BEDFORD COUNTY, Va. – 10 News is digging deeper into what led to the arrest of a Roanoke City teacher charged with possession of child pornography.
The tip came from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). Commander Stephen Anders leads the Southern Virginia division.
The agency stays busy, with tips coming in constantly. Large platforms like Google, Snapchat, Verizon and others are mandated to report potential child exploitation material they come across.
“A lot of them are proactive on their own, and as they find these suspected cases, they forward them to the National Center which then pushes them out to one of the 61 ICACs in the U.S.” Anders said.
He said last year, Southern Virginia received 10,500 reports from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, 2,000 tips from citizens or local agencies.
They held 350-400 proactive investigations, where officers went out looking for predators.
In 2023, this work led to around 236 arrests.
“There’s more work than we can get to,” Anders said. “There’s obviously more offenders out there than the 236 that we were able to arrest.”
Anders said investigations can take a mental toll on his team.
“It’s very rewarding, and it’s work that needs to be done but it definitely can take a toll on the investigators,” Anders said.
Over the past year, the task force launched a state-wide mental wellness program so that their investigators can access counselors to help them deal with traumatic cases.
If you have a tip, investigators ask you to contact them at report.cybertip.org.