In Depth: How the FBI tracks and arrests anonymous predators

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - The FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Program works with federal, state, local, tribal, and international law enforcement to fight the sexual exploitation of children.

A total of 98 units work across the United States to fight those crimes, according to Special Agent for Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force Torrence White.

The program’s mission is to counter all threats of abuse and exploitation to children; identify, locate and recover child victims; and strengthen relationships with other law enforcement agencies to identify, investigate and deter individuals and criminal networks exploiting children.

Agents in the program investigate child abductions, contact offenses against children, sexual exploitation of children, trafficking of child sexual abuse material and international parental kidnapping.

More than ever, the crimes these units fight happen on the dark web. Federal agents study these websites, photos and videos of child pornography and come face to face with the people who think the material is normal. Many times, these agents put themselves in the shoes of child predators to catch them.

“When you have a conversation going with an individual who’s basically negotiating sex acts for his eight-month-old daughter, I can’t do it. I personally couldn’t do it, and I think it does take a toll on them,” said private investigator Donnie Manry, who spent two and a half decades in law enforcement before entering private practice.

What agents are exposed to in the program is harrowing. Because of that, it’s the only program in the FBI where agents can request to be removed from their assignment if it becomes too much.

“This is one of the only violations in the FBI that folks can raise their hand and say hey, I don’t want to do that anymore. Just because the toll it does take,” said White.

“It is extremely tough. The people that take on those positions they’re fulfilled knowing that they’re getting that pervert or whatever off the street,” said Manry. “And so they’re able to use that to help them get through that stuff.”

The assignment asks a lot of the agents on the team, from getting in the mind of a predator to working with victims, and everything in between.

“They really set themselves apart because one day they may be consulting or comforting of victim the next day they might be serving a search warrant in a house. So it takes a person that can balance their emotions and put on different hats to really address this crime,” said White.

“We live in this. For the majority of the people in this field, if not all, it’s a call to serve and to make the community better and to improve the community,” said Supervisory Special Agent Charles Wilkes from the FBI’s Bryan-College Station office.

It’s a toll the agents on the task force are willing to take, because at the end of the day, the stakes are too high to back down.

“We all have an equally committed interest in protecting children, right? It’s the future of our country and if we can stop children from being victimized they don’t have to carry that baggage with them and it sets them on a better path in adulthood,” said Wilkes.