Taking Child Predators Offline

Three more child predators have been sentenced for exploiting our children in cases investigated and prosecuted by our Cyber Crime Division.

On August 12, Walter David Woodard was sentenced by Lauderdale County Circuit Judge Charles Wright on two counts of exploitation of a child as a second and subsequent offender. He will serve 20 years day for day without the possibility of parole and pay court costs and $3,000 in fees and assessments. Woodard, who was previously convicted of child exploitation in 2009, is already a registered sex offender.

On September 7, Robert Donald Ehrhardt, III, who was found guilty by a jury of five counts of exploitation of a child – possession of child sexual abuse material, was sentenced by Judge Brad Mills of Rankin County Circuit Court to serve 20 years, pay $25,000 in fines plus court costs, and register as a sex offender. This case started with 28 CyberTipline Reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that an individual had uploaded child sexual abuse images using a Skype account.

On August 31, William Dale Scrimshire of Pachuta, Mississippi, pled guilty to child exploitation – possession of child exploitation materials and was sentenced by Judge Charles Wright of Clarke County Circuit Court to 40 years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections, with 8 years to serve and 5 years of supervised probation upon his release. He will have to serve his sentence day-for-day without possibility of parole, pay court costs as well as assessments and fees of $3,000, and register as a sex offender.

When a child is sexually abused and the image of that abuse is shared with others, they are victimized over and over again, every time that image or video is seen by another child predator. And, studies demonstrate that those who view child sexual abuse material online have a high likelihood of committing a hands-on offense against a child, as well. When we take child predators offline, we are not only keeping victims from repeatedly reliving their trauma, we are stopping predators from finding new victims.