Technology

DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ― The number of cases involving child pornography and child predators is rising in North Texas.

The U.S. Attorney's Office is not only prosecuting these cases, but now training educators how to help children protect themselves from online predators.

Darlene Ellison says she received a rude awakening three years ago. "When it comes to protecting our kids, I thought I was protecting them," she said. "I wasn't doing enough."

Her ex-husband, Phillip Todd Calvin was arrested after being caught in an undercover FBI child pornography sting. Calvin was known as the singing dentist in the Lakewood Neighborhood of Dallas.

"He was traveling to Mexico to engage in sex with minor boys," Ellison said. "I was stunned, humiliated, shocked."

Ellison says she regularly warned her children about strangers. "Never imagining in a million years that that somebody was very well educated; he was a dentist, very community oriented, a super volunteer, and he was living in our home."

Three years later, Ellison worries about her children going online. She has strict rules. "We don't do MySpace," she said. "We don't do FaceBook."

Experts say one wrong click can help sex predators easily track youngsters down.

Now, the U.S. Attorney's Office is training educators from across North Texas to teach students to protect themselves. Federal Prosecutor Alex Lewis is among those conducting seminars.

"Don't ever post personal information. Don't ever post pictures ever. It is on the internet for all time," he said.

One in five children is sexually solicited on the internet. A new study by the Bureau of Prisons shows child sex predators often begin online.

The government found 85 percent of convicted internet sex offenders said they had sexually abused children.

Just last week, a Lake Worth firefighter was arrested after police say they caught him soliciting someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex. Earlier this year, a Plano pastor was arrested in a similar sting.

Richard Roper, The U.S. Attorney in the northern district of Texas, says the seminars they're conducting are vitally important to helping educators get the word out.

"The schools are still ramping up and that's why we want to become involved to help push out some cutting edge training to get a handle on this," said Roper.

Prosecutors spread the message to children and their parents at a recent Texas Ranger's game.

Anne Ferguson of the Children's Advocacy Center in Dallas says her agency serves 2,200 sexually abused children each year. Some of those cases began on the internet.

"They're going where their kids are and where their parents aren't and that's the internet," said Ferguson.

She says children are vulnerable no matter where they live. It's the web address that's crucial.

"Even if you live in a gated community, with an alarm system, a child alone in a room with a computer and the internet is just as vulnerable as a child living in a least safe community," she said.

That's why Ellison tells community groups about her ex-husband and warns them about predators on and offline.

"I'm no different than them - than you," she said. "If this could happen in our world, where we live and our lifestyle, and right under our noses, without anyone knowing it - including me - it can happen to anybody."

Ellison has since re-married, and she says she and her children are thriving. 


HELPFUL SITES WITH TIPS ON PROTECTING YOUR CHILDREN
 NetSmartz.org
 Cyber Tipline
 MySpace Privacy Options
 Facebook Privacy Options
 Using Facebook Safely
 Test Your Knowledge about Identity Theft
 An Interactive Look At The Wiring Of Teen America  
 More Tips On Social Networking Safety 

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