the local forensic lab.
The bad: That these crimes, described as “horrible” by Dickson County Sheriff Tom Wall, continue to happen.
“The nature of some of these crimes against our youngest children is a horrible thing to work on day in and day out.” Wall said. “Catching the people responsible for praying on our children is our top priority.”
The forensic lab was established in 2006 through a joint agreement between the sheriff’s office and District Attorney General Dan Alsobrooks.
“Most of our equipment has come through grant money received from Tennessee Homeland Security,” Wall said.
Investigations also include all computer and mobile data crime, including identify theft. Both Officers are certified forensic computer examiners and members of the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force.
“Several of our investigations have turned up child pornography, which is the more serious crimes we investigate,” Wall said. “This past year we have also done work for the TBI and all of the counties in our Homeland Security District Seven.”
He said there were 17 arrests made on child offenders.
In addition, there were 10 arrests with help from the lab collecting evidence other than child pornography; 90 devices forensically examined, including hundreds of DVDs; 70 audio video jobs; 17 tech assists; 48 subpoenas and search warrants written and executed; nine proactive Internet crimes against children cases; and 18 cyber crime cases.
“I want to thank both of my detectives for the job they are doing,” Wall said. “If you’re thinking about using your computer to commit crimes in Dickson County you need to think again because it’s just a matter of time until we knock on your door.”
