DECATUR - Nine men have been arrested since October during sting operations by the Decatur Police Department Juvenile Investigations Unit as officers sought adults dealing in child pornography or wanting to have sex with children.

Three of the men who traveled to Decatur believing they would meet teenage girls for sexual encounters were from Texas, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Others came from Illinois communities.

"Some people think we shouldn't be bothered with them since they're not from Macon County," said State's Attorney Jack Ahola. "But is it this easy for kids to have sex? Somebody needs to be watching for these guys."

Police are using a favorite tool of sexual predators, the Internet, to find them.

The scenario is similar in many of the cases. A male Decatur police detective logs into a chat room posing as a teenage girl and waits for a man to strike up a conversation that leads to the man asking for a meeting to have sex. In several cases, the men soliciting the sexual favors have wanted to talk with the "girl" on the telephone. A female detective then posed as the teenager.

The start of Operation Predator by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in July 2003 is what prompted the Decatur police to get involved in the Internet stings.

When Decatur detectives went to special training for the online work that would be required, they came to realize the extent of the problem of adults preying on children, said Sgt. Gary Buenting, juvenile investigations unit supervisor. "The Internet reaches the four corners of the earth."

Detective Jeremy Welker has worked online cases involving men who were eventually arrested in Colorado and Louisiana. Federal authorities are prosecuting both cases.

In the Louisiana case, Welker will not have to be involved because when federal agents arrested the suspect and confiscated his computer they found evidence that he had shipped child pornography all over the country, Buenting said.

"People take (child pornography) pictures with camera phones or digital cameras, download them to their computers and ship them to their buddies," Buenting said.

Since Operation Predator began, more than 5,500 people have been arrested by federal, state or local authorities for various types of sexual involvement with children.

"We're trying to be pro-active," Buenting said of Decatur's participation. "We're trying to get something of a reputation. If these people see Decatur or Mount Zion on the Internet, they'll go someplace else or out of the country."

Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@;herald-review.com or 421-7973.