Friday, March 3, 2006, was a sunny, pleasant day in San Diego. I was beginning to wind up my time as the chief executive officer of the region's major pediatric medical center, then called Children's Hospital, and I was looking forward to my June retirement. But the sun-filled day turned dark when a San Diego police sergeant telephoned the director of the hospital's child protection center."I need to see you, and I need to see you now," the officer said urgently. "I'll be there in twenty minutes-and I'm bringing four other investigators with me."The fact that so many investigators were coming meant that multiple state and federal jurisdictions were involved—and that in turn probably signaled that the matter involved interstate activity in child pornography—and some connection to our hospital. In the coming weeks and months, I would learn just how shocking the connection was. But I would also develop a new-found awareness of and respect for a group of entities that I had never heard of: the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces, which investigate people trading in child pornography over the Internet and other cybercriminals prey- ing on children.
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