As a retired 2nd Grade Detective from the NYPD, I’ve seen firsthand the dark realities of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and trafficking. My career—spanning over 200 CSAM and trafficking investigations and working alongside some of the best detectives and special agents in the world—has taught me that fighting this type of crime requires a unique blend of street smarts, technical know-how, and relentless determination.
Today, the battleground has shifted. The dark web, cryptocurrency, and global criminal networks demand that law enforcement adapt fast and stay sharp.
When we execute a search warrant, it’s no longer just about grabbing computers and hard drives. We have to look for clues that might seem meaningless at first—like a scribbled TOR address on a piece of paper near a suspect’s laptop. That’s exactly what happened after the arrest of JS. He came to meet me for nefarious purposes, thinking I was a 14-year-old boy. That one TOR address we found near his computer, in his apartment, opened up a global trafficking ring, leading us to sites where the worst crimes imaginable are advertised in exchange for cryptocurrency.
If you don’t know what a TOR address is, or why cryptocurrency matters, you could miss a lead that saves a child’s life. These small details are crucial—they're the breadcrumbs that can unravel entire criminal networks and also show the importance of getting the right training when you're in law enforcement.
Many people think cryptocurrency is untraceable. It’s not. Every transaction leaves a mark on the blockchain—a permanent, public ledger. When I sent a small amount of cryptocurrency to a trafficker in Southeast Asia who was advertising girls aged 4 to 12 on the dark web—from that very link found during the search—I knew that transaction would eventually lead us to the person behind the screen and hopefully help us find the 10 year old victim he was trying to sell to me.
Blockchain analytics allowed us to follow the money, issue subpoenas, identify the trafficker and pedophiles that were sending cryptocurrency to the trafficker to buy young girls. We worked with federal agencies and NGOs in Southeast Asia who located and arrested the mother of the victim—she was pimping out her own daughter with the trafficker. That led to the rescue of a 10-year-old girl overseas, a 13-year-old victim in the U.S., and the identification of a U.S.-based buyer who had also sent cryptocurrency to the same trafficker. Those efforts resulted in multiple arrests, multiple rescues, and a 55-year sentence for the U.S. predator—someone who would’ve continued hurting children and never been caught if not for blockchain analytics.
Every arrest, every interview, and every seized device can open up a dozen more cases. The JS arrest led me to take over his online identity. By chatting with other predators as JS, I was able to lure in another offender, SM, who believed I was JS and that he’d be babysitting JS’s 2-year-old nephew. He showed up thinking he was going to videotape the assault of a toddler.
That’s why it’s critical to interview suspects thoroughly and, when possible, take over their accounts or identities. You can't just close the book after one arrest—the next predator is already connected to your arrestee and waiting to get caught.
You can’t sit back and wait for these cases to land on your desk. Law enforcement has to be proactive—monitoring the dark web, conducting cryptocurrency investigations, running undercover operations, and using every tool available. International cooperation is essential. In the case of the Southeast Asian trafficker, we coordinated with HSI, the FBI, and local authorities.
The mission is always the same: rescue the kids and put the predators away. In that case, it was blockchain analytics, coordination, and relentless follow-up that led to the rescue of a 13-year-old in Jacksonville, the arrest of a U.S. resident working at a major company, and the takedown of a global trafficking network. Every chat log, piece of evidence, and crypto transaction could be the key to saving a child.
This work isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s technical, it’s emotional, and it never stops. But if law enforcement doesn’t keep up—by learning to spot TOR addresses, understanding how crypto works and how to spot crypto artifacts while also conducting solid interviews—we risk letting monsters slip through the cracks.
And the sad truth is, finding these cases isn’t difficult. The predators are out there, hiding in plain sight. Children are being victimized every day, and the majority of law enforcement agencies aren’t proactively working these cases. That has to change. It’s time for departments to prioritize this work—and get their officers, detectives, and special agents trained and ready to make a difference.