WEBVTT - Avaya | Ashley's Story 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.760 Topics featured in this episode may be disturbing to some listeners. 0:00:04.440 --> 0:00:06.240 Please take care while listening. 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:15.240 He treated me so poorly, me and my mother unfair 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:16.800 and it's rude and I don't want. 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:18.840 That. 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:22.880 Ever, I'm asking for you to send. 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:41.560 I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal Episode four. 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:42.800 Aveya. 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.120 On our last episode, you heard the sentencing hearing for 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.479 Jason Linton. He pled guilty to one count of sexual 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:55.400 exploitation of a minor and two counts of voyeurism. His 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:57.680 stepdaughter of Aya, made a plead to the judge to 0:00:57.680 --> 0:01:01.800 send him to prison. Would Jason go to jail or 0:01:01.840 --> 0:01:05.920 be set free? That decision was in the hands of 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:06.679 Judge Mettler. 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:12.160 Okay, thank you everyone for your input the thinking about 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.120 this for a while. This is a tough one and 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:18.679 that court makes decisions concerning sentencing. The court really is 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:19.800 balancing ways in. 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:22.520 Which the victim can be made whole, which, frankly, it's 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.360 pretty unusual when the victim can truly be made whole. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.520 Rehabilitating that the bennet is an important factor. And then 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:29.400 of course punish. 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.480 Chop. Pronography is a horrible thing, and a victimizes so 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.280 many young girls on boys and it's terrible, but. 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:41.920 The layers in charges here are really serious. 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.160 The position of trust that you help with respect to 0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:47.400 your stepdaughter, violating that in the way that you did. 0:01:48.400 --> 0:01:51.160 I agree with mister Sutton that they really take this 0:01:51.280 --> 0:01:56.520 case to a different rolem and warrant some prey significant punishment. Okay. 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:00.120 So for the crown of sexual exploitation of mind or 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:02.040 second three felony for what's going to pose a term 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.160 of utestay prison not less than one for more than 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:06.559 fifteen years, and for each town of lawyers in both 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.359 class A Missioner Sport's going to pose a term in 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.639 jail not to receive three hundred and sixty four days. 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:11.320 Sport's going one. 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.799 Of the two lawyers account on concurrence to one on 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:17.239 are consecutive to the prison Sertens imposed on the sexual 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:21.680 exploitation from minor account. And on the second and three felony, 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:24.160 Qurt's going to suspend that sentence and placed mister Lynn 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.400 on formation for forty eight months to be supervised. 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:27.600 By AP and P. 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.079 To put it simply, Jason got less than a year 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:33.840 of jail time for both voyeurism charges and would need 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:37.760 to register as a sex offender less than one year. 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:41.720 How is that even possible? I really thought this type 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:44.640 of crime carried a hefty prison sentence, but that's not 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.560 the case. We'll get into that later on in the episode. 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.519 Not to mention the one to fifteen year sentence for 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.720 sexual exploitation of a minor, It was suspended, meaning he 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.680 wouldn't need to serve it if he doesn't violate probation. 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.160 After Judge Metler rendered her sentence, an officer came and 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:04.160 handcuffed Jason. 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:07.280 He was going immediately to Salt Lake County Jail. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.680 Now Avea, the victim of his voyeurism, could start to 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:16.639 catch her breath and not fear seeing him out and about, 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:21.760 and Ashley could really start to rebuild, but nothing would be. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:23.919 The same as before Jason was arrested. 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.720 We wanted to see how Avea was doing after Jason 0:03:27.760 --> 0:03:30.640 was sentenced, so about a month after the hearing, I 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:38.160 met Ashley and Avea at home in Riverton. Do you 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.000 guys mind just talking into the microphones just so we 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:42.360 can do some level checks? 0:03:45.200 --> 0:03:47.360 Okay, your turn, but. 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:50.680 Great. 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.120 It was really nice to meet a via face to face. 