Statutory rape is any consensual act of sexual intercourse between a person who is 14-17 years old with a person who is 18 years or older.
The Web site features photographs and descriptions of men and one woman with outstanding warrants for statutory rape.
"We had been unable to locate these, our most wanted," said Claudia Swing, an investigator for the San Bernardino County District Attorney's office. "People take it for granted that (it) is not a real crime because the act of sexual intercourse is consensual."
But one mother had no doubt that a man committed a crime when he had sex with her daughter; the woman's daughter was 15 years old, while the man was 29.
"I didn't find out until she was five months pregnant," said the woman who wanted to be identified only as "Brenda." Her daughter, now 16, was a victim of statutory rape and is now mother of a 4-month-old baby.
San Bernardino takes action
Her daughter is now among U.S. Justice Department statistics, which show 67 percent of all reported sexual assault cases are victims under the age of 18.
Several states already use the Internet to notify communities of sexual predators living nearby.
Brenda's family lives in San Bernardino County, where reports of statutory rape cases have more than doubled since 1995. Cases like her daughter's have prompted law enforcement this month to launch a rape Web site.
Statutory rape is a crime and in many places it is a felony.
Verna Carey is determined to put such offenders behind bars. Carey is the deputy district attorney for San Bernardino County's statutory rape unit and calls herself the "anti-Cupid."
"It's very easy for a 15-year-old (girl) to tell a 15-year-old boy: 'I don't want to have sex with you, leave me alone,'" Carey said. "It's a lot more difficult when she's talking to an adult."
Investigators say a vast majority of girls who become pregnant as a result of statutory rape are then abandoned by their baby's father. In San Bernardino County that leaves most teen-aged moms eligible for about $500 a month in public assistance.
If DNA tests confirm Arthur Ramirez is the father of Brenda's daughter's baby, he will be forced to pay back all welfare and Medi-Cal money the teen mother now receives.
Prosecution reduces teen pregnancy
Ramirez was convicted and sentenced to two years in state prison for statutory rape.
"It wasn't enough," said Brenda, of her teen-aged daughter who is raising a baby. "My daughter has a lifetime sentence."
California Gov. Pete Wilson initiated the Statutory Rape Vertical Prosecution program in December 1995. Since its inception, there has been a 17 percent decrease in teen-age pregnancy in California, according to the WeTip Web site.
San Bernardino is the first California county to link with the almost 30-year-old WeTip organization to catch statutory rapists. While there haven't been any arrests made based on tips stemming from the WeTip rape Web site, investigators said the site received 1,400 'hits' in its first week, indicating the interest is there.
The WeTip News information service also prints 500 wanted posters twice a year for distribution at schools, government offices and stores in the county.
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