Child Rescue is the New Zealand branch of the Destiny Rescue family, a global network of organisations. At times, we may use ‘we’ and ‘our’ alongside Destiny Rescue to reflect the collective efforts of this international network in rescuing children from sexual exploitation and human trafficking, and supporting their long-term freedom.

Kevin had educated elementary-aged children for years. His young Thai students learned English in his classes, expanding not only their vocabularies but also their options for experiencing the wider world when they grew up. Kevin was such an effective educator that he earned an “Outstanding Teacher Award”.

During all that time, he was also sexually abusing his students. 

In the US, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) found some horrific images online: children between 6 and 8 years old had been recorded suffering terrible abuse. NCMEC traced the images to Thailand and turned the investigation over to authorities there.

Those law enforcement authorities brought in the counter-OSEC Scientia team we’re a part of to help them investigate the case. What they found was disturbing.

Kevin’s method

Kevin, a 32-year-old English teacher, routinely used his position of authority and trust for his own twisted pleasure. Like any good teacher, he intentionally developed friendships with students that began innocently enough. 

That was just a starting point for Kevin. 

Kevin carefully groomed the boys he targeted, worming his way into their lives. He arranged secret meetings with the kids, where he offered them money for snacks or gaming. But in return for these “gifts,” Kevin demanded the unthinkable.

As authorities examined the evidence, it became clear that Kevin had stalked and abused children during his entire seven-year teaching career. By cultivating the push-and-pull influences of financial dependence and fear of discovery in his young victims, the child predator kept his targets from talking. If his homemade child sexual abuse material (CSAM) hadn’t been discovered online, Kevin might have continued, unhindered, for years more.

Stopping the nightmare

Eager to end the abuse, the collaborating teams of law enforcement and supporting NGOs moved quickly. After surveilling his home one night, members of the Scientia team reported in: the suspect was home and getting ready to leave for work. It was time to raid.

When police entered his home, Kevin tried to protest before wilting at the sight of the warrant. We seized a computer, three phones, two cameras and two hard drives. As Kevin was led away in handcuffs, the Scientia team provided vital on-site forensic investigation, using cutting-edge tools to quickly discover CSAM on his devices.

Between that initial scan and later investigation back at headquarters, the team discovered over 20,000 CSAM files on Kevin’s devices. The next phase of the operation was one of the most important, but normally the most traumatising: victim identification.

Finding the kids

In the past, our Scientia team members (including Interpol-certified specialists of victim identification and classification) spent weeks painstakingly combing through mountains of horrific CSAM in order to identify the victims. The endeavour is absolutely crucial, but emotionally devastating. Unless someone views every depraved, sickening depiction of child sexual abuse, we might miss one of the perpetrator’s victims, leaving the child open to harm from others and depriving him or her of life-changing post-rescue care services.

Fortunately, our team was able to make use of a powerful new AI-driven tool called CaseScan. This system quickly scans devices for CSAM, pulls images of children being abused, organises them based on facial markers, blurs explicit sections of the images and presents the findings to investigators in minutes. Victim identification happens faster than ever, without the crushing mental and emotional toll our investigators used to bear.

With the help of this new tool, investigators were able to quickly identify Kevin’s current victims. 

Our team conducted trauma-informed interviews with the children, but had to be strategic, empathetic and take special care in these conversations. As a result of Kevin’s brutal conditioning tactics, the children were terrified of discovery and unsure of what the future would hold for them. Those kids and their parents are working together to heal as they help the police build a case against the child abuser.

Rescuing the next one

Through partnerships with government agencies and entities like CaseScan, Scientia is making a huge difference in the fight against online child trafficking and is backed by concerned citizens who want to see children freed from all types of exploitation. If you’d like to be a part of Destiny Rescue’s efforts to usher children into freedom, please consider joining us by donating. Fill out the form below to rescue a child today.