PORTLAND – Arrests for possession of child pornography are on the rise in Maine.

In recent weeks, judges have heard cases originating in Bath, Sanford and Westbrook. So far this year, federal prosecutors have filed seven criminal complaints, as many felony prosecutions for possession of child pornography as they did in all of 1999. A record 12 cases were filed in 2000.

“We’re definitely seeing more of it, because we didn’t used to see any,” Cumberland County Deputy District Attorney Meg Elam said. “In 10 seconds, anyone with a computer can see the vilest child pornography in the world.”

While computers may aid the distribution of child pornography, they also are helping authorities track down those who distribute and obtain it.

“People used to get this stuff in the mail and someone might intercept it, or they might not,” said Toby Dillworth, an assistant U.S. attorney based in Portland. “Some people now have the mistaken perception that transactions over the Internet are anonymous, and feel that it’s a safe way of obtaining this stuff.”

State and federal law prohibit the possession, trading or selling of images of minors engaged in sexual acts or in sexually suggestive poses. In Maine, it is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. Under federal law, possession of child pornography is a felony that carries a sentence of up to 10 years.

Most investigations in Maine are performed by the Computer Crimes Task Force in Lewiston.

Law enforcement officials say the formation of the four-detective team is the single biggest factor behind the rise of child pornography prosecutions.

The team has reviewed about 200 cases in the past year, mostly by analyzing data from seized computer equipment.

Well over half of those cases involve child pornography, according to Detective James Rioux of the Lewiston Police Department. Most of the investigations focus on those who possess illegal images without creating or selling them.

One recent investigation, however, uncovered a Web site that sold child pornography. The site purported to be based in Russia, but the material was actually stored in a computer in Maine.

The operator of the site surreptitiously moved the material into unused computer space belonging to an innocent Maine company. The site was removed but sprang up again and is operating from another location.

Task force member Michael Webber said the images available today are different from those on sale when the team was created two years ago. Webber used to see many versions of the same pictures, which often appeared to be decades-old photographs scanned into computer files.

But new photos apparently taken with digital cameras are proliferating. Webber believes this means that there is larger demand for such material that is resulting in increased abuse of children.

“Every single one of them is a documented abuse of a child,” he said. “And every time one of these pictures gets around, that child is violated again and again. It never goes away.”

There was no federal statute against child pornography until the 1970s, and it wasn’t until the Child Protection Act of 1984 that the federal government began going after those who traffic in it.

Today, computer specialists with the FBI troll the Internet for people trading in child pornography. Earlier this year, they collected credit card numbers of a Web site’s customers, which resulted in a number of arrests, including some in Maine.

Richard Irvine, a Boston-based U.S. postal inspector who investigates child pornography cases throughout New England, says the 35 people he has arrested for possession are different from the criminals he is used to.

“There’s usually no criminal record, no outward indication that they are doing anything,” he said. “These guys are closet dwellers.”

Boothbay Police Chief Stephen Clark said that investigations of child pornography often uncover other instances of child victimization.

“Law enforcement needs to be vigilant, and everyone in the system needs to understand that even though it may be a Class D misdemeanor, it often leads to revelations of other crimes,” Clark said.