Inside a computer forensics lab at Fort Snelling, digital analysts working for the Department of Homeland Security are using high-tech skills in the fight against child exploitation.

“We’re taking them from the battlefield to the digital battlefield,” says Jamie Holt, special agent-in-charge of Homeland Security Investigations in St. Paul.  

Mark Haegele is one of three analysts based out of this office taking part in the agency’s Human Exploitation Rescue Operative program, or HERO for short.

“Essentially, we’re either trying to rescue a kid from being sexually abused or exploited,” he declares.

The idea is to recruit wounded service members and train them to become digital detectives, assisting agents who seize data-associated evidence.

“We’ll take the iPad, the computers, the cell phones back to the office,” Holt explains. “Their job is to get into all those devices and identify the evidence that we can use to prosecute the individual.”

Haegele, 33, has been with the program for about a year.

For the father of two, who now works in the agency’s North Dakota office, it’s been a long journey.   

“Whether I’m fighting terrorists or dangerous pedophiles, it’s a horse apiece to me,” he says.

In April 2011, Haegele, a U.S. Marine Corps combat engineer in Afghanistan, found his life changed in an instant.

“I stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device), which resulted in a double above-the-knee leg amputation,” he recalls.

Haegele says there was soft tissue damage to his arms as well.

He would spend more than a year recovering at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Now, taking part in more than 100 investigations in the HERO program is giving him a new mission.

“I could never fathom, you know, doing anything but your best,” Haegele says. “So, these people that are doing these terrible things need to be held accountable.”

How severe is the problem?

According to multiple law enforcement agencies, internet crimes against children in Minnesota are ‘skyrocketing.’

The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says it received 9,252 cybertips involving children last year. That’s more than eight times the number in 2016.

The Fort Snelling office alone opened 274 new cases last year and identified 100 new victims.

“We’ve seen a huge skyrocket in sextortion, where individuals reach out to young children and pretend to be certain individuals,” Holt notes. “They say if you don’t give me more images or you don’t send me money, then we’re going to send these images to all of your friends or family, or whoever that is. It saddens me to see what individuals will do to kids.”

For his part, Haegele is hoping to work as an undercover cyber investigator by sometime next year.

HERO supervisors say in the past year, 28 new recruits graduated into the program nationwide.

Haegele and others are working to make a difference at home.

“They previously focused on protecting our country,” Holt says. “And now, they’re focused on protecting our local communities from online predators.”

You can find out more about the HERO program here.