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.440 She is Ashley's mini me, though she's taller than her mom, 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:01.080 but everyone is taller than Ashley. What struck me about 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:04.680 Avea was her confidence and her maturity. She seemed wise 0:04:04.760 --> 0:04:08.120 beyond her years. And I just wanted to remind you 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:12.040 that her court sponsored therapist supported her participation in the podcast, 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:15.960 and she was open with her feelings starting with Jason's 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:16.760 sentencing hearing. 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:19.920 So, Avea, when I talked to your mom a few 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:23.880 months before the sentencing hearing, she didn't think you would 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:28.119 go to court, but it looks like you changed your mind. Why. 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:31.160 I'd really thought about it, and so when I went 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.120 in there, I had a whole bunch of things that 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.320 I wanted to say to the judge and Jason, and 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.640 I wanted to at least try and make an impact 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:40.480 on it. I didn't want to be just like a bystander, 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:44.920 don't want to just do nothing. Before he got locked up, 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:46.719 I'd be laying in bed some nights and I'd just 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:49.040 sit there and thinking, like, you hope no one's out there. 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:53.800 You know, someone's looking, someone's creeping, Like you get that feeling, 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:55.840 you know, But ever since he got locked up, I 0:04:55.920 --> 0:04:56.680 don't had that feeling. 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.120 I'm really happy you haven't had that feeling, because that 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:01.400 must have been really scary. 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:04.640 It's hard to imagine not feeling safe in your own home. 0:05:04.680 --> 0:05:07.599 And I really don't know how you processed and navigated 0:05:07.640 --> 0:05:08.760 that as a teenager. 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.520 None of us knew how to express our emotions because 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:14.760 we were all so sad. But we were all like 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:16.200 yet so upset about. 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:17.760 What had happened, and we still loved him. 0:05:17.839 --> 0:05:19.400 Yeah, we still loved him, like we felt like it 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:21.599 was wrong too, because we were like, we were like, oh, well, 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.279 he was our dad, like he was my dad, Like 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.400 I loved him, like I loved the guy that he was, 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:30.640 but like, I don't know who this is it. I'd 0:05:30.680 --> 0:05:33.640 put in so much trust into him because my dad 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.080 wasn't there, and so he had taken on that role 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.160 being my dad. So I had trusted him so much 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:41.680 and I had really let him into my life. And 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.679 I was just morely mad though that he had torn 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:48.400 up our family. He had broke our family, and he 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:52.320 had you know, hurt my mom and my brother and 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.080 my sister, and what he did to me, I was 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.400 definitely I was pretty heard about. 0:05:57.480 --> 0:05:59.760 A lot of your family members mentioned to me that 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:03.960 you were a serious soccer player, but this whole experience 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:06.680 just made competing impossible. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.400 What happened there at ourself. You have to have good 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.880 grades to be on the team no matter what, and 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.200 you can't miss more than two days of school, Like 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:18.400 there's some new rules and things like that. And if 0:06:18.400 --> 0:06:20.000 you're going to an athletic school, you're going to be 0:06:20.000 --> 0:06:21.520 around some concaast people all day. 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:23.080 But there was some cool people. 0:06:23.240 --> 0:06:25.359 Yeah, I mean, yeah there was. There are some pretty 0:06:25.360 --> 0:06:28.039 awesome people there. But can get dressed up every day? 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.200 You know that That was really hard for me, And 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:35.000 so I was so overwhelmed with everything that I just 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:37.600 I didn't want to be around people. 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:41.360 Yeah, it sounds to me like you just needed a breather. 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:47.200 So you switched to an alternative school. And just to 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.520 be clear for people listening and just to make sure 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:53.159 I'm understanding it right, all that means is it's a 0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:57.719 school that educates kids differently than a typical public school. Actually, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.000 I know you had a lot of dreams pinned up 0:07:00.080 --> 0:07:03.800 on a vea soccer. Were you on board with her leaving? 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:05.279 Was that hard for you? 