Seminar Speakers

Jeffrey Arney is a U.S. Postal Inspector with the U. S. Postal Inspection Service in the Birmingham, Alabama field office and is responsible for the investigation of child sexual exploitation in the states of Alabama and Mississippi.  Inspector Arney is currently a member of the US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama PROTECT Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Innocent Images Task Force and the Alabama Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.    Inspector Arney is considered a Subject Matter Expert (SME) by the US Postal Inspection Service for his work in the investigation of child sexual exploitation.  Prior to joining the US Postal Inspection Service in 2004, Inspector Arney was an officer with the Greensboro (NC) Police Department for over 13 years, with over three years as a detective, investigating child neglect, physical child abuse and the sexual exploitation of children.  In his law enforcement career, Inspector Arney has investigated over 400 cases of child sexual exploitation, abuse and neglect on local, state and federal levels, with successful prosecutions when warranted.  In 2007, Inspector Arney received an Honorable Mention by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Law Enforcement Awards for his participation in a joint investigation involving the largest “child-modeling” website operation in the United States.  Inspector Arney graduated from Appalachian State University in Boone, NC in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice.    While in North Carolina, Inspector Arney was certified as an instructor with the North Carolina Training and Standards Committee and was responsible for the instruction of new police recruits in the area of child abuse investigations.  Currently, Inspector Arney is a firearms instructor, officer survival instructor, and defensive tactics instructor. He also serves as a member of the Executive Protection Detail for the Postmaster General.

Detective Robert Barton is a 19-year veteran of law enforcement, solely with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office. He began his career in corrections. After six years, he transferred to road patrol. During his time on the patrol, Detective Barton was assigned to the DUI-Traffic Unit, and became a Field Training Officer. From there he transferred to the Criminal Investigations Unit. While assigned to work property crimes, he investigated several sex crimes, crimes against children, and homicides. The last 3 ½ years, Detective Barton has been assigned to the Sexual Offender Unit working cases involving registration violations, offenders re-offending with a new sex crimes, and federal cases under the Adam Walsh Act. Detective Barton has attended many training classes to investigate sex crimes, crimes against children, and enforcing and managing sex offenders. He is an agency instructor, Special Deputy with the U.S. Marshals - South Florida Task Force, a member of the St. Lucie County Child Abduction Response Team, and a member of a multi-jurisdictional intelligence group.

Imelda Buncab is the Outreach & Training Director for Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST) in Los Angeles, a non-government human rights organization exclusively dedicated to serving survivors of trafficking.  Ms. Buncab’s duties include program management, training, outreach, technical assistance, mentoring and capacity building to other anti-trafficking projects. She has conducted trainings and presentations locally, nationally and internationally. Ms. Buncab is also the Western Region Coordinator for the Freedom Network Institute on Human Trafficking, a national training project presented by CAST and six nation-wide Freedom Network USA collaborative partners. Ms. Buncab is a member of the Los Angeles Metro Task Force on Human Trafficking and Chairs the Law Enforcement Training Committee.  Prior to joining CAST, Ms. Buncab was the Project Coordinator for Project Safe Haven an anti-trafficking program in San Diego. Her primary responsibilities were in the provision of comprehensive victim services to trafficked persons as well as training and outreach. She actively participated in the Stop Trafficking & Slavery Speaker’s Bureau, conducting training and outreach to various NGOs, the community, law enforcement and governmental agencies. Ms. Buncab has also contributed to the development of Stop Trafficking & Slavery, a resource manual and protocols guide in effectively responding to trafficking cases in San Diego County. Ms. Buncab has trained various law enforcement agencies, NGOs, faith-based groups and communities on violence against women issues and trafficking. She has extensive experience in providing victim services to sexual assault, domestic violence and trafficking survivors as well as working in collaborative settings.  Ms. Buncab holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with an emphasis in ethnicity, inequality, and gender from the University of California Santa Barbara.

