Daniel Alfin: Veteran FBI agent ran one of biggest child pornography investigations in history

Daniel Alfin, one of the FBI agents killed Tuesday morning in Sunrise, was a veteran agent who specialized in crimes against children.

He led an investigation into a website called Playpen, believed to be the largest child pornography website on the dark web. After seizing the site’s servers, FBI investigators kept it in operation for two weeks, having attached software to detect users’ identities.

Although that turned out to be a controversial decision, the investigation yielded a massive number of arrests. About 900 people were arrested around the world and 55 children in the United States identified or rescued, according to the FBI.

“Members of his enterprise who were raping children, who were producing child pornography all around the world — those cases continue to be indicted and prosecuted,” Alfin said in a 2017 FBI news release announcing the sentencing of the site’s founder to 30 years in prison.

“It’s a cat-and-mouse game, except it’s not a game,” he said. “Kids are being abused, and it’s our job to stop that.”