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ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER ORANGE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA 
PHOTO: Investigator Jeff Brown, right, of the Orange County Sheriff's Department gets information from a law enforcement volunteer while investigating a lead in a case involving a man suspected of possessing child pornography in Laguna Beach. The little girl cries. For days the 8-year-old – small for her age, her long dark hair in braids – has not been sleeping or eating much. Late at night, she finally breaks down and tells her mom why. The call comes in just before midnight to investigators on the Orange County Sheriff's Department Special Victims Detail – cops who solve sex crimes, about half of them committed against children. In the morning, county social workers are interviewing the Stanton girl. By 3 p.m., the investigators – keeping their tactics secret – get the girl's 22-year-old uncle to reveal a horrible secret. They plot his arrest. For a unit that deals with the most savage and incomprehensible of crimes – from a 4-week-old Lake Forest boy sexually abused and beaten by his father, to an 83-year-old Holocaust survivor sexually assaulted and beaten in her Rossmoor home – the Stanton case almost could be called routine. Imagine that. ••• The mouse pad on investigator Jeff Brown's desk is worn nearly to tatters, but it shows the smiling faces of his three kids and their mother in a faded color photograph. Family man. Brown, his hair buzzed short, his body shaped by morning workouts at the gym, is father to twin girls, 10, and a son, 16. He's been investigating sex crimes – a specialty that repulses most deputies – for nearly a decade. He and his four investigative colleagues relish it. During his 22 years in the sheriff's department, Brown has worked the jails, patrol and fraud. But in terms of making a difference, he says, nothing compares to solving sex crimes – especially when they involve young victims. "You ask anyone in law enforcement why they got into it, and they all say the same thing: to help people," says Brown, 46, his right hand still sore from a scuffle, in early July, with a fleeing suspect in a child pornography case. "For the first time in my career, I truly feel like I can change things." ••• Sandra Longnecker, 36 -- married to a cop, the mother of a boy, 6, and a girl, 2 – grew up in Northern California reading true-crime tales. She's had a lifelong desire to put away people who commit sex crimes. "My mother thinks I'm sick," she says with a laugh. Child sexual abuse, child pornography, adult sexual abuse, indecent exposure – Longnecker and her colleagues deal with it all. Humor is a shield. They're all close friends, going on camping trips together and talking on their cell phones late into the night. "Instinctively, we're drawn to each other," Longnecker says. "It's almost like we speak a different language." A lot of what Longnecker and the other investigators say is not printable. A lot of how her job affects her remains private. "I'm not going to lie," says Longnecker, her French-manicured nails tapping on a table in a break room. "Are there times when I go home and shed a tear? Yes, of course." It's a busy day in "The Pit," the nickname for the aging office at sheriff's headquarters in Santa Ana that houses the Special Victims Detail – a euphemism meant to soften the ugly reality of the job. In The Pit, old desks are placed atop worn brown carpet. Investigators sit in black-vinyl, high-backed chairs – a prison, of sorts, where they're often forced to spend hours looking into their computer screens at child pornography. On one wall of The Pit are framed photos and news stories of convicted sex offenders: a female Tustin High School athletic trainer convicted of having sex with a student, an animal shelter supervisor who sexually assaulted inmates, a deputy found guilty of fondling prostitutes. Near that wall is Longnecker's desk. And that desk is where the Stanton case lands. ••• Brown and another colleague, investigator Delrey McKenzie, 46 – married to a cop, mother of a 5-year-old boy – are trying to find a suspected child pornographer. A tip came in that the suspect, a married father, recently moved to Laguna Beach. Months ago, the suspect was arrested on a domestic violence charge after he and his wife fought over a computer hard drive. She'd found downloaded pictures of children engaged in sex acts. The two reconciled, and the wife apparently decided to forget about the pictures. Not Brown. Forensic tests confirmed the presence of child-porn images on the man's computer. Brown and McKenzie enlist the aid of investigator Jason Park and their boss, Sgt. Chris Cormier. While Longnecker works the phones on the Stanton case, the other four head to Laguna Beach – hunting for the seediest of suspects in the sunniest of settings. "Sexual abuse and other sex-related crimes like child pornography are very common – it happens everywhere," Brown says, driving his unmarked Crown Victoria. And there is no typical sex offender, he says. Teachers, cops, relatives, acquaintances – they come in all forms. Today, the investigators have a chance to nab two suspects. "Any day we have an arrest is a good day," Brown says. Would today be a good day? -------------------------------------------- DAY TWO 