Deputy Sheriff Rick Castro works with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.    Rick has been with the Sheriff’s Department for approximately fifteen years.  Since 1996, he has worked in the Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving Unit.  It was during this time that he began to investigate commercial and sexual exploitation of children and adults in North County (San Diego).  Rick is the Sheriff’s Department’s leader in the area of “Human Trafficking.”  Rick has tremendous insight into the complexities of sexual exploitation and human trafficking, and the organizations that run them.  He is currently working with social services, local, state, federal, and international organizations to combat and address this evil.  Rick draws his knowledge, passion, and dedication from his personal experience in interviewing and assisting victims.  Because of his expertise, Rick is a trainer and facilitator on “Human Trafficking” to law enforcement and social service agencies throughout the United States, and at the international level. Aside from his duties as coordinator of the San Diego Regional Anti-Trafficking Taskforce, he has authored training materials and articles in the area of human trafficking, and CSEC.  These include: “Commercial and Sexual Exploitation of Children” a training bulletin for law enforcement, and more recently an article for the Law Enforcement Quarterly titled "Human Trafficking: The Hidden Pandemic" (pending publication).  Currently the liaison coordinator for the San Diego Region Anti-Trafficking Task Force, Rick is currently working on a study guide for law enforcement on human trafficking and created an Emmy award winning 21 minute roll call training video, for officers/first responders on the dynamics of trafficking, on how to identify victims and spot “red flag” indicators.

Chuck Cohen is a Lieutenant serving the Indiana State Police, where he has been employed for thirteen years.  He is currently the Commander of the Special Investigation and Criminal Intelligence Sections.  In this capacity, Lt. Cohen is responsible for the cyber crime, white collar crime, vehicle crime, and crimes against children units along with overseeing the department’s overt and covert criminal intelligence function.  He is cross-designated as a Special Deputy United States Marshal.   His formal education includes a Masters in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University, and an undergraduate degree from Indiana University with a double major in Criminal Justice and Psychology. 

Detective Chris Curley serves with the Phoenix Police Department as an investigator assigned to the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.  He has been in law enforcement since 1991, serving first in San Diego, California and for the past 15 years with the Phoenix, Arizona police department. Chris is widely recognized as one of the nations most experienced and competent investigators in the field of Internet crimes against children.  He has considerable experience working proactively and in an undercover capacity identifying and he has apprehended over 100 luring/enticement offenders and possessors and traffickers of unlawful images.

 Detective Ian Davies has been serving with the Saginaw County Sheriff’s Office for the past twelve years.  He began his career as a road patrol Deputy and transferred to the Detective Bureau in 2002. During his first year as a Detective he attended Eastern Michigan University’s computer crime school. Detective Davies then took over as the departments sole Financial and Computer Crimes investigator. After that Davies spent one year working with Michigan’s Region III FBI Computer Crimes Task Force. Davies also has attended numerous advanced computer training courses and seminars.  During this time Davies is an instructor at two different police academies in Michigan, sharing his knowledge with future law enforcement officers.  Davies also spends a considerable amount of time in middle school classrooms teaching kids about internet safety. Davies has been responsible for many internet predators being sent to prison for their actions and continues to do so to this day. Davies holds a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice and is currently working on his Masters Degree in Information Security.

Detective Tyson Elliott of the Alachua County (FL) Sheriff’s Office has ten years of law enforcement experience, with 5 ½ years working as a Child Abuse/Sex Crimes detective.  He has worked wit adults, youth, and families in need on issues such as physical and sexual child abuse, child neglect, missing children, adolescence, divorce, online sexual exploitation, substance abuse, suicide and violence.  He earned a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Florida.

Tom Garrett is Commonwealth’s Attorney in Louisa County, Virginia. Following his graduation from the University of Richmond, Tom served in the United States Army. While in the Army, he was deployed overseas in support of Operation Joint Endeavor. Following his service in the Army, Tom entered the T.C. Williams Law School at the University of Richmond.  While in law school, Tom started his legal career interning under former Louisa Commonwealth's Attorney John Garrett in Henrico County. In 2005, Tom was appointed Assistant Attorney General under Bob McDonnell. During his time as an Assistant Attorney General, he prosecuted complex white-collar and internet crimes. Tom's work in these cases has been recognized throughout the Commonwealth. He was also appointed a Special Assistant United States Attorney where he helped prosecute intricate litigation in federal court.

