03:24 PM EST on Wednesday, December 27, 2006
U.S. Department of Justice Media Release
U.S. Department of Justice Media Release
A Russell Springs man has been arrested on child pornography charges.
Scotty Hopper, 42, was arrested on December 22 on charges of attempting to produce, receiving, distributing, and possessing child pornography Federal agents became aware of Hopper’s unlawful activities as a result of an investigation in Detroit. Law enforcement officials in Detroit received a complaint from a 16-year old girl that her computer had been hacked. The victim stated that a person had retrieved information, such as credit card and bank account information, personal photographs and other personal information from her computer. She also stated that the person then used this information to convince her to either take nude photographs of herself and send them to him or to pose nude in front of her web-cam for the other person to view and/or record.
The Michigan investigation revealed that the person in communication with the 16-year-old girl is a citizen of Pakistan who maintained a residence and worked in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The investigation further identified the person communicating with the 16-year-old girl.
In August of this year, law enforcement learned that the suspect was in Fort Wayne, Indiana, visiting his brother. On or about August 18, 2006, law enforcement officials coordinated efforts with the Ft. Wayne Police Department to conduct a search of the residence where the man was staying. Law enforcement officials arrested the man who remains in custody in the Oakland Country Jail in Pontiac, Michigan for numerous child exploitation offenses.
A forensic examination by the Oakland County Sheriff's Office on the man’s computer and peripherals revealed dozens of pictures and videos of child pornography of approximately two dozen different unknown young females. The examiner also found two malware programs on the man’s computer. The programs were possibly used in gaining control of the victim’s computer. A malware program is a computer program used to commit a malicious act involving a computer, such as a computer virus, trojan file, or worm.
The man generally used AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) to communicate with victims, but occasionally used MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger. AIM, MSN, and Yahoo Messenger are computer programs used to chat with other individuals via the internet.
A review of the pictures and videos on the man’s computer revealed that the females were approximately in their mid-teens. Chat logs obtained from the 16-year-old female in Michigan demonstrated that the man had threatened the girl with ruining her reputation or her parents’ credit if she did not do as he directed. The man had demanded that the girl take nude photographs of herself or make nude videos of herself and send them to him.
An FBI Special Agent interviewed the man in November this year. During the interview, the man admitted that he lives and works in Dubai, UAE, where he sells satellite dish equipment. The man explained that the internet in Dubai is restricted by the government, and that all pornography websites and file-sharing programs are banned in the country. Therefore, in order for someone in Dubai to obtain pornography, they would have to do it by other means. He stated that while he lived in Dubai, UAE, he frequently communicated with people online in "chat rooms" and became friends with someone using a specific screen name. According to the man, he and the other individual met in a pornography-related chat room. The online friendship between the two continued. It lasted for approximately two years. (The years immediately preceding the man’s arrest).
Over the span of their relationship, the on-line person periodically e-mailed the man additional pictures and videos. In or about March of 2006, the on-line person started e-mailing the man dozens of nude pictures and videos of younger females, approximately 13 to 17 years old. Many of the pictures and videos were still on the man’s computer at the time of his arrest Law enforcement officers reviewed the images and are conducting investigations to determine the identities and ages of the girls depicted. Based upon their observations and their investigation, law enforcement officials believe that the girls in the images sent from the on-line person to the man are less than 18 years of age, and constitute child pornography. One of the videos shows minor females (approximately 15-16 years old), engaging in oral sex with one another. Several other video clips show the a single minor female (approximately 14-15 years old), using various objects to penetrate herself vaginally. In other still images, the photographs were taken by the camera being placed between the minor females’ legs - thus, depicting a lascivious display of the genitals.
The on-line person told the man that he had a lot more pictures and videos of "young girls and teens" and that he would give the man a hard drive with the pictures and videos for $5,000.00. The on-line person also told the man that he keeps hard drives of the pictures and videos in his back yard. During the course of their relationship, the on-line person instructed the man on how to use malware programs. One program used a trojan file to infect a victim's computer and allow a person to browse the victim's hard drive, view and control the victim's webcam, control the victim's computer, change computer settings, and send messages directly to the victim's computer.
The man learned to contact a user on AIM and attempt to converse with them. If that person was willing to chat, the man would send either a picture or a link to a website electronically using the AIM software. Both the picture and the website were infected with the virus. By the victim simply clicking on the picture or viewing the web page, the virus would infect the victim's computer. The on-line person taught the man how to carry out this plan.
The man told the law enforcement officials which pictures on his computer were e-mailed from the on-line person and which pictures the man received directly from a victim as a result of using the virus program to infect the victim's computer and convince the victim to provide them to him. Some of the videos and still images the man specifically attributed to receiving from the on-line person included the two minor females performing oral sex on one another and the use of objects to vaginally penetrate a minor female.
