I-Team

Bush Expected To Sign Protect Our Children Act

MIAMI (CBS4) ― President Bush is expected to sign brand new legislation designed to keep internet sex predators away from kids.

The law was created after a 14-year-old girl was abducted and held as a sex slave, by a man she met online. CBS4 I-team investigator Laurie Stein brought you her exclusive story, and now she has details on the new law.

The "Protect Our Children" Act will create the largest law enforcement army, ever, to combat online child pornography adding $300 million over 5 years for new crime labs and investigators devoted to internet sex crimes. The bills co-sponsor is Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz.

"What we know Laurie is that if you have the resources and you investigate these cases we can rescue the child victim in about thirty percent of the cases. That's going to be hundreds and hundreds of kids. It's so important," said Wasserman-Schultz.

One of the strongest reasons the bill gained so much support is because of a young woman named Alicia Kosekevitch. At 13, she was abducted and raped by a man she thought was her online friend. She was held for four days before an online tip led to her rescue.

She spoke to CBS4 in her first television interview last year.

According to Wasserman-Schultz, "Alicia's recent testimony to support the new law moved seasoned politicians to tears but while the bill sailed through the house, it stalled terribly in the Senate."

With extra publicity from a recent appearance on Oprah the bill has finally passed the Senate and is expected to be signed into law next week.

"I have three kids as you know and nothing is more important than government protecting children because they can't protect themselves," added Wasserman-Schultz.

The FBI estimates there are 500,000 individuals now trafficking in child pornography on the internet. But it's estimated the Department of Justice is only going after 2 pecent of those cases. With the new law, the prosecution and conviction rate is expected to rise dramatically.

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