Charlie the K9 can sniff out child predators

Delaware County (WTXF) - Drug and bomb sniffing dogs we've all heard of them. But a dog that can sniff out child predators that caught our attention.

Our Hank Flynn traveled to Delaware County to check it out.

Dog lovers? Pleasantly surprised… Me? Blown away at what I saw at today.

"Today, we're announcing a new weapon in the war against child victimization, child sexual exploitation," said Delaware County District Attorney John Whelan from the county council meeting room. "And the name of that weapon - the name of that special tool -- is Charlie."

Charlie is a 2-year-old yellow Labrador trained to sniff out chemicals used to manufacture electronics, something she demonstrates by finding a flash drive in one of three blue bags. Child predators use such devices to hide illegal photos and videos, key evidence that Charlie's handler, forensics analyst Nat Evans, says she can sniff out.

"Because now you can't hide anything. You know when you're talking about a micro SD card that you can hide under the carpet or between the wallboard and the floorboard."

Evans hands Charlie her ball as she finds a target. "It's amazing what she's able to do and it's going to have a huge impact."

Charlie and her training cost about $12,000 combined all covered by a Homeland Security grant. Charlie's one of only about a dozen dogs in the U.S. doing this kind of work and Delaware County says she'll work with state and other county agencies on their investigations. Between drug detection, bomb sniffing, seeing eye work, service dogs, therapy and seizure dogs - with all they do - I shouldn't be surprised when dogs do something incredible.