At some point during the relationship, the man sent the on-line person, via UPS and free of charge, one of the satellites the man sells in UAE. In exchange, the on-line person e-mailed the man pornographic pictures and videos. Law enforcement officials reviewed information from a copy of the prepaid UPS label used when shipping the satellite dish. The man provided the UPS label to law enforcement. The label showed that the man sent the satellite to Scott Hopper, 274 Hart Lane, Russell Springs, Kentucky 42642, with telephone number 270-866-2650.
Additionally, law enforcement officials found other images of a young female, who uses a screen name known to an FBI agent in Michigan, on the man’s computer. When questioned regarding these images, the man stated that they were received from the on-line friend - now known as Hopper. Additional investigation has revealed that the individual using the screen name and receiving communications from both the man and Hopper, is a minor female (Victim-2) who resides in Virginia.
After determining the identity of the minor female, and contacting her parents, a statement was received from Victim-2 in which she detailed the contacts that she had received from Hopper (using a computer screen name). She was 14-years-old at the time of the initial contact. Victim-2, who has worked as a model, was advised by Hopper that he had found her on a website. Hopper offered online assistance with Victim-2's computer. Victim-2 advised that Hopper, during the course of his "computer assistance," obtained access to her computer and had all of Victim-2's screen names, passwords, and "buddylists."
After Hopper gained access to Victim-2's computer, he began to attempt to convince her to disrobe, strip or otherwise appear nude on her web-cam. When Victim-2 refused to do so, Hopper became upset and threatened to destroy her computer and hack into her screen names to tell people "vulgar things about me." Hopper demonstrated his control of her computer system by making her screen go blank, opening and closing the CD tray, and showing her images he had taken from her computer. Hopper also threatened to modify modeling pictures he had obtained from Victim-2's computer system and, using photo-editing software, create images using Victim-2's head and the nude body of another person. He also advised that he would forward the pictures to all of Victim-2's high school friends and post the images to every website he could find.
The man stated that he received information from Hopper on how to contact and how to use a malware program to get into the computer of Victim-2. The man stated that there were several other victims that Hopper taught the man how to get into their computers.
On December 20, 2006, FBI Detroit forwarded the above-referenced information to FBI Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Kentucky State Police (KSP) assisted the FBI with confirming information about Hopper’s residence in Russell Springs, Kentucky. On December 21, 2006, a detective with KSP confirmed that Hopper lived at the address in Russell Springs. Additionally, the detective took photographs of the property and provided a written description of the premises.
On December 22, 2006, United States Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel issued a federal search warrant for Hopper’s residence – 274 Hart Lane, Russell Springs, Kentucky 42642. That same date, law enforcement officials participated in the execution of the search warrant.
Law enforcement officials seized one fully-assembled computer, including a modem connection, approximately 200 computer diskettes, 20-30 3½ inch floppy disks, two digital cameras (one of which was hooked up to a docking station with the assembled computer, approximately 12 additional hard drives, books (including an instruction book on software application), three satellite dish receivers, and numerous pages of handwritten notes outlining web addresses and screen names (the titles of which were sexually suggestive).
An FBI agent advised Hopper of his constitutional rights. The agent further inquired as to whether Hopper wanted to cooperate with law enforcement officials regarding the investigation of other individuals engaged in similar conduct. In doing so, the agent told Hopper that the agent knew that Hopper had given instructions to another person on how to gain access to young girls’ computers and use information to induce the girls to send Hopper (and the other person) nude photographs and videos. The agent stated that he also knew that Hopper had received a satellite dish from the other person to compensate Hopper for the instruction and help. Hopper responded, “Is that guy really from the UAE?” The agent had not previously disclosed to Hopper that the individual to whom the agent was referring had any connection to the UAE. Hopper’s inquiry about whether the guy was really from the UAE corroborates the information previously provided by the man to law enforcement regarding his connection to Hopper.
If convicted, Hopper, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment and a potential penalty of 80 years’ imprisonment, a $1,000,000.00 fine, and supervised release for a period of any term of years up to and including life. There is no parole in the federal judicial system.
United States Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel conducted a preliminary hearing and detention hearing in this matter on December 26, 2006. At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Goebel ordered Hopper detained without bond. A tentative arraignment date has been scheduled for January 24, 2007, at 10:00 a.m., in Bowling Green, Kentucky, pending further action by the grand jury.
Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless is prosecuting the case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in close conjunction with the Kentucky State Police, Oakland County Sheriff's Office, Oakland, Michigan, and Ft. Wayne (Indiana) Police Department conducted the investigation.
This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales created Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.
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