In a recent FBI operation, agents shut off a Web site that had nearly 36,000 names of people who had purchased child porn. National statistics show 40 percent of people who possess child porn have already, or will eventually, molest children, Ross said. That means that with the Web site shutdown, there were potentially more than 14,000 child victims, he said.

Pedophiles can either stand in front of school yards where they'll likely be chased away or arrested within minutes, or they can mingle anonymously among the throngs of juveniles on Internet chat-room sites at any given time. Pedophiles will surf myspace.com pages looking for someone who matches the type of fantasy they're after, Ross said.

According to a survey in 2000, 1 in 5 juveniles who used the Internet regularly received a sexual solicitation, Ross said. And he believes that number is even worse today.

Although media attention regarding computer pedophiles over the past four years has made parents more aware, it has also made the pedophiles more cautious about what they do, thus making them a little more difficult to catch, Ross said.

That's why he strongly encouraged parents to take proactive steps such as:

• Don't allow children to have unsupervised access to the Internet, such as in their room.

• Periodically observe their activity without warning.

• Go online and learn about the chat rooms children are using.

Ross said parents should know such computer lingo as "ASL?" a common opening question pedophiles ask online. It means a person is asking for another's age, sex and location. The more aggressive pedophiles will then follow up that question with ones such as, "Are you a virgin?" Ross said.

Juveniles are encouraged to protect themselves by not posting personal information on the Internet such as cell phone numbers or even the state where they live.

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E-mail: preavy@desnews.com