to paraphrase our illustrious leader: "gonzo you're doing a heck of a job" NOT
hey gonzo where are you at? look in the msn chatrooms and do something about all the pornographers and prostitutes that are rampant there. you are a joke homes.
By: Bruce Owen
WINNIPEG — Two Manitoba men were implicated yesterday in an international police investigation of a online child abuse ring that allegedly traded live videotapes of young children — including an infant — being molested.
The men, one from Brandon and the other from Selkirk, are among 27 people charged in Canada, the United States, England and Australia with participating in the ring, which traded explicit images through a website chat room called Kiddypics & Kiddyvids. Thirteen of those charged, including four men accused of producing the images, live in the U.S.
Nine people, including one of the site’s alleged administrators, live in Canada. Three are in Australia and two in England.
One of the U.S. accused is a woman, known by the user name HumbleDuchess.
Manitoba RCMP spokesman Sgt. Steve Colwell said one of the Manitoba men was recently arrested by the province’s integrated child exploitation unit and a second will be arrested shortly.
Both face charges of possession of child pornography.
Colwell described the men as customers and said their names were not released as the investigation is still on-going.
“They anticipate further arrests in Manitoba,” he said.
An indictment filed Tuesday in Northern Illinois U.S. District Court didn’t identify the Manitoba men, but said one lived in Brandon and the other in Selkirk.
The Brandon suspect went by the user name LoneWolf_95 and the Selkirk suspect’s user name was 10_boy_canada, according to the indictment.
The only Canadian suspect named is Marcel Deslauriers of Longueuil, Que. He is one of five people alleged to be administrators of the website.
Court documents say the chat room was hosted by a Tennessee man who went by the user name G.O.D., but that the child abuse allegedly took place in other jurisdictions. Details of the case were released yesterday in Chicago by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
“We plan to prosecute them and others involved in this vile chat room to the fullest extent of the law,” Gonzales said.
In the U.S., manufacturing child pornography carries a minimum 15-year prison sentence, while the other charges call for minimum sentences of at least five years. In Canada, the maximum penalty for making or distributing child pornography is 10 years in prison.
Possession or downloading carries a maximum sentence of five years. Police also allege live molestation video exchanges took place through MSN Instant Messenger and Yahoo Instant with an Edmonton man known as Big_Daddy619.
Toronto Police Service Deputy Chief Tony Warr, also in Chicago, said the investigation started in May 2005 with the arrest of an Edmonton man.
Officers with Toronto’s child exploitation branch then infiltrated the chat room, as did police in Illinois. American authorities said police have identified seven child victims so far.
One live streaming video showed one of the U.S. suspects sexually molesting an infant.
Four minors under the age of 12 were also shown being molested on the website.
Unsealed court documents in the case detail the complexity of how the Website was set up; it used a Windows-based peer-to-peer sharing program, normally used to share music, to trade images. User names included Dark House, Knight Rider, Wharfrat, Blue Dragon, Chevman, Nemo and Acidburn.
Administrators also stopped users from using explicit language so as to not tip off police and were extremely careful about who they traded files with, which complicated the investigation.
“The undercover officers cannot distribute child pornography, and they are reluctant to reveal their presence by failing to reciprocate when asked,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agent Anthony Langeland said in a court document. But police did infiltrate it.
By posing as child pornography collectors, they soon convinced those allegedly using the site to e-mail them several images.
Police then captured their Internet protocol numbers (an e-mail account address) and then linked the IP numbers to account holders by serving subpoenas at the Internet service providers, according to Langeland’s affidavit, which was filed in Tennessee.
In Chicago, officials identified three defendants indicted for conspiracy to possess, receive, solicit and distribute child pornography: Brian Annoreno of Bartless, Ill.; Gregory Sweezer of Aurora, Ill.; and Lisa Winebrenner of Osceola, Iowa.
In a report, authorities said Annoreno, 29, allegedly produced live video of him sexually molesting an infant.
Police also allege the chat room was maintained by Royal Raymond Weller of Clarksville, Tenn. Among administrators identified in indictments are Jason Wilson of Milton, Fla.; Michael Burns of Reno, Nev.; Kenneth Fisher of Charlotte, N.C.; and Mill Park of Victoria, Australia.
— With files from wire services
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