Emily Hancock is a Legal Director with Yahoo! in Sunnyvale, CA, where she manages law enforcement outreach and provides advice regarding compliance with law enforcement requests for all of Yahoo!’s U.S.-based services.  In her role as Yahoo!’s liaison to law enforcement agencies, Ms. Hancock also focuses on online child safety initiatives and providing training to law enforcement.  Prior to joining Yahoo!, Ms. Hancock was an associate in the Washington, DC office of Steptoe & Johnson LLP where she advised Internet service providers and financial institutions on data privacy and security law and policy matters.  She is author of “CALEA: Does One Size Still Fit All?” in Cybercrime: Digital Cops in a Networked Environment, (Jack M. Balkin, ed.) and co-author of "Protecting Children Online:  Where Corporate responsibility is Just Good Business", ACC Docket, Vol. 26, No. 3 (April 2008).  Ms. Hancock received her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and a B.A. from Boston College.

Mike Johnson holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology from Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.  He joined the Plano Police Department in September 1982.  Upon graduation from the Police Academy, he spent four months as an undercover narcotics officer.  After being assigned to the Patrol division for four years, Johnson transferred to the Criminal Investigations division and began investigating child abuse in 1986.  He is currently assigned to the Juvenile division of the Plano Police Department.  Detective Johnson is considered an ambassador for child advocacy.  He is a founding member of the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center, and in 1996 he was named the Center’s “Child Advocate of the Year.” 

Dr. Frank Kardasz is the project director for the Arizona ICAC Task Force. He has been in law enforcement since 1977, serving first in Michigan and for the past 24 years with the Phoenix, Arizona police department.  Frank earned a bachelors degree in criminal justice, a masters degree in public administration and a doctorate in educational leadership.  His writings have appeared in various law enforcement publications and he has lectured nationwide regarding Internet crime prevention and investigation. As a sergeant in Phoenix he has supervised over 3,500 investigations of Internet crimes against children involving over 250 arrests.

Susan Karlak is a U.S. Probation Officer with the District of New Jersey. 

For a decade, Investigator Brian Killacky has been assigned to investigate cold case homicide. Originally assigned as a Chicago Police Detective, in 2002 he transferred to the Cook County State’s Attorney Office, which serves the City of Chicago and over 250 suburban and federal agencies within Cook County, Illinois. Brian and his team have successfully investigated complex cases that include serial and mass murder, child fatality and abduction, sex related and domestic homicide, gang related and organized crime murder, murder for hire and spree killing. This unit has also provided outside agency investigative assistance to numerous state, local and federal agencies with complex investigative jurisdictional issues.  Investigator Killacky and his partners have received numerous awards for investigative excellence including the Illinois Special Agents Award in 2006, the Illinois Bar Association Award in 2004, twice a recipient of the Superintendent Award of Merit from the Chicago Police Department (37th and 40th annual Recognition Ceremonies) as well as Mayor Richard Daley and the Chicago City Council passing a resolution for Brian and his team in solving a serial killing of eleven women on the streets of Chicago that had spanned nine years.  For twenty years, Brian has assisted the Department of Justice and OJJDP in providing investigative training centering on sexual exploitation of children, child fatality, child abduction and most recently in the investigative use of DNA and cold case related offenses.              

