Greg Schiller, the new CEO of the Child Rescue Coalition, keeps reminders of children in his office in Boca Raton alongside screens showing data and the organization’s home page. Schiller is a former prosecutor of internet crimes against children. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
By Hannah Spencer
In 2009, while serving as the lead prosecutor for the Internet Crimes Against Children unit at the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office, Greg Schiller began collaborating with the Child Rescue Coalition, which was operating out of the same building.
That proximity introduced him to the organization’s groundbreaking technology — an experience that would ultimately lead to his future role as CEO of the nonprofit dedicated to helping law enforcement track and apprehend online child predators.
“I get to come home to that same building where it all really started,” says Schiller, 47, who became CEO on March 3. In his new role, Schiller will be doing more of what his predecessor, Carly Yoost, did. “So, this is the greatest opportunity I could ever have to globally help children, parents, and the community learn how to fight back against offenders online. And I can do it all through this incredible organization here in Palm Beach County.”
The coalition uses a proprietary software tool, which helps law enforcement agencies around the world identify individuals who are sharing and downloading known child sexual abuse material.
The technology monitors peer-to-peer networks in real time for users who are actively trading illicit content. This allows investigators to build cases proactively and has led to the arrests of tens of thousands of predators globally. CRC’s technology is free for law enforcement all throughout the world, but is used heavily in Palm Beach County by federal agents, the sheriff’s office, and police departments in Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach.
Schiller, who lives in Boca Raton, graduated from New England Law in Boston in 2003 and has been in Palm Beach County his entire career.
“I’m originally from New York and my first job offer, after I applied to be a prosecutor in many offices up and down the East Coast, was at the West Palm Beach State Attorney’s Office,” he said.
He spent 121/2 years working as a state prosecutor in West Palm Beach, where the majority of the time, he said, he was the lead prosecutor in handling internet crimes against children and cases of human trafficking.
Then in 2016, Schiller became an assistant United States attorney where he was still a prosecutor but at the federal level in the Southern District of Florida — still specializing in the same crimes.
He held that position until a couple of months ago when he left to become the leader of the CRC, whose software he had already been utilizing for 15 years at his other jobs.
“I think as CEO, I come with a very unique perspective of having been in the trenches as a prosecutor and having seen and dealt with the worst offenders, violence and online exploitation,” said Schiller, whose lengthy workdays leave little time for much else. But when he has time, he enjoys reading, baseball, music and spending a lot of time with his family. “Working on this side really helps me grow and be the best that we can be trying to protect children.”
Schiller lamented the biggest struggle he and CRC have: making sure that they have the funding to do the job that they want to do.
“Somebody asked me the other day: ‘If you had a billion dollars, what would you do?’” said Schiller. “The ideas and the goal are endless because the goal is to end child exploitation across the internet so that we can protect our kids. There is no amount of money that would generate availability to ever do that globally in absolutely every home across the world.”
In addition to accepting donations, CRC hosts various fundraisers throughout the year. Upcoming charitable occasions include the annual CRC Poker Tournament in September — a friendly competition for card players of any level. The Coalition Cup will celebrate its eighth year in October; the day will have sports, an open bar, awards ceremony and more.
Both events are in Delray Beach, but Schiller said he is looking to expand such events in other cities and countries around the world.
CRC’s technology is used in 106 countries, and the organization is open to working with more, “whoever calls upon us and wants us to bring our technology there,” said Schiller.
He said he has seen cases of children exploited by their relatives or guardians in other parts of the world, but hopes his company can shrink those numbers.
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