Jason Ortitay.jpg Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-Washington, speaks about Alicia’s Law on the floor of the state House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Legislation passed in the state House of Representatives this week could dovetail with a task force created last year by District Attorney Cody Brown.

House members unanimously passed House Bill 1098, known as Alicia’s Law, to create a dedicated state grant program to help law enforcement find, investigate and prosecute internet predators who target children. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Jason Ortitay, R-Washington, and Rep. Jessica Benham, D-Allegheny. The legislation will now move to the state Senate for consideration.

The bill is named for Alicia Kozak, a Pittsburgh-area girl who was abducted in 2002 at the age of 13 by a man she met online. It was one of the first documented cases of its kind in the country. Kozak survived and has spent years advocating for stronger protections so other children don’t go through what she did.

“Alicia’s story is not a relic of the early internet,” Ortitay said. “It’s a preview of what happens when kids have unlimited access to strangers online, and we don’t give law enforcement the tools to keep up. With social media now in the hands of children as young as nine or 10, these crimes are not slowing down. They are accelerating. This law puts Pennsylvania on offense.”

House Bill 1098 would establish the Investigation and Prosecution of Internet Crimes Against Children Program within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The program creates a state-level funding structure to pay for law enforcement task forces made up of state and local prosecutors dedicated to investigating and prosecuting online crimes against minors; supplement federal funding for task forces combating child sexual exploitation online; and train task force members on the latest techniques for detecting, investigating and prosecuting these crimes.

“Protecting children from exploitation must remain a top priority for lawmakers,” Benham said. “By supporting local task forces across the Commonwealth to specifically investigate these crimes, this bill would strengthen Pennsylvania’s ability to prosecute perpetrators and create more tools for our communities to keep kids safe. I am proud to partner on a solution that puts the safety and well-being of our children first.”

The state task forces would work alongside the existing federal Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program, which funds 61 task forces nationally. Currently, Pennsylvania has just one federally funded ICAC task force. Alicia’s Law creates the infrastructure to expand that capacity using state resources. Versions of Alicia’s Law are already on the books in 12 other states.

“Parents are doing everything right and their kids are still being targeted,” Ortitay added. “That is not a parenting failure. It is a policy failure, and this bill starts to fix it. Alicia Kozak had the courage to tell her story publicly so that other families could be protected. Passing this law is the least we can do to honor that.”

In September, county District Attorney Cody Brown announced the launch of the WRATH (Web Response Against Traffickers and Harmers) unit, a specialized investigative unit of local law enforcement officers committed to protecting children from online exploitation. WRATH is dedicated to the identification and capture of individuals who prey on children through digital means. Its mission is to expose and prosecute those who seek to exploit minors online.

“The launch of WRATH represents a strong and proactive step in defending our children from online predators,” Brown said in September. “If you attempt to exploit children online, we will find you and we will stop you.”

The unit will target offenders who attempt to victimize children through online communication or by possessing and distributing child pornography. By utilizing advanced investigative technology, WRATH will identify predators and hold them accountable under the law. WRATH will also work in partnership with other law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth and is formally associated with ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children), a nationwide program of task forces dedicated to combating the sexual exploitation of children online.