Sherry Kitchens became the President/CEO of the Child Advocacy Center in June of 2005. She received her B.A. in Psychology from Emory University in 1992 and her M.Ed./Ed.S from the University of Florida in Marriage and Family Therapy in 1996. She became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in 1999. Sherry began her work in the child abuse prevention and intervention field in Atlanta while working with the Georgia Council on Child Abuse in the Home Visitor Program, a precursor to Healthy Start and Healthy Families. From 1996 until 2005, Sherry worked with the Corner Drug Store, Inc. in the Family Action Program and the Drug Free Communities Support Program first as a Counselor/Case Manager and then as a Regional Coordinator. With a positive attitude, history of successful community relationships and passion for helping children, at the Child Advocacy Center, she hopes to continue her efforts of bringing partners together to create the safety and community support children need to grow and flourish in our community.

Thomas Larson has been employed as a United States Probation Officer for the District of New Jersey since May 1986. From 1992 until 2002, he served as a Mental Health Treatment Specialist.  Since 2002, he has worked as a Supervising U.S. Probation Officer.  Mr. Larson has a master’s degree in social work from Loyola University of Chicago (1984).  He received a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin in sociology in 1977.  He has also completed three certificate courses at New York University in the school of social work, including one in Adult Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse.   Mr. Larson has over thirty years of experience working with sex offenders.

Catherine Marlowe is the Section Chief for the Office of the Attorney General’s Child Predator CyberCrime Unit Orlando Bureau.  As Section Chief, she oversees the investigations and prosecutions of on-line child solicitation and child pornography cases in the 11 Florida counties assigned to the Orlando office.  Before joining the CPCU, Ms. Marlowe was an Assistant State Attorney with the Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office for over seven years.  During that time, she handled hundreds of misdemeanor and felony cases, including sex crimes and major felony crimes, and took more than sixty cases to jury trial.  Ms. Marlowe received commendations from the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation for her prosecution of a drug trafficking case and from the Federal Bureau of Investigation for her handling of a child pornography probation violation.  She has a B.A. in Communication Studies from Florida State University and received her J.D. from Florida State University in 2000.

Rusty McGuire is Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney in Louisa County, Virginia.  At 17 Rusty dropped out of school joined the Army. Instead of becoming a statistic, 10 years later he started prosecuting in the City of Richmond. In 2003, he became an Assistant Attorney General of Virginia where he earned a national reputation as a litigator. He prosecuted our Nation's first felony SPAM case, the Attorney General's first identity theft case and brought many of Virginia's worst internet predators to justice. Super Lawyers Magazine recognized and featured Rusty in their 2007 "Rising Stars" edition.

Lori McPherson serves as a Policy Advisor in the SMART Office for the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs.  Prior to joining the SMART staff, Ms. McPherson served as a Senior Attorney at the National District Attorneys’ Association’s (NDAA) National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse in Alexandria, Virginia. While there, she was the Child Sexual Exploitation program manager and focused nearly all of her work on issues involving online crimes against children. During her tenure at NDAA, Ms. McPherson ran week-long courses for prosecutors across the country, wrote numerous articles, and provided training and technical assistance to prosecutors, law enforcement, and other child abuse professionals. She served on the research committee of the ICAC Task Force Working Group and her weekly Child Sexual Exploitation Case Law Update was regularly distributed to approximately 1,000 individuals, including the ICAC Task Force list-serve, the Digital-DA list-serve, and many Project Safe Childhood representatives.  Prior to her employment at NDAA, Ms. McPherson was an Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney in Fredericksburg, Virginia, for five years. While there she handled a general docket which included cases ranging from driving while intoxicated to murder. She specialized in prosecuting crimes against children and domestic violence offenses, and was a founding member of Fredericksburg’s Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) and also their Domestic Violence Coordinating Council (DVCC).   Before joining the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Ms. McPherson served for nearly five years at the Office of the Public Defender in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where she handled a wide variety of cases. While there, she had a regular weekly docket in juvenile court, and also handled serious adult cases such as carjacking, robbery, rape, child sexual abuse, and murder, rising to the rank of Senior Assistant Public Defender.  Ms. McPherson received her B.A. in Political Science and Sociology from Clemson University and her J.D., cum laude, from the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond, where she was also a member of the Law Review. She received her M.Div., magna cum laude, from Wesley Theological Seminary. She is a member of the Virginia State Bar.

