ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. — Two detectives sit inside the Isle of Wight's 'Digital Forensics Unit' around the clock, looking for child predators.
There, Captain Tommy Potter with Isle of Wight County Sheriff's Office said investigators enter chat rooms and search for adults who try to pose as teenagers and entice minors to give them child pornography.
"We've recently some cases here in the County, where individuals will try to befriend minors for upwards of two to three weeks before making their move," said Potter. "It just grows from there, which each request becoming more egregious."
Within 48 hours, law enforcement announced the arrest of several people accused of sexually exploiting children all across Hampton Roads.
In Virginia Beach, Norfolk's FBI arrested 51-year-old Kevin Javon Taylor who admitted to downloading thousands of pictures and videos of child porn. Detectives said this includes three physical binders that were filled with images of printed child pornography.
In Franklin, law enforcement charged 52-year-old Christopher Merner of Kitchener, Ontario, for sending and asking for sexually explicit images to a 14-year-old Franklin girl.
Just hours before the arrest in Franklin, Tommy Potter announced the arrest of 38-year-old Aric Charles Hutson for recording a minor.
"Our investigators got involved they worked with the family that was involved with this and at the end of the day a covert recording device was recovered," said Potter. "We found it had been secretly recording an individual."
Amid all of these arrests, Governor Glenn Youngkin signed several Senate and House bills into law to tighten loopholes for convicted child predators.
This includes criminalizing people who download child porn images that are generated by artificial intelligence.
“As a father of four children, I know that protecting our children is a parent’s highest priority," said Governor Glenn Youngkin. "By signing these pieces of legislation today we continue to make progress to ensure the safety and well-being of our children."
According to the FBI, investigators saw at least a 20% increase in reporting of financially motivated sextortion incidents involving minor victims compared to the same time period the previous year.
Detectives believe the number is much higher, as this figure only shows crimes reported to the FBI.
“Investigating crimes against children is one of the most egregious violations the FBI works," said a spokeswoman with Norfolk FBI Field Office. "The FBI will continue to utilize our resources to catch both hands-on offenders, as well as stop those sharing harmful images of children online.”
Investigators said to alert law enforcement if there is any belief that a child may be sexually exploited online.