Police Release Photo in Search for Abused Girl on the Internet

Detectives released a photograph Wednesday that they hoped would help them identify a girl seen in a series of sexually explicit pictures that were taken at a Walt Disney World hotel and other locations and have circulated over the Internet for the last three years.

The newly released photo is of another girl who investigators do not believe was sexually exploited.

But the backgrounds of the images of the two girls have enough similarities, including furniture and exercise equipment, that detectives believe they may have been in the same place at the same time, said Sgt. Matt Irwin, a sheriff’s detective.

The second girl’s image was included in a collage found on the Web that included the sexually exploited girl, who detectives believe has been sexually abused almost daily for the last several years and has appeared in 200 explicit Internet photos.

Orange County Sheriff Kevin Beary said the photo was being released “in hopes that if a citizen can identify her, it will greatly increase the chances of successfully identifying the perpetrator and recovering the victim.” Detectives do not know who the girls are or where they live, but they believe one of the images of the sexually exploited girl was taken at a Walt Disney World hotel several years ago, when she appeared to be about 9.

“Our hearts go out to the victim and her loved ones as we do everything we can to support law enforcement in its investigation,” Disney spokeswoman Kim Prunty said in a statement.

The image made public Wednesday shows a grade-school-age girl with black bangs, a lime-colored halter top and cut-off blue jeans. She is seen holding a pink electronic game.

Authorities are offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the girl, who was described as a material witness.

Child-porn investigators in Toronto discovered the pictures of the abused girl on the Internet and released some of them after digitally removing the victim in hopes of determining where the photos were taken.

Clues from some of the photos suggest she may live in the northeastern United States or southeastern Canada.