Adam Palmer is the Law & Policy Counsel for the “.ORG” Internet Registry based in Washington DC.  Adam works on Internet policy issues dealing with cyber security, e-commerce, and Internet governance.  Adam is an adjunct law professor at both Washington & Lee Law School and the University of Mississippi Law School where he teaches courses focused on internet crime and cyber law.   Adam regularly authors articles on Internet policy and cyber crime that are published in national legal magazines.  He has served as faculty in courses for both the National Association of Attorneys General and the National District Attorneys Association.  Adam earned a J.D. in 2000 and an MBA in 2003.  He is admitted to practice law in Indiana, South Carolina, Washington D.C. and Virginia. 

Sergeant Irving Porter has served for the last eighteen years with the Dallas Police Department in various capacities: Patrol, Deployment/Fugitive Squad, Interactive Community Policing, Police Recruiter, Gang Unit Supervisor and also as the Supervisor of the Sex Offender Compliance Squad. Sgt. Porter has also served in the U.S. Air Force, both on active duty and in the reserves for the last 24 years. While in the Air Force, Sgt. Porter has served as security police, an Air Force Ranger, in the Office of Special Investigations, and dignitary protection. He is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm and has served two tours in Iraq. He is currently a special agent in the Air Force reserves in the Office of Special Investigations.  Sergeant Porter holds an Associate’s Degree in Industrial Security from Community College of the Air Force, a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Dallas Baptist University is currently working toward a Master’s Degree in Organizational Management/Conflict Resolution at Dallas Baptist University. He is a certified TECLEOSE Instructor and holds more than 24 law enforcement teaching certificates. He has also attended Air War College (USAF). 
In recognition of Sergeant Porter’s commitment to service, he has received more than 75 police commendations, the Dallas Police Rookie of the Year Award, more than 40 military commendations and the United States Air Force Officer of the Year Award.

Tiffany Richards is Associate Counsel at the National Law Center for Children and Families, focusing on sex offender regulations at the local, state and federal level.  She also serves as Program Director of the NLC PROTECTS Seminar Series, a nationwide program to train investigators and prosecutors involved in child exploitation cases.  Ms. Richards presents the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 and its ramifications on states at seminars across the country.  She also spoke at the 24th National Symposium on Child Abuse in Huntsville, Alabama and the 20th Annual Crimes Against Children Conference in Dallas, Texas.  Ms. Richards co-authored an article in Municipal Lawyer magazine that discusses the efforts of local governments to protect children from sex offenders. After graduating with a degree in psychology from the University of Virginia, she earned a J.D. at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law where she was Articles Editor of the Penn State International Law Review. She is licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. Brook T. Schaub is the manager of computer forensic technology for Virchow Krause & Company.  He is a retired sergeant from the Saint Paul Police Department (MN). His experience includes assignments to the Special Investigations Unit (Intelligence), Vice/Narcotics Unit, Training Unit, and Sex Crimes Unit.  Mr. Schaub wrote the initial Federal grant for the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and is a Seized Computer Evidence Recovery Specialist. He currently is a consultant on various Internet crimes, computer forensics, as well as missing and abducted children, to local law enforcement and the FBI.  He is a member of the Team Adam and Project Alert programs of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. He frequently is rapidly deployed on abducted child cases to assist local and federal law enforcement. Mr. Schaub also performs cold case reviews on missing children.

Officer Crystal Sedevie began her career in law enforcement in 1994.  She joined the Holmen Police Department in 1999 as a patrol officer.  Crystal has received specialized training in sexual assault and child abuse investigations.  In January 2006 she co-founded the Coulee Region Children’s Internet Protection Task Force with the late Investigator David Winjum of the Onalaska Police Department.  This was a first of its kind local county-wide task force formed to help combat the growing epidemic of the online exploitation of children.  Since co-founding the local task force, Crystal has become a Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Affiliate and attended over 120 hours of specialized training dealing with the online exploitation of children.  The task force has spoken to over 4500 children and adults on Internet safety in La Crosse County.

