Dear ILF Family,

I want you to take a moment and close your eyes and imagine a world where your children, my children, and every child can feel safe on the Internet. A world where they don’t have to worry about being trafficked. A world where they have places they can go to for help, assistance, and care, especially if that is not their home or family. I know, even reading that myself, it seems like this may be a fantasy. True, changing the whole world may not be possible in short order, but this year each of you helped that vision become ever closer to being a reality.

Your kindness and financial support assisted the ILF in reaching a milestone – as we celebrated our 5th anniversary, we also were proud to have worked over 730 cases in those 5 short years. 474 of those cases went to law enforcement and helped stop child predators, saved kids from being groomed, or stopped the production and sale of CSAM.

Without you and your donations, this mission does not happen.

Your financial support helped our close to 50 volunteers and 5 employees work hard to make sure this mission is always moving forward.

As we start our new year, our team is stronger than it has ever been. Shane is still at the forefront leading the team as COO. John Mitchell has taken up the role of event coordinator and fundraiser. Cardell has joined us as the official… well, everything else that needs to be done. Erin, the amazing and always so positive Wellness Director, is ensuring that, as an organization, we are mentally healthy. And we are proud to have the brand new addition of Ernesto; sharing his special talents in OSINT, investigations, and organization. He is helping me lead the Predator Identification Team (PIT). Together this team is in the trenches every day, fighting for all children to have that vision come true.

The following report should give you a very clear picture of our mission, our guiding principles, and our financial status as a non-profit organization, but if you have questions or suggestions please reach out to us.

In closing, I make one plea to all of you reading this, dig deep this year. The pandemic has created an environment where we have seen a massive increase in the production of child abuse material, a leap in children being manipulated into sending self-taken nudes, an alarming increase in children being trafficked on a global scale and all of these horrors happening to younger and younger victims. This fight can only be won with your help. We need your support. If you have the talent, time, and desire to volunteer, please reach out to us. We know that not everyone can volunteer, so consider becoming an ILF Hero and setting up monthly donations to help us continue our work.

From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to read this, for being part of our mission, and for caring enough about children to help us defend the innocent.

Sincerely,
Christopher Hadnagy
CEO and Founder

The Innocent Lives Foundation (ILF) is a nonprofit organization consisting of accomplished technology experts. These professionals offer their time and expertise to protect children by identifying the sexual predators who target them online and in real life. As a non-vigilante organization, we have a strong relationship with U.S. and international law enforcement agencies. Once a child predator has been identified by our team a complete report is sent to law enforcement so that these cases have the best chance of leading to prosecutions and arrests.

As the ILF learns more about the predator landscape, we provide information to parents and other responsible adults through education and outreach with the purpose of helping them to become knowledgeable about online safety. Our goal is to lessen the number of cases that require identification with the ultimate mission to “Identify anonymous child predators and help bring them to justice.”

Every day we decide to place our trust in someone, whether it’s a hairdresser who cuts our hair just the way we like it, a rideshare driver who gets us to our destination safely, or the person we choose to look after our children when we cannot. What does it take to trust someone with our children?

In late 2021 the Innocent Lives Foundation was approached by law enforcement to assist them with an active case. At least two subjects were under investigation for involvement in producing, distributing, and consuming child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Even more disturbing is that the victim was under five years of age, and it appeared that the mother might have been involved. Although law enforcement had the two subjects’ names and warrants issued, the subjects were proving very difficult to find.

The objective of the Innocent Lives Foundation was to locate the subjects and provide additional insight regarding the apparent involvement of all parties.

The first subject, who we will refer to as “John,” was located in a short period of time by the ILF Predator Identification Team (PIT) using Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) methods and specialized software provided by one of our Impact Sponsors.

The mother, who we will refer to as “Mary,” was much more challenging to locate and had numerous social media accounts. Four PIT members worked tirelessly until they had their first breakthrough.

As the PIT dug deeper into “Mary’s” social media presence, they reviewed any account that appeared to have a connection to her. Finally, they discovered a profile where she shared videos of herself unboxing packages she had received. One of the boxes’ shipping labels was in view; unfortunately, the quality of the image was extremely poor. Another PIT member had the skill set to enhance the photo enough to make the label legible, revealing a match to an unverified address the PIT already had discovered. Law enforcement was notified, and “Mary” was successfully located.

With reports completed and sent to law enforcement, the ILF portion of the case was complete.

The Rest of the Story

Typically the ILF does not hear back from law enforcement after a case has been accepted; however, this time was different.

“John” is a middle-aged man who was a consumer and distributor of the CSAM. Currently, “John” faces sentencing of over 50 years in prison for his involvement in this case and others. This sentencing effectively ends “John’s” career as a predator, and he will never be able to victimize another child again.

We are happy to report that despite earlier indications, the child’s mother “Mary” had no involvement in the abuse of her child – she was unaware this content had been made and distributed. “Mary” worked with law enforcement and successfully identified the abuser of her daughter and the producer of the CSAM, who we will call “Bill.”

“Bill” was abusing, recording, and distributing the CSAM of “Mary’s” daughter. The man was a close friend whom she often trusted with her child. “Bill” even ran a business that granted him easy access to other children. Because of “Bill’s” abuse of the children under his care, we do know that he is in custody now and awaiting judgment from the judicial
system.

Why We Share This Story

Even though the investigation began with “John,” pulling on this thread revealed “Bill’s” involvement in this story. This is not unusual; often, predators are a part of a larger cell, and abuse of this type is rarely limited to one child. The impact of submitting just one more case can be exponential and can protect the innocence of many children.

One of our guiding principles is to conduct our casework in a way that is above reproach. When a child’s future is at stake, it is imperative that we be conscious of our biases and how they could influence our research and judgment. Given that “Mary,” the mother, appeared to be hiding from her warrant and that 93% of abuse1 occurs among friends and family, it could have been reasonable to assume that she was involved in her daughter’s abuse. We must take our time and pay attention to the evidence because things are not always as they appear.

Unfortunately, the world our children grow up in is plagued by predators and other unhealthy individuals. “Mary” had every reason to believe her child was safe in the care of “Bill.” Not only was he a close family friend, but his business and professional credentials gave her further reason for trust. Once we become aware of this issue, it may seem overwhelming, but do not give up hope, and do not stop fighting for our children.

The ILF identifies predators; YOU make it possible!