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.479 I mean we definitely struggled your whole life. We've had 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:16.880 like this one plan soccer scholarships California, California. But I 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:19.560 guess that I'm hearing and I didn't realize. I mean, 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:21.520 you don't want to be around all those people. And 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:23.320 then they knew this awful secret. 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:23.840 You know. 0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.920 It wasn't just like one thing, it was kind of 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.560 all of it was so piled up on. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:33.160 You that yeah, yeah, definitely. The reason why I wanted 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.960 to go to Valley was it was a way better 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.560 alternative for me. I was succeeding a lot more. I 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.640 was on on a roll. When you go to an 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.240 alternative school, too, people are there to get their shit done. 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.200 Like there's people that are there that have kids and 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:48.000 they're sitting in the day Like we have a daycare 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:50.120 at our school too, Like we'll have people that have kids. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.920 They go and do some homework, and you could show 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:54.560 up with the messy button your hair and all makeup. 0:07:54.760 --> 0:07:57.480 No one would care. That's another reason why I really 0:07:57.560 --> 0:07:59.520 like Valley too, is because it's like a really not 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:00.720 judge mental area. 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.280 I kind of felt like I just had to trust 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.840 what you were doing, even if I didn't think it 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.040 was like best choice, you know, Like I wanted you 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:14.520 to play soccer and you're beast yeah, you're amazing on 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:17.560 the field. Yeah, you know, and I get that, like 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.239 your passion for it's not there anymore. 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.640 I get it. And you also have a job, right. 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.280 I work at a daycare. I'm an opener, so I 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:27.640 get there at six o'clock in the morning and I 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:31.560 basically watch kids from the age five months all the 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:36.240 way up to like ten years old. And yeah, I 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:37.320 love it. I love my job. 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:40.480 Why did you want to participate in this project? 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:44.320 So when my mother had first told me about this project, 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.640 I kind of was like, what is she? Like she's crazy, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.040 like she has lost her mind, like something is wrong 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:53.240 with her, Like she is seriously batshit crazy. She thinks 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:56.679 that she's getting on a damn podcast. And so when 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:00.000 she had finally started getting into depth with everything, I 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.160 was actually thought that it was really cool. I want 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:04.839 to be able to impact other people. I want to 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:06.600 be able to talk to other people, let other people 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:08.680 know that, like, they're not alone in these kinds of situations, 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:12.000 and that I know exactly how they feel. It's okay 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:14.840 to not be okay for a minute, and that eventually 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:16.319 you're going to get back up on your feet. There 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.800 may be road bumps, but but definitely get back up 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:19.280 on your feet. 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:23.280 You know, Ashley, I know you wrote into us on 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:27.000 a very bad day, but Avea. I think there are 0:09:27.040 --> 0:09:30.080 two reasons your mom wanted to do this, put her 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:34.400 life out in public, share her story. One is to 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:36.559 look for a community because we know this is happening 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:39.960 in a lot of other homes, but also because she 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:41.959 wants to let you know some things. 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:48.280 Right after it happened and Jason went to jail, that 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:50.720 whole first month was kind of a blur, I feel 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:51.000 like for. 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:52.680 All of us. Yeah, I definitely was. 0:09:53.400 --> 0:10:00.000 But after he got out of jail, do you remember 0:10:00.000 --> 0:10:10.640 remember me going over to his grandpa's house to see him? 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:11.600 What did you think about? 0:10:11.640 --> 0:10:11.720 That? 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.280 Just kind of frustrated me? How does didn't understand? 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:16.640 Yeah? 