Why not? Human nature hasn't changed. Men have been abusing little boys since the dawn of man-kind. My guess is it probably happens less these days with all the heightened scrutiny on it.
I am not going to go down that road, but that would be completely wrong IMO. 20 years ago a sicko like this wouldn't be able to feed his deviant mind with images of this kind of stuff. Predators like this keep themselves stimulated with child like porn. Child porn is far more accessible today than 20 years ago. We have way more "outreach" groups today, just like this one this guy used, to bring together children. Thus allowing predators like this to pick and choose kids that could be exploited.
I believe our society has more outlets today to grow a deviant mind then 25 years ago. That is why sexual abuse of kids has grown and become more known. Its like an alcoholic who gets his courage from the liquor. These sexual preadtors are able to get their courage from the internet and media today. Amazon took it down, but a pedo actually wrote a book on how to be a pedo. 20 years ago you would have never ever heard of something like that.
Deviants have access to more knowledge on how to be a deviant today, than 20 years ago. Thus making them more dangerous and giving them more knowledge to act on those sick desires.