Internet task force gets $200K donation

The state's undercover efforts to protect children from online predators got a $200,000 boost Monday.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff accepted the second part of a $250,000 donation from Operation Kids President Rick Larsen and chairman Dennis Webb.

"We already know how this money will be used, seeing what they did with the first installment," Larsen said.

The attorney general's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force used the first $50,000 from Operation Kids to launch two statewide sweeps in 2009: Operation March Madness and Operation April Fools.

"You can imagine what our officers will be able to do with this additional money," Shurtleff said.

The two earlier operations alone nabbed 33 individuals accused of preying on minors online, according to Shurtleff's office. More are planned in the coming months.

But the arrests keep piling up, even without concerted sweeps.

On Oct. 6, police in Layton arrested a West Valley police officer who allegedly arrived for a prearranged sexual rendezvous with someone he believed was a 15-year-old boy. In fact, Douglas L. Paulsen, 41, had been communicating for nearly a month with a Layton police detective attached to the ICAC task force, investigators said.

Paulsen, a 19-year veteran of the department assigned to Hunter High School for the past few years as a school resource officer, resigned from the force following his arrest. He has been charged with six counts of dealing in material harmful to a minor, a third-degree felony, and one count of enticing a minor over the Internet, a class A misdemeanor.

Shurtleff, who did not address Paulsen's case, said it's important for the public to understand that the number of online predators has not diminished.

"Despite the fact that these guys know these officers are online, they're still willing to risk capture because they're so highly motivated to hurt a kid," Shurtleff said. "Every parent needs to be horrified by that, as far as the educational aspect of protecting their kids online."

Ken Wallentine, director of law enforcement for the attorney general's office, said Utah has the highest rate for arrests, charges and convictions of online predators in the nation. He said every arrest made by ICAC agents prevents an estimated seven to 12 children from becoming future victims.

"The reality is that without this rubber-hits-the-road donation from good corporate citizens and people in our state, there would be manifold children in our state who would not be protected, who would be victims," Wallentine said.

Internet safety tips and more information about the Utah ICAC Task Force can be found at www.attorneygeneral.utah.gov/internet_safety.html.

e-mail: gliesik@desnews.com. Twitter: GeoffLiesik