Gov. Walker Signs 'Alicia's Law' to Battle Internet Sex Crimes

Tuesday, Governor Scott Walker signed two bills at the Waukesha County Courthouse aimed at keeping children safe from sexual predators.

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel says there are about 4,000 known computers involved in some type of internet child sex crime in Wisconsin. Officials say because of the newly signed ‘Alicia’s Law’ they have a tool to make it easier to catch those predators.

‘Alicia’s Law’ will make it easier to link a computer to the person using it to do things like upload child porn, or traffic a child.

State Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) said, "So it's like being able to look in a phone book and find somebody in the phone book and find what number they have."

The law is named after an advocate and survivor, Alicia Kozakiewicz.

She said, "In 2002, when I was 13, I was groomed and lured from my home by an internet predator who held me in his basement dungeon where I was raped and beaten and tortured."

It was live-streamed online. By tracking the computer, FBI agents were able to find where Alicia was being held, and save her. Since then, she's going state by state getting her law passed so more exploited children can be saved.

In Waukesha Tuesday, she said, "To be here today and know the right decision was made, and it's made in such a powerful way and to know that there will be so many children who are saved from hell, who are saved from being tortured. It's incredible."

The second bill closes loophole in Wisconsin that let parents to make their own kids victims of child porn. Schimel described a case, out of Chippewa County, where a sex offender was taking sexual pictures of his kid.

Schimel said, "Because of the former state law he couldn't be prosecuted for that. So all we did today is we eliminated that loophole. Parents can still take pictures of their child when they're in the bathtub. It's cute when it's for that appropriate purpose."

Because of Alicia’s Law, more money will go to internet crimes against children investigations.

It comes from a court fee added when people are convicted of other crimes.