FBI Distributes Adult Images Hoping To Solve More Child Sex Abuse Crimes  

The FBI is distributing the images of adults who may have information about child sex abuse crimes.

They are taken from videos or pictures depicting children being abused.

Identifying children seen in pornographic images or videos can be a painstaking process.

Investigators said by sharing images or videos of the adults seen with victims, they are able to cast an even wider net.

“The ultimate goal is to identify victims or potential victims of child abuse or child pornography and identify not only the victim,” but also the perpetrator said FBI spokeswoman Andrea Anderson.

In many of the images and even videos the FBI said it's clear the men and women are committing the most despicable crimes.

“It's important for the FBI to protect our most vulnerable community and obviously children are one of those,” said Anderson.

And while investigators believe many of those pictured are criminals, Anderson said there's a chance they aren't the perpetrator.

“That may be somebody that witnessed a crime that may have been present in the background of a crime, maybe someone who is the peripheral, we would hope they would come forward and speak with us,” said Anderson.          

The images are disseminated on multiple platforms including the FBI's website.

They are only released if every other effort to identify the child has been exhausted.

“The FBI will take that content and will use identifiable images whether it's an adult that's in the images, identifiable markings, clothing, a picture on the wall, something that's highly identified,” said Anderson.             

If you recognize any of the images or may have witnessed a child crime contact the FBI.