FRANKFORT, KY – On Monday Attorney General Russell Coleman released the following statement after the Kentucky House of Representatives passed HB 207, sponsored by Representative Stephanie Dietz (R-Edgewood):
“Today, courageous leaders in the Kentucky House took a unanimous step toward protecting our children from exploitation. We must stop this evil here. Law enforcement and prosecutors must have innovative tools to take on criminals who prey on our kids with AI-generated child sex abuse material and sickening child sex dolls. If we don’t, these predators are likely to escalate to the hands-on sexual abuse of children.
“I’m grateful to Representative Stephanie Dietz for championing this legislation and to Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders for emphasizing its importance. I encourage the Senate to take up this bill without delay so we can immediately protect our children.”
BACKGROUND
Last month, Jeremy Murrell, Deputy Commissioner for Counter Exploitation in the Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) testified before the House Judiciary Committee in support of Rep. Dietz’s bill. Attorney General Coleman named Murrell the first-ever DCI Deputy Commissioner for Counter Exploitation to fulfill his priority of protecting Kentucky children from vile predators.
On Friday, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky and the FBI Louisville Field Office announced the arrest of a Louisville teacher who allegedly distributed digitally-manipulated explicit images of children.
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