Kidnapping Victim to be Keynote Speaker At Protect Our Children Conference

KANSAS CITY, KAN. - Jaycee Lee Dugard, who was kidnapped at age 11 and remained missing for more than 18 years, will be the keynote speaker at next month’s Protect Our Children Conference in Kansas City, Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said today.

Hundreds of law enforcement officers and victim service providers from across the region are expected to attend the conference from Sept. 12 to 14 at the Kansas Convention Center in Kansas City, Mo. The three-day event will cover a broad range of threats facing children including domestic violence, sexual exploitation, human trafficking, drug trafficking, child pornography and the effects of exposure to violence.

“Children are being robbed of the chance to live a rich and full life,” Beall said. “We have to work harder to protect them. Every child deserves to grow up free from harm, free from fear and free from the shadow of violence.”

Dugard will discuss her work with the JAYC Foundation, Inc., to help survivors of trauma. In her book, “A Stolen Life,” she tells the story of being abducted while she was walking from home to a school bus stop. On Aug. 26, 2009, she was found with convicted sex offender Phillip Craig Garrido. Investigators became suspicious of Garrido when he visited the campus of the University of California at Berkeley with Dugard.

Other presentations will cover a broad range of topics including meeting the needs of crime victims, confronting family violence and coping with stress.

Information about registering and paying for the conference is available online at http://www.pocconference.com/

There is a registration fee. The deadline to register is Aug. 31.

The conference is sponsored by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas with support from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois, the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Kansas Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Midwest Criminal Justice Institute at Wichita State University.