PHOTO: Investigator Sandra Longnecker has to take a call involving a sex crime while taking a portrait with one of her partners, Investigator Jeff Brown, in the Sheriff's Department headquarters in Santa Ana. Brown and Longnecker work in the Special Victims Detail which deals with sex crimes. Veteran cop Jeff Brown razzes his partner, Sandra Longnecker, about her girly appearance – glossy lips, painted nails, fashionable blue blouse. "Do you have pink handcuffs?" he says. The two are among five investigators who specialize in sex-crimes for the Orange County Sheriff's Department. They engage in effortless, affectionate banter. "I'm his work wife," says Longnecker. The friends and colleagues hunt down some of the county's most loathed and dangerous criminals – child rapists, traffickers in kiddie porn, sexual abusers of the elderly and disabled. "In many ways, these criminals are worse than killers," Brown says. "Their victims live with the trauma they suffered." For Brown and Longnecker, it's all about payoff. They lock up the bad guys and help little boys and girls sleep easier. For that, they say, dealing with an unending stream of ugliness – the child porn they're forced to watch, the broken families they interview – is worth it. ••• On this day, Longnecker is working alone, closing in on arresting a 22-year-old Stanton man suspected of molesting his 8-year-old niece. Meanwhile, Brown and two other investigators, along with their boss, Sgt. Chris Cormier, are trying to find a married father whose computer, confiscated during a previous domestic-violence arrest, contained images of child pornography. Some of the picture appear to be of kids as young as 2. They don't have a specific address – just a Laguna Beach street where he may be living. Pick a neighborhood in Orange County, Brown says. If there are 100 homes in the neighborhood, about 10 will house a child being sexually abused, or an adult downloading child pornography, or a rapist. Brown says sex crimes are happening everywhere – right under our noses. But, he adds, many parents in Orange County, particularly those who live in affluence, think it can't happen to their kids. The statistics are chilling. One in five girls and one in 10 boys will be victims of sexual abuse before their 18th birthdays, says Brown, citing national law enforcement numbers. Brown and Longnecker often speak before groups about the prevalence of sex-related crimes against children – and what parents should know. It's a topic that can turn the stomach, but one they are passionate about. "Isn't it sad we have to have law enforcement officers who are experts in this field?" Orange County Sherriff Sandra Hutchens said at a recent forum on children's safety. "I will tell you, they work the most difficult of assignments." The trauma of sexual assault is profound. And police statistics estimate that up to half of all sexual assaults are not even reported. Cormier says only a few cops are willing – or able – to take the trauma that comes every day when working sex crimes. "Can you imagine looking into the eyes of an 8-year-old girl telling you she has been repeatedly raped by a relative for years?'' ••• It's a good day for the beach. Brown and his partners are a block from the ocean. A breeze is blowing around their neckties. They are trying to get an address for their child pornography suspect. They visit some real estate offices, flash their badges, and ask questions. They cruise down a narrow street, spot a mail carrier. No luck. "A lot of what we do may seem boring," says Brown, grabbing a quick sandwich at around 2:30 p.m. Brown's cell phone jangles to life. It's Longnecker, telling him that an investigative assistant is at the home of the 8-year-old Stanton girl, and that the suspect – her 22-year-old uncle, a construction worker – just showed up. Longnecker adds that she's heading over to the house to make the arrest. Brown and his team decide to head to Stanton, too. ••• Brown talks about the particular type of bad guys he and his co-workers chase down — they're brazen, manipulative and, ultimately, compulsive. Some predators mail cell phones to young teens they meet over the Internet – the better to arrange a secret rendezvous, he says. The investigators also are confounded by parents oblivious to the possibilities their children face. They see the single working mother who lets her new boyfriend watch her child, or the parents who don't notice that their kid is being showered with unexpected gifts from an adult. Likewise, Brown and Longnecker cannot explain what drives someone to sexually assault a child. Ultimately, though, that's not so important. "I think I'm glad I don't understand why," Brown says. ••• By the time Brown and his team get to Stanton, Longnecker has made her arrest. According to the victim, the suspect has been fondling her on and off since before her third birthday. Living nearby, he would visit the girl and allegedly molest her while her mother and three siblings were in another room. Since he was family, the mother trusted him, Longnecker says. "I cuffed him," she says. "He was totally cooperative." Longnecker delivers the suspect, still wearing dirty construction clothes, to the Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana. He's booked on suspicion of child molestation. The next day is Brown's day off. Investigators find out where the suspected child pornographer who they believe lives in Laguna Beach works. They call Brown. No more day off. He stakes out the suspect's office in Santa Ana. The man – mid-50s, two children – emerges. Brown collars him. He is booked on suspicion of possession of child pornography. Yes, Brown says – it was a good day. Two in a row, in fact.
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