From Postal Routes to Digital Pursuits: A Postman's Transformation
After seven years delivering letters as a postman, Greg Squires sought a drastic career change that would lead him into the darkest corners of the internet. What began as night school enrollment evolved into a position as a special agent at the Department for Homeland Security in Washington, where his daily work involves infiltrating online communities of dangerous child predators.
The Digital Underworld: A New Frontier for Crime
Greg now spends his days undercover, navigating forums where offenders exchange horrific images of child abuse and discuss depraved fantasies. While law enforcement traditionally relied on screen names and IP addresses, the emergence of the dark web in 2004 created new challenges, allowing predators to proliferate in hidden digital spaces.
'They are some of the most advanced criminals on the planet,' Greg explains from his home in Portland, Maine. 'In the beginning, we were just trying to feel out the environment, which is a whole ecosystem of hundreds of thousands of people inside an organized crime unit that runs different forums and chat sites.'
The agent reveals the disturbing reality of this underworld: 'There's no currency. Unfortunately, children are the currency. The sexual abuse of kids is what they thrive on.'
The Daily Grind: Building Trust with Predators
Working from both his home and Portland office across four monitors, Greg's role involves creating trusted online personas to gather intelligence about predator networks. This demanding work requires constant availability.
'To infiltrate a community like this, you have to be involved every single day – including weekends and Christmas Day,' he explains. 'You can't work regular hours. The victims don't have days off – they live in fear every single day. And it's our duty to be there watching out for them.'
The team's responsibilities extend to reviewing hours of traumatic video footage, searching for clues to identify offenders and rescue victims. Greg recalls a chilling moment early in his career when he downloaded a four-minute video showing a child being raped after playing with his own children outside.
'Now I have an unfortunate library of that stuff in my head,' says Greg, who shares his story in the BBC documentary Storyville: The Darkest Web.
Parenting Through a Different Lens
The work profoundly affected Greg's approach to parenting. 'You spend most of your day seeing the worst of people, and then you come home to your children,' he notes. This perspective made him particularly cautious about his children's access to technology and social situations.
'I really learned to trust my instinct,' Greg explains. 'I was far less concerned about if I'm going to hurt someone's feelings as opposed to listening to my gut. My kids might say I was a little over the top as a dad, but they're healthy and happy today.'
Remarkable Successes: The Case of Lucy
Despite the emotional toll, Greg's work has produced significant victories. In 2014, his team discovered images of a young girl being repeatedly abused. With no initial information about her location, investigators identified distinctive furniture in the background and narrowed their search to 40,000 households.
After months of desperate searching while knowing the abuse continued, Greg noticed exposed brickwork in the girl's bedroom. Consulting the Brick Industry Association in Virginia helped identify the specific building material and establish a 50-mile search radius.
Combining furniture information with social media examination, the team eventually identified Lucy and discovered a convicted sex offender living at her address – her mother's boyfriend. The girl was rescued, and her abuser received a 70-year prison sentence for five years of repeated abuse beginning when Lucy was seven.
Greg met Lucy last year, describing the experience as incredible. 'She's an amazing young woman – the definition of resilience. I'm honoured to have her a part of my life,' he says.
Additional Victories Against Predator Networks
The team has achieved numerous other successes:
- Capturing an offender responsible for websites hosting 400,000 global users distributing millions of abuse images
- Helping rescue a seven-year-old abducted boy in Russia, resulting in a 19-year sentence for the kidnapper
- Securing a 266-year sentence for an offender running six websites with half a million members
- Obtaining another 19-year sentence for a sex offender en route to abuse children at a picnic
The Psychological Toll: From Drinking to Recovery
After approximately a decade in the role, the work's cumulative effect began manifesting in Greg's life. He started drinking to numb himself from traumatic images and struggled with emotional connection.
'It isn't natural, having to behave that way online every single day,' Greg reflects. 'To talk the talk of paedophiles, to read the messages, to see the images, it's not healthy. It's akin to poison. We can tolerate it for a certain amount of time, and then eventually it gets in your system.'
Working 10-12 hour days and sometimes waking at 3 AM to track offenders led to burnout. 'You push yourself, but meanwhile, you're losing yourself,' Greg explains. 'All of your 'friends' during the day are criminals. All they do is talk about the most horrific things all day long. And when that's over, you close the laptop, look around and it is just you.'
With support from his work partner Special Agent Pete Manning, Greg eventually admitted to his family that the work had left him depressed and suicidal. He took a short break, sought therapy, gave up alcohol, and found healthy release through carpentry.
Finding Balance and Renewed Purpose
Greg returned to work with better boundaries and perspective. 'I had to find balance,' he says. 'You can work this job 24 hours a day, but that's not a recipe for me being the best agent for the kids I'm trying to serve.'
Despite the personal costs, Greg would make the same sacrifices again. He recalls initially feeling ready to murder when watching abuse but has learned to channel that energy productively.
'It's about continuing to move forward through anger and hatred, as I've learned that doesn't do your heart any good,' Greg explains. 'I am very mission-focused. I have no need at that point to be aggressive or angry or sad, I just need to get what I need from him to move on to the next bad guy.'
The agent concludes with his driving motivation: 'Every kid deserves a great childhood. There really is no greater feeling than knowing a child is not going to be scared every day. To know that they won't be afraid when the door opens or when a car door closes, means everything to us – and worth every moment.'
Storyville: The Darkest Web is available on BBC iPlayer, with the accompanying six-part World Service podcast World of Secrets: The Darkest Web available on BBC Sounds.
