76 | August• 2017
OPERATION ‘SWEETIE’
broke a story that would in a matter of
days be a global news phenomenon.
“This is the largest sexual abuse
case in history,” said Albert-Jaap. He
explained how Terre des Hommes
researchers had identified so many
child predators. “Video footage of
those predators has been handed
over to the police authorities today.”
The Dutch police duly passed on the
files to Europol. Those concerning in-
dividuals outside Europe went to Inter-
pol, which distributed them to police
in the relevant countries. Scott Rob-
ert Hansen’s file finally landed on the
desks of the Australian Federal Police.TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014
QUEENSLAND, AUSTRALIAH
ansen looked on helplessly as
federal police officers clicked
through the files on his home
computer, knowing what they would
find: 11 hours of the most depraved
child sexual exploitation films, along
with 79 images of child pornography.
By the end of the day he would be in
police custody.
On Tuesday, October 21, 2014, Judge
Julie Ryrie looked down at Hansen
from her bench in Brisbane District
Court. The records showed that he
was no first time offender. He’d flashed
young kids on numerous occasions
and even attempted to snatch a child
on her way home from school – crimes
for which he had done prison time.
Now Hansen was facing charges not
just for possession of child exploitationtheir identity. When they did, she
would appear, her movements guided
by the keystrokes of her operators.
Hans was shocked by the obscene
requests these men were making.
Bestiality. Rape scenes. Violence.
Amplifying the horror was the fact
that Hans was a father himself. His
twin boys were almost the same age
as Sweetie.
The operation continued for ten
weeks. Sweetie entered just 19 of
the 40,000 chat rooms the FBI esti-
matesarepopulatedbypredators.
Yet she interacted with more than
20,000 men.
On the air-gapped laptop was a list
of the real identities of more than 1000
predators from 71 countries around
the world. Scott Robert Hansen’s
name and location were there.
On November 4, 2014, at Terre
des Hommes headquarters, Albert-
Jaap looked out over the crowd of
reporters and television cameras that
surrounded the podium where he
stood. Adjusting the microphone, he
“THIS IS THE
LARGEST SEXUAL
ABUSE CASE IN
HISTORY. VIDEO HAS
BEEN HANDED TO
THE POLICE”