Interpol launches manhunt for pedophile suspect By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer Tue May 6, 12:03 AM ET
Interpol launched a worldwide appeal to the public Tuesday to help identify a man suspected of sexually abusing young boys from Southeast Asia — hoping the rare move will lead to a quick arrest.
It was only the second time that the international police agency has appealed directly to the public for help in identifying a suspected pedophile. An arrest was made shortly after the first time last October.
The suspect in the latest case is a white man, shown with gray, thinning hair in photos released by Interpol. He appeared to be in his late 40s or early 50s in the images.
Interpol said that despite two years of investigations, it and other police agencies have been unable to determine his identity, nationality or whereabouts — hence the decision to appeal publicly for information.
"The law enforcement community around the world has done all it can to find this man who clearly presents a danger to young children, and we are now asking the public to help identify this predator and protect other potential victims from abuse," Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said in a statement.
In interviews at the agency's headquarters in Lyon, France, Interpol officials said they had recovered photos of the man that allegedly show him sexually abusing at least three boys, apparently between the ages of 6 and 10. The boys appear to be from Southeast Asia — though Interpol officials declined to specify any possible countries.
Kristin Kvigne, assistant director of Interpol's division that combats people trafficking, said it was impossible to know how many other children the man could have abused.
"There are at least three child victims that are in the images, but it could be more," she said in an interview.
Kvigne said the photos show "severe abuse" by the man, but she declined to go into detail.
Two graphic photos seen by The Associated Press, which were not made public, appeared to show the man sexually abusing a tanned thin boy.
"It's important to know that these images were found on the Internet, so the attention that he is going to draw is attention that he actually put on himself when perpetrating against children," Kvigne said.
Interpol said it believes that the photos were taken between April 2000 and May 2001.
Police first became aware of the suspect in March 2006, when photos of him were found on the computer hard-drive of a man arrested in Norway who was later convicted on pedophilia-related charges, Interpol said.
Police then cross-checked those photos against others found on the Internet, to see if there were matches that might link the man to other alleged abuse.
In October, suspected pedophile Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old teacher from Canada, was arrested in Thailand just 11 days after Interpol issued a global appeal to help apprehend him.
In that case, Neil's face had originally been disguised in Internet photos with a digital swirl. Police managed to reverse the swirl process, unmasking his face, and Interpol released those cleaned-up images publicly. Neil was arrested in Thailand on Oct. 19, 2007. He went on trial in March, accused of sexually abusing a 9-year-old boy.
In the latest case, the man did not appear to make any effort to hide his identity on the photos that were seized on the computer in Norway, Interpol officials said.
Interpol officials said they don't know why the man did not attempt to disguise his face, but noted that pedophiles sometimes reveal their identities to win trust in child-sex offender circles, in hopes of getting access to other children or images.
Kvigne said Interpol was "very careful" in weighing the decision to launch the appeal.
"Our main concern is of course the safety of children," she said.
Among the risks, she said, are that an innocent person might be incorrectly identified, "and that's why we encourage people to call police if they believe they know who this man is."
She said people should contact their local police or Interpol, "but to take no action on their own." She also said she hoped the man would come forward to police himself.
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Associated Press Writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago
PARIS - Police detained a suspected pedophile in New Jersey Thursday, just two days after Interpol made a rare appeal for public help in the international manhunt to catch him, the police agency said.
Wayne Nelson Corliss, 58, was detained in Union City, N.J., Interpol said. He is suspected of sexually abusing at least three boys from Southeast Asia thought to have been as young as 6 to 10 years old at the time, the international police agency said.
Interpol had asked for the public's help because two years of police investigations had failed to determine the man's identity, nationality and whereabouts.
The agency's head, Ronald Noble, called the appeal an "extraordinary success" and that such calls for public help could in future be expanded from child sex offenders to "seriously wanted international criminals."
Without the public appeal, "this guy would still be out there," Noble said.
It was only the second time that Interpol had launched such a public manhunt for a suspected pedophile. The first time, in October, led to the quick arrest by police in Thailand of Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old Canadian who went on trial in March on charges that he abused a 9-year-old boy.
Interpol said images of Corliss allegedly abusing children had circulated on the Internet. He was detained after Interpol's appeal drew nearly 250,000 visits in just 24 hours to the agency's Web site, where photos of the man were posted, and several strong leads e-mailed in by people who recognized him, Noble said.
"Live by the sword, die by the sword," the Interpol secretary-general said in a telephone interview. Without the Internet, the suspect "wouldn't have been able to circulate his sexual abuse on the Internet. But if it hadn't been for the Internet, we wouldn't have been able to catch this guy."
Photos seized by police in Norway in 2006 from the computer of a man later convicted of child sex offenses showed Corliss' alleged abuse, the international police agency said. He did not appear to make any effort to hide his identity in the photos, officials said.
New Jersey State Police said Corliss is not a registered sex offender there.
Because of the lack of basic information about the man, Interpol officials had been simply calling the suspect "Mr. IDent" — shortened from the word identity.
Photos released by Interpol showed a gray-haired white man wearing glasses or lying on a checkered mattress or blanket in a yellow plaid shirt. Other photos seen by The Associated Press, not among those made public, appeared to show the man engaged in sexual acts with boys.
A computerized Interpol database of child abuse images played a part in the hunt for the man. The first photos seized in Norway and others received in the two years since were run through the database of more than 520,000 images.
In all, the database and police investigations helped turn up a total of around 800 images, including nearly 100 of the man himself and others of his suspected victims or places where he is thought to have committed his alleged crimes, Interpol said.
The suspect in the latest case is a white man, shown with gray, thinning hair in photos released by Interpol. He appeared to be in his late 40s or early 50s in the images.
I was gonna say, he looked a lot older than "late 40's"
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Wayne Nelson Corliss, 58, was detained in Union City, N.J
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