Ronald Shownes is a Marine Corps veteran, having served from 1963 to 1966.  He has a Bachelors of Science degree in the Administration of Justice, is a graduate of Northwestern University Traffic Institute Executive Management Program, and has a Master’s Degree in Human Resource Development.  He has 41 years of law enforcement experience and 23 years as a police officer, investigator, watch commander, identification expert, Major Case Squad Investigator, and Special Agent.  He also has 12 years as an instructor and director of training of a law enforcement training unit.  The training unit is part of the Illinois statewide system to deliver training to local law enforcement officers. He has served for six years as the Law Enforcement Coordinator for the United States Attorney’s for the Southern District of Illinois.

Investigator Jim Valley of the Door County Sheriffs Office has been in Law Enforcement for the past 13 years.  He is the co-founder of the Door County Internet Crimes Task Force and also the sheriffs department’s computer forensics unit. He has worked hundreds of internet cases along with homicides, drugs, white collar crime and numerous other investigations. He currently is in charge of the computer forensics for three neighboring jurisdictions.  In 2008 he received an award along with other task force members by the State of Wisconsin and Wisconsin Missing Children and adults for work done on a child predator investigation. 

Lieutenant Tim Wedding works in the Florida Office of Attorney General's Child Predator CyberCrime Unit Orlando Bureau.  In his over 21 years of law enforcement experience he has had a variety of assignments and experiences before coming to the Cybercrime Unit.  These included patrol officer, K9 handler, Property Crimes Investigator, General Assignment Investigator, Field Training Officer, Patrol Sergeant, Gang Unit Sergeant, SWAT Team Operator, and Crimes Against Children Unit Sergeant.  He has been awarded several commendations during his law enforcement career including the Medal of Valor while at the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and the recently the Unit Leadership Award with the Cybercrime Unit.  Lt. Wedding is also one of the original members of the Central Florida Child Abduction Response Team, the first such team in the United States.  He has a B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Central Florida in Orlando and has attended numerous training conferences and seminars in the area of law enforcement investigations.  Some of these include Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Investigative Techniques, ICAC Undercover Chat Investigations, ICAC Peer-to-Peer Investigations, Protecting Children Online-Unit Commander, Investigating Straightforward and Complex Child Abuse, and Child Abuse & Exploitation Investigations. 

Richard Whidden serves as Executive Director and Senior Counsel at the National Law Center for Children and Families.  He has managed and refocused the organization as a leader in law enforcement's efforts against child sexual exploitation and best practices in sex offender management. He has addressed local, state, national and international audiences concerning child exploitation crimes and sex offender management and is a frequent source for media interviews. Whidden is a former Interim County Attorney for Flagler County, Florida, one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. He first served as a local government attorney for the City of Gainesville, Florida handling land use, code enforcement and litigation matters. While with the City of Gainesville, Whidden attained board certification from the Florida Bar in City, County and Local Government law. He also served as Assistant Attorney General of Florida and Assistant General Counsel to the Florida Department of State. Whidden received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Alabama School of Law and his bachelor's degree from Florida State University. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Florida Bars.

Detective Suzanne Woodward is a 20-year veteran in law enforcement. She currently works for the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, Sex Offender Unit.  Detective Woodward established the existing sex offender program and maintains and tracks registered sex offenders in St. Lucie County.  She is an adjunct professor with the Indian River State College where she teaches at the police academy as well as advanced law enforcement classes.  She is a member of the St. Lucie County Child Abduction Response Team, presented at the 2008 S.M.A.R.T. National Conference, and most recently sat on an expert panel with the International Association of Chiefs of Police to assist in developing a curriculum for law enforcement and corrections on the management of sexual offenders.  Detective Woodward is a member of Sex Offender Management and Registration, a multi-jurisdictional intelligence group of which she had part in establishing.   She has also been deemed a Special Deputy with the U. S. Marshals Office – South Florida Task Force.  Detective Woodward has a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology/Criminal Justice.