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Florida No Haven For Teen Exploitation

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2008

It's no mystery why the purveyors of Web sites that feature underage, scantily-clad girls in sexually provocative poses have been flocking to Florida. The state had no law protecting these children from exploitation.

That changed last week when a law pushed by state Sen. Mike Fasano and signed by Gov. Charlie Crist makes it a felony for Web site operators to pose as legitimate modeling agencies and then sell the nearly nude pictures of children to online subscribers.

The law came about because of the dogged reporting of WFLA's Mark Douglas, who exposed the local teen modeling Web site True Teen Babes for what it is - fodder for pedophiles. Web site operator and photographer James Steven Grady had been arrested in Colorado on 886 felony counts of violating a state statute against sexual exploitation of children for operating the same website there.

Grady walked on the charges and set up shop in Florida. Alerted by Douglas' reporting, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Pinellas County authorities launched an investigation, but found Florida's laws lacking.

These types of Web sites exploit young girls and serve them up, as one crime analyst put it, as "eye candy for pedophiles." Legitimate modeling agencies don't take photos of young girls in see-through lingerie or sell photos like that online.

Grady and others of his ilk hide their despicable conduct behind the First Amendment and under the guise of "art," but let's not mince words: These people are predators. They make money taking advantage of little girls, displaying them on the Internet wearing nothing more than bras and G-strings and connecting them to pedophiles in online chats.

And shame on the parents who allow their daughters to be exploited for the tidy sum of $100 an hour.

The people who are making big money off these Web sites will surely challenge the law in court. Fasano and the attorneys who drafted the legislation acknowledge that the courts have had varying interpretations of what constitutes sexual depiction of a minor.

Better for Florida to have a fight in court than to allow those who feed the fantasies of pedophiles go unchecked.

Some things - like the dignity and well-being of these young girls - are worth a fight.

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