A dad putting his young son to bed offhandedly points to a box of porn in the corner of the child’s bedroom, asking him not to look at it during the night – “even the really weird stuff that could scar you for life.”

Oh, he adds, and ignore the Russian hacker sitting against the wall, along with the mean girls from school who’ll be standing there laughing and mocking you all night.

The nightmarish scene is from an ingenious, darkly sardonic public service announcement video from grassroots group Smartphone Free Childhood US. And it should scare every parent in America – because all of that naked depravity and more is already available to any unattended child with a smartphone.

The video certainly seized the attention of Ryan Kriegshauser – a father of three, and just as importantly the new U.S. attorney for the state of Kansas. He served as interim U.S. attorney beginning in July before his belated confirmation in December.

The internet has brought transnational criminals and some of the most sadistic, evil people on the planet to everyone’s doorstep, even in the geographical center of the United States, Kriegshauser warns in an exclusive interview with The Heartlander.

Fighting that new-age threat and protecting Kansans and especially children is Kriegshauser’s top priority.

Of special interest is the so-called 764 online network, described as “a violent, decentralized online criminal network and ‘gore group’ that targets children and teenagers (typically ages 10-17) for extreme exploitation, extortion, and harassment.”

Kriegshauser is so concerned with it – and with Kansas parents’ likely ignorance of it – that he’s planning a press conference about it in the coming weeks.

With a national security background in the Navy, Kriegshauser puts the network on his list of priorities right up there with transnational criminal organizations.

“Along with that are nihilist violent extremist organizations like 764 and some of these other networks that really reside in the darkest corners of the internet,” he says. “And oftentimes they’re engaged in child exploitation, but then just other very sadistic and frankly evil activity. And so that is a priority. …

“These nihilist, violent extremist organizations have an ideology that wants to bring damage to the entire world and basically just destroy things. That often includes people. And that is their motivating ideology, and it’s scary stuff.”

A coming press conference

Do most Kansas parents even know about 764 and its alleged violent sextortion and blackmail; its encouraging teens to self-harm and even suicide; its swatting and doxxing; or its pressure to engage in animal cruelty, even with family pets?

“I don’t think so,” Kriegshauser says. “And I’ve really thought that one of my roles – and one of the reasons why I’m doing this interview – is to educate people. I have to get out there and talk about it. And I think we’re looking at doing a press conference next month, just talking about these dangers on the internet, like 764, because I don’t think parents know.

“The point of the [Smartphone Free Childhood US] PSA is, parents do that all the time by letting their kids go to bed with their smartphones. That’s exactly what they’re doing, is allowing access to the internet to their children without any kind of supervision. And it’s incredibly dangerous. 

“We live in a world now where smartphones are ubiquitous and we carry them around. They’re incredibly powerful tools and we have to respect them as such. And sometimes we just don’t do a good job of that with our kids.”

Transnational crime targeting nation’s heartland

On transnational criminal organizations, a Homeland Security Task Force focused on Kansas has been established, with operations out of Kansas City and Wichita. “That is going to always be a major priority,” Kriegshauser says, “because that’s where a lot of the guns and drugs come from, are these transnational criminal organizations.”

Another priority for Kriegshauser is protecting Kansans, especially seniors, from increasingly sophisticated and brazen scams, often international in origin. Here again Kriegshauser’s background comes in handy – his having spent time at the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner, where he oversaw prosecutions and prosecuted white-collar crime himself.

Reporting by vigilant citizens is always a huge help to law enforcement, but even more so when it comes to protecting people from scams, Kriegshauser says.

“I’ve spent a lot of time talking to bankers, talking to investment advisors and broker dealers, CPAs – just people who are willing to just ask the next question. 

“You know, if they see an 87-year-old coming in to buy $200,000 worth of gold bars, just asking ‘Now, what’s going on here?’ and just inquiring a little bit about why this withdrawal is happening, why they’re liquidating stocks. Because oftentimes, you’ll find that these people have been duped into some kind of scam or a fraud.