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:21.200 I think looking back on that time, there's a couple 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:23.360 of things that I wish I would have done differently, 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:27.840 but I didn't. And one of those things is, you know, 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.360 when he got out, I kind of switched back into 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.000 WiFi mode. 0:10:34.559 --> 0:10:37.480 And just for clarity, Ashley, you're talking about after Jason 0:10:37.559 --> 0:10:40.240 was arrested and then released, before he pled guilty, so 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:41.840 before the sentencing here, right. 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:46.040 Yeah, I was trying to manage our family, you know, 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:52.359 you and your brother and sister less still be his wife. 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:57.640 And even like with everything that happened, there wasn't a 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.720 lot of people in like your corner when we should 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:07.000 have been when we found out that this happened, we 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:11.160 should have cocooned around you. It wasn't your job to 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:15.439 step up and be MANI mom, while I was having 0:11:15.480 --> 0:11:20.800 a meltdown. That wasn't your job. And I think us 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:25.880 not doing that pushed you away. And I'm so sorry 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.880 that wasn't fair to you. That was why I stayed 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:29.959 with my dad. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:32.640 It was the only one that was really in my corner. 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.600 He was lonely. He was the only one that really 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.839 stood up and as are you. Okay, No, that's why 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.719 I stayed there. And at the beginning of all this too, 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.920 it was all such like a big like shock to 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:46.400 all of us. 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:48.520 It's not a good excuse though. 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:50.760 But no, like the thing is too, I really don't 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.080 remember like everything you know. I'm telling you right now, Mo, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.960 I'm like we were all in shock, Like everyone had 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:58.880 to write to be in shock in that situation, and 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:02.400 you were definitely in shock, and I was too. I'm 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.520 not mad at you, I'm really, I'm really not mad 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:04.800 at you. 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:10.199 Maybe you're not right now, well maybe someday you might be. 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.080 Though maybe someday I might will be. But also maybe 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:14.719 a point where I'm not ever going to be mad 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.000 at you, Like this is not your fault. I'm telling you, 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:19.000 like from this point right now, like in my life, 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:20.840 like i am not mad at my mother whatsoever. Like 0:12:20.880 --> 0:12:23.679 I'm beyond proud of my mother, beyond anything. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:25.000 I love you. 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.079 I love you, yeah forever. 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.880 At the beginning of the series, I told you that 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.400 we had received several letters about families being destroyed because 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:46.640 the husband was looking at illegal images of children online 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:51.000 like Jason, and I will freely admit, before we really investigated, 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:54.440 I assumed these offenders are put away for a long time. 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.200 I really thought the law threw the book at them, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.440 they were off the street. But when I met Ashley 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:03.520 and other women who reached out, I learned that isn't 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:09.920 necessarily the case. Even as I record this episode, Jason 0:13:10.000 --> 0:13:12.800 is halfway through his sentence and will be out in 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:16.240 the community in the not too distant future. And you 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:20.439 might be asking yourself, why should I care? Jason Litton, 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:24.720 isn't my husband or my son or my brother. Here's 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:28.640 why you should care. There aren't enough prisons in the 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.600 world to hold all the people who are looking at 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:36.800 this material. It's insane. These offenders are in your neighborhood 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:41.400 and mine. They are blue collar, white collar doctors, lawyers, 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:47.720 construction workers, teachers, clergy, police officers. They encompass every walk 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:52.840 of life. I didn't realize how uninformed I was on 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:57.040 this topic. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:01.120 received over twenty nine million tips just last year alone 0:14:01.520 --> 0:14:05.960 from online companies like Facebook, Google and others that detect 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.600 these images. And here's something else I learned. Even the 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.280 words child pornography. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:13.079 Are a problem. 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:15.880 As I reached out to law enforcement and talked with 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.240 people who work with victims, I discovered that they use 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:23.360 the term child sexual abuse material. So why haven't I 0:14:23.440 --> 0:14:27.000 heard this term before? Probably because it's not in the media. 