UCC project helps find US paedophile

AN American foster father arrested for multiple child rape in one of the worst cases of abuse in the US was tracked down with the help of an Irish team of experts.

University College Cork’s COPINE project (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe) officially became involved in the case on March 10, but has been tracking the progress of the abuse of the children for almost two years via the internet.

Ronald Harold Young, aged 41, was arrested at his home on the Key Peninsula, west of Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington. He was held for investigation into 32 counts of first-degree child rape, 10 counts of distribution of images of children engaged in sexually explicit acts, 10 counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of child molestation. Bail was set at $2 million (€1.6m).