ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — It’s something hard to imagine, children being sexually abused on camera.
Now, Wounded Warriors, an organization made up of those who fought for our country, are fighting to find those children, and rescue them.
“To describe what I see on a daily basis -- it has no words,” said Army veteran Nathan Cruz.
From fighting on the front lines, to fighting sexual predators online, Cruz, a wounded war hero, is at battle with an enemy he can’t see.
“I fought foreign enemies during my deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it’s time to take care of our local enemies,” said Cruz.
It’s a job most people might find hard to stomach. Cruz and 12 other veterans in Homeland Security's new HEROES program spend hours every day clicking through images of child porn.
“I’m finding 20,000 pictures, 3,000 videos,” Cruz said.
They are images posted online for anyone to access.
It’s Cruz’s mission to find their source.
“Bottom line, it’s not about putting the guy in jail. We need to get those kids, and get them the help they need,” said Cruz.
Identifying the source of a photo online isn’t easy, or all that high-tech.
Cruz said a lot of it is about studying the background of the photo, like searching for trees that only grow in certain parts of the country, or electrical outlets that are only used in certain parts of the world.
“You’ve got to spend a lot of hours staring at the same picture, trying to find every single detail to narrow down to try to find a general area,” said Cruz.
The heroes program has only been in place for a few weeks, but officials with Homeland Security said every year they save children from sex slavery.
Earlier this month Lawrence Dorman of Lakeland pleaded guilty to creating his own pornography with a 16-year-old victim, and posting it online. He was tracked down by Homeland Security.
“Looking for that guy, or looking for that kid, it’s like a needle in the haystack, but that’s what makes a difference for us,” said Cruz.
WFTV