“And that is never picked up on the front end quickly by law enforcement because it has to be reported, and these scammers are very good at convincing people not to talk about it and not to talk to their children about it if they’re elderly, or their banker. 

“And they give them a script about what to say if someone asks you questions when you’re withdrawing money, or they try to circumvent that by using cash gift cards. If someone’s using a cash gift card in a strange way, some questions should be asked. 

“They don’t have to be incredibly intrusive, but it would really help for people to just check on folks that are doing things that are odd financially – like these Bitcoin kiosks that are popping up all over the state. There are some legitimate transactions that you would do on a kiosk, but not necessarily every elderly person that is trying to use one is for a legitimate reason. 

“You’ve got to ask why they’re doing some of those things, because it becomes very difficult, not impossible, but more difficult when those transactions in Bitcoin occur.”

Case numbers, sentences, on the rise

How are federal prosecutions going to be different under Trump than they were under Biden?

“How we approach our sentences, I think, has changed somewhat,” Kriegshauser says. “We follow the [federal sentencing] guidelines, but we’re fairly aggressive in how we resolve cases. 

“And we’ve made some changes to different programs, like a fast-track program for people who are in the country illegally, getting them removed rather quickly, rather than necessarily prosecuting them in some cases. Removals in general are much quicker now. And oftentimes we don’t even see those people in court because they’re just administratively removed. …

“And the case numbers are increasing. I’ve been committed to increasing cases and increasing coordination with law enforcement. I’ve been a state prosecutor. I’ve been a deputy county prosecutor. I’ve been a municipal prosecutor. And my frustration in the past is that the feds sit in this ivory tower, you know, and no one quite knows what they’re doing but they’re doing something important – more important than taking my case that I’m trying to get them to adopt.  

“I’m really trying to change that mindset and mentality to really involve ourselves with law enforcement and be a partner. And I think that results in a lot more case adoptions. And so those case numbers are going up.”

Are state and local law enforcement agencies cooperating with federal?

“Well, in Kansas, we have a lot of cooperation, quite a bit. And we have very few problems,” he says. “By and large, there’s little daylight between us and law enforcement.”

The Heartlander asked Kriegshauser whether the fentanyl crisis is different since President Trump secured the border – and it just so happens Kriegshauser was just on a quarterly intelligence call for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program.

“Fentanyl has dropped in danger to No. 2 [in Kansas] and meth, interestingly, has moved up to No. 1,” he says. “So, it’s had a huge impact. The amount of fentanyl coming into the country has reduced, which has resulted in more meth being available. And that’s concerning. But the reason why we think that may be happening is because the access to fentanyl is not as prevalent.”

Renewed focus on safe neighborhoods

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods, designed to increase federal, state and local cooperation – and federal penalties – in cases of illegal weapons and gun violence, is another priority for Kriegshauser.

“That’s something that we are really picking up on. And a lot of the key aspects of that is felons in possession of firearms. I’m a huge proponent of the Second Amendment, but dangerous individuals and felons shouldn’t have access to those weapons. And that’s a great tool that we can use to keep our neighborhoods safe. We are very forward-leaning on those cases and keeping firearms away from bad people that just should not have them.”

Was there a lull in such prosecutions under the Biden DOJ?

“There’s been a lull, I’ll say, in [Felon-in-Possession] cases here over the past few years. And so that had decreased. And we’re getting that back up.”

Human trafficking jam

Some say human trafficking is such a huge problem that there’s a near-100% chance of bumping into a trafficked individual when out on the town in any big city.

Is it really that bad?

“Yeah, I think it’s really pervasive,” Kriegshauser says. “We’re having the World Cup come here this summer, and I think that’s one thing that we’re very focused on. We have task forces working on those aspects of it, because it is incredibly prevalent. It’s something that we’re focused on eradicating.”

Feature photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash.