# Do pedophile rings exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 14, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024 "2011-07-14T16:33:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/1 "2011-07-14T16:33:03Z")
[Listverse](http://listverse.com/2011/07/11/10-tragic-cases-of-missing-children) has a new list featuring ten noteworthy cases of missing children. One thing that struck me was, in a couple of cases, the victim was allegedly sold to a pedophile ring, presumably to be used as sex slaves. Huh? I’ve never heard of organized rings of pedophiles holding kidnapped children prisoner. Frankly, this sounds like something from an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds. Part of me wonders if this is a modern-day version of the Satanic cults people used to worry about: a mythical evil group that is supposedly widespread, yet somehow completely escapes the notice of law enforcement. Are there any documented cases of this sort of group being discovered? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/2 "2011-07-14T16:39:45Z")
[http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Miscellany/In-History/212475/June-18-in-History.html](http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/Miscellany/In-History/212475/June-18-in-History.html) Scroll down to 2007. Found this by using Google News to search “pedophile ring.” ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/3 "2011-07-14T16:42:54Z")
[Global child abuse ring broken up](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1554984/Global-child-abuse-ring-broken-up.html) [How dragnet swept up child-abuse ring in Australia](http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/how-dragnet-swept-up-child-abuse-ring-in-australia/story-e6freoof-1226075253162) [World’s largest paedophile ring uncovered](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12762333) ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/4 "2011-07-14T20:52:23Z")
A lot of these citations include pedophiles who shared child porn, some of which they created themselves, but that doesn’t seem to be what the OP is talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/5 "2011-07-14T21:03:42Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Frankly, this sounds like something from an episode of CSI or Criminal Minds. [Or some show like those.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0749711/plotsummary) ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/6 "2011-07-14T21:09:43Z")
I assume their bearers can cancel out those of the people wearing purity rings… ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/7 "2011-07-14T21:21:59Z")
Some of the articles mention saving actual children from the pedophile rings, but my sense is that they’re the abused children of the pedophiles, not kids kidnapped for molestation. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/8 "2011-07-14T21:26:59Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > I assume their bearers can cancel out those of the people wearing purity rings… Am I the only one thinking, “PedoTwin powers, activate!” ---
**Author:** ![HamishBlake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@HamishBlake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HamishBlake)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/9 "2011-07-14T21:31:49Z")
Now Google has your IP address and the fact you were looking for pedophile information 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![h4ckys4ck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@h4ckys4ck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h4ckys4ck)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/10 "2011-07-14T23:49:22Z")
Yes, even paedophiles [have rings.](http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/smamurai/355461) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/11 "2011-07-15T11:48:27Z")
> [@GilaB](#): > > Some of the articles mention saving actual children from the pedophile rings, but my sense is that they’re the abused children of the pedophiles, not kids kidnapped for molestation. Exactly. I’m not talking about trading pictures. The Listverse article is suggesting that children have been physically abducted by strangers and then sold into a life of slavery. Most of the linked articles talk about “rescuing abused children,” but they really just mean removing them from the home of their perverted parents (or step-parents, or whoever had custody). Nothing so far really suggests that kidnapped children were being used. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/12 "2011-07-16T02:08:38Z")
What you’re talking about is very rare, but it happens. Probably the most extreme example I can think of offhand is Belgian serial killer [Marc Dutroux](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Dutroux), who kidnapped and raped six girls ranging in age from 8 to 19, killing 4 of them. He did so with the help of his wife Michèle Martin, at least three other male accomplices, Bernard Weinstein, Michel Lelievre, and Jean-Michel Nihoul, as well as several other persons yet to be identified. In the home Dutroux allowed one of his accomplices to live in, police found 600 tapes of sexual abuse of girls by Dutroux and his known accomplices, as well as other unidentified accomplices. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pedophile-rings-exist/589024/13 "2011-07-16T02:24:30Z")
A much longer and more detailed article on Dutroux: [Marc Dutroux](http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/dutroux/evil_1.html)