74 | August• 2017
fund some two-thirds of the campaign
through donated time and services.
Mark, Hans and Albert-Jaap agreed
that Project Sweetie would be top
secret until it was completed. They
didn’t want online predators savvy
to their sting. Nor did they want
lawyers accusing them of entrapment
or policemen insisting police work
be left to them.
Mark brought three trusted associ-
ates from Lemz into the loop, and they
quietly reached out to Motek Entertain-
ment, a cutting-edge agency specialis-
ing in 3D modelling and animation.At first Albert-Jaap was apprehensive.
It was a complicated project for Terre
des Hommes and one with potential
legal implications. But Mark and Hans
were adamant the approach would
work. With Albert-Jaap convinced,
Hans was made team leader.
At the end of the meeting, they gave
the girl a name: Sweetie.
FROM ITS BEGINNINGin spring 2013,
‘Project Sweetie’ was a group effort.
Terre des Hommes would spend an
estimated €450,000 on it from start
to finish. Other contributors would PHOTOS: COURTESY TERRE DES HOMMES/MOTEK ENTERTAINMENT
‘Sweetie’ is a highly sophisticated
computer-generated animated persona
used to unmask online sex predators.
Sweetie – a composite of hundreds of
facial images – looked and moved so
realistically that thousands of adults
believed they were talking to a real child