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.800 It's not good clickbait. A headline that says local coach 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:34.160 arrested for child porn is going to get a lot 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:38.200 more attraction than local coach arrested for child sexual abuse material. 0:14:38.600 --> 0:14:41.600 Just the way it is. But here's why it matters 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:46.200 to victims. Online pornography usually refers to adults who have 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.480 consented to be filmed, but that's never the case. When 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:54.560 the images depict children, it is abuse. These are pictures 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:58.760 of crimes that have already been committed. Children can't legally 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.000 consent to sex, they can't consent to having images of 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:06.400 their abuse recorded and distributed. So child sexual abuse material 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:10.680 is a more accurate description, but it's also a mouthful. 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:17.880 So often the term sesam is used for short. Look, 0:15:18.000 --> 0:15:20.920 no one ever imagines that someone they love would do this. 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:24.280 I feel for victims like a vea. I feel for 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:28.080 mothers and wives just like Ashley. I feel for anyone 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:32.000 whose life is upended by discovering a family member is involved. 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.960 So I really wanted to know why is seesam so 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.360 prevalent and lurking under the radar, and what is law 0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.800 enforcement and the justice system up against to keep families 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:44.680 like Ashley's safe. 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:50.880 In the nineties, child sexual abuse reports were predominantly handled by. 0:15:50.760 --> 0:15:53.160 The US Postal Service, who was. 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:58.080 Responsible for intercepting things like magazines and that type of 0:15:58.080 --> 0:15:59.560 contraband that would be sent around. 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.400 That's Gabriel Dance. He is a reporter for the New 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:05.760 York Times, and in twenty nineteen he and his colleague 0:16:05.800 --> 0:16:10.520 Michael Keller published a groundbreaking investigative series called Exploited, which 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.280 documented how seesam has exploded along with the growth of 0:16:14.320 --> 0:16:15.720 the Internet and social media. 0:16:16.440 --> 0:16:19.360 What we know is that with the advent of cell 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:26.080 phones and the Internet, there was both the opportunity to 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:31.120 produce material much more easily and also the opportunity to 0:16:31.320 --> 0:16:33.920 distribute that material much more widely. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:38.040 The Internet also provided the opportunity for people with similar 0:16:38.080 --> 0:16:41.120 interests to get together, learn from each other, and create 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:44.880 online clubs, which is fine when you're talking about baking 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.360 or car repair, but this is an underground that shares 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:52.000 information on seesam how to acquire it, produce it, and 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:56.360 hide it. Average citizens are downloading and viewing this material. 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:02.120 Some states get three thousand cyber tips a day. New 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.200 York Times reporter Michael Keller. 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:09.840 One question that we heard a lot was, well, what's 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.679 the big deal? They're just sharing images? Why is that 0:17:13.760 --> 0:17:17.360 so bad? Why should someone be punished for that? And 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.800 in speaking with survivors of the abuse, we really understood 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:27.240 that it is the ongoing trade in imagery that makes 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:33.440 this that much more serious and harmful to the people involved. 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:37.479 We spoke with two sisters synonymously who were abused by 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.600 their father, who couldn't show their faces because there are 0:17:41.240 --> 0:17:45.440 people online trying to find them and track them down, 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:50.199 and it prevents them from living a normal life. And 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:54.240 that is due to the ongoing trade in the images 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:57.160 well passed the actual abuse. 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.600 These are people who have had one of the worst 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:06.280 crimes you could possibly imagine, documented and shared for the 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:08.439 pleasure of other people. 0:18:09.040 --> 0:18:12.280 Former Utah United States Attorney John Hubert. 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:18.120 This goes on constantly, dozens upon hundreds of cases where 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:22.600 you have these images and collections and trading images and 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:29.680 bartering them like their baseball cards. And it's those run 0:18:29.680 --> 0:18:33.399 of the meal offenders that I am so concerned about 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:38.560 because they're not getting the attention in court or according 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.719 to state law that I believe they should. During my 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.639 tenure as a United States attorney, we were getting some 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:47.480 pushback from federal judges of why are you bringing these 0:18:47.560 --> 0:18:51.160 cases people looking at pictures? You know, what's the big deal? 0:18:51.240 --> 0:18:54.680 This is in federal court, And so we thought that 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:59.080 was a misunderstanding and that we need to communicate better 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:01.680 to the judges what we're talking about. 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.480 You can probably imagine Ashley's surprised when she first learned 0:19:05.560 --> 0:19:08.240 what kind of justice Jason would be facing. 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.280 The prosecutor made it sound like he's not going to 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:13.960 go to prison and the most time that he's going 0:19:14.000 --> 0:19:14.280 to do. 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:15.960 Is probably six months in jail. 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:19.439 That was pretty normal for this type of events, and 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:20.959 I'm like, are you kidding? 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:26.840 The punishment just didn't seem to fit the crime. This 0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:32.640 doesn't just upset victims, it also demoralizes law enforcement. Riverton 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.440 detective Jason Rue was one of the first who looked 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.200 at the hidden file and had to view the evidence. 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:43.440 It frustrates me, especially with these kind of crimes. It's 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:46.920 a lifelong sentence for these victims, and not just the victim, 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:51.120 but the victim's mom or the victim's dead or whoever 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:55.040 else might know this in the family. And you're letting 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:58.000 them out in six months to a year with probation 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:01.320 for four That means basically someone's coming to check up 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:04.000 on them every now and then asking if they're doing okay. 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.080 And if you're waiting for the federal government to jump 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:09.280 on the problem, don't hold your breath. 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:15.680 We found systemic failures in responding to this rising problem, 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.920 and one of the big things was the failures of 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:22.840 the federal government to live up to its own promises 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.480 that it made around two thousand and eight to develop 0:20:26.880 --> 0:20:33.720 a strong national response. That involved creating a high level 0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:38.399 position at the Department of Justice. It required analyzing the 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:43.240 issue every few years and creating national strategy reports, and 0:20:43.880 --> 0:20:49.120 it required creating a funding mechanism for state and local 0:20:49.200 --> 0:20:53.880 investigators dedicated to doing these investigations. Who called Internet crimes 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:57.560 against Children's task Forces. There's at least one in every state. 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.760 And what we found was that the government had not 0:21:01.160 --> 0:21:06.560 really followed through on its grand plans. You know, these 0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:11.399 reports have risen, arrests have gone up slightly over the years, 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:17.639 but federal funding to these special task forces has largely 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:23.120 remained flat. The high goal position at DJ was never 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:27.919 fully created. The strategy reports that were supposed to come 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:31.520 out on a regular basis, there's only been two of 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:36.679 them over the last decade. So we found failures not 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:40.400 just with the tech companies, but also with the government 0:21:40.520 --> 0:21:44.040 to solve a problem that it's known about for over 0:21:44.080 --> 0:21:44.760 ten years. 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:48.919 And as a response to our reporting, Senator Ron Wyden 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:52.680 introduced a bill that was supposed to create nearly two 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:57.119 hundred positions at federal law enforcement, allotting a total of 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:00.400 five billion dollars over ten years to address exist exactly 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:03.960 this problem. And as far as I know, that Bill's 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:05.800 gone Noway, So. 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:09.280 Our elected officials in Washington aren't living up to their promises, 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:11.880 and people like Ashley and the rest of us are 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.800 here scratching our heads at offenders like Jason, thinking you'll 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:16.679 be out in months? 0:22:17.160 --> 0:22:21.919 Is that really okay? 0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:29.000 So in mister Litton's case, on paper, his crime of 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:33.240 conviction carries a penalty of one to fifteen years in 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:35.760 the Utah State Prison. Did he get that? 0:22:36.280 --> 0:22:36.480 No? 0:22:36.920 --> 0:22:39.159 And in lieu of that he was given days in 0:22:39.320 --> 0:22:41.320 jail and a term of probation. 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.479 You probably remember that Jason's plea agreement tied the judge's 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:48.479