Child Pornography Possession Investigation Leads to Child Rapist

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Brian Russell Grice, 34, of Greeneville, Tennessee admited in federal court that he had child pornography on his computer and had "frequent sexual intercourse" with a 12-year-old girl whom he had been grooming since she was just 8 years old, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Grice worked for EcoQuest Technologies, which sells water filters and nutritional supplements.  Officials there discovered child pornography and reported it to local police.  The FBI and Tennessee Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force's investigation led to over 2,000 child sexual abuse images on his computer.

"We rely on everyone in our community, including employers, to detect and report suspected child pornography," said U.S. Attorney Russ Dedrick. "Without the vigilance of EcoQuest, the prompt investigation by the Greeneville Police Department and the forensic assistance provided by the ICAC Task Force, Grice would continue to victimize this child."

Images of Toddlers Being Sodomized Nets Man 12 years in Federal Prison

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Brian Harris, 42, of Overland Park, Kansas used file sharing programs to trade child sexual abuse images of children being sexually assaulted by adults.  He had over 60 movies on his computer when it was seized, including images of an 8-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by her grandfather and children younger than 3-years-old being anally raped.

At least hundreds of thousands of American children are being raped and tortured and digitally photographed and videotaped to produce these images and movies, and traders and users of this material have fueled the creation of over 6.5 million new images since 2003.

We also know from government studies that there is nearly a 1-to-1 correlation between using child pornography and having child victims.  The average child pornography offender, in fact, according to a Department of Justice study, has three times the victims of a "normal" child molester. 

Given those facts, are sentences of 10-12 years really enough to seriously start putting an end to this horror?

Daycare Rapist Caught Through Child Pornography Investigation

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Child pornography investigations rescue children from rapists every day in the US, and prevent thousands of future sexual assaults. By working together, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), through its reporting arm, the Cybertipline, and the Internet Crimes Against Children task forces work to triage the overwhelming number of leads they receive.  Right now, due to lack of resources, ICAC teams can investigate only 2% of known predators.

Here's just one example of how they work to save our children from a pandemic of heinous abuse.

On February 19, 2008, the CyberTipline received a report from a citizen who reported receiving a sexually explicit image of a child on his cell phone. An Exploited Children Services analyst immediately contacted the reporting person to gather additional information. The reporting person explained that the suspect obtained his cell phone number from a profile on an adult dating website and started sending him text messages. The conversation was innocent until the suspect sent him the reported image. The suspect then told the reporting person that it was a picture of him and his eight-year-old neighbor. Alarmed, the reporting person abruptly terminated contact with the suspect and reported the incident to the CyberTipline.

The analyst conducted searches on the suspect’s cell phone number and developed a location in Missouri. She quickly reached out to the Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, an OJJDP-funded program, provided them with the report, and notified them that the reporting person had the image and text messages from the suspect saved and was eager to forward them to law enforcement. The ICAC contacted the Saint Louis County Police Department, where investigators successfully identified the suspect as a 21-year-old male from Florissant Park, Missouri. The suspect, who has no prior criminal history, worked as a kitchen helper at one of the largest day care centers in the area. There are approximately 450 children at the day care center, ranging in age from three months to 13 years old. Prior to his arrest, the suspect lived with his mother and two younger brothers. It is unknown at this time if the suspect had any sexual contact with his brothers.

The suspect has admitted to victimizing several children in his neighborhood, as well as to photographing them. So far, investigators have spoken with four identified victims from the suspect’s neighborhood and have been working non-stop, combing through videos and photos on the suspect’s three computers, in an attempt to identify additional children. They expect more victims will be located as the case unfolds. The investigation into any possible victims at the day care center also continues.

The suspect was arrested on March 5, 2008 on nine counts of Felony Statutory Sodomy. He is currently in jail and is facing up to 30 years imprisonment for the sodomy charges. Law enforcement expects additional charges to be added. If the suspect is ultimately convicted of manufacturing child pornography, the minimum sentence will be 15 years in prison.

Diplomat and Teacher Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography Crimes

Saturday, August 23, 2008

John B. Shulick, 53, a former middle school teacher, was sentenced for taking photos of a 16-year-old he met on a social networking website engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  He has received 15 years in federal prison for manufacturing child pornography.

Gons Gutierrez Nachman, 42, a former U.S. diplomat, who has admitted to sexually abusing young girls in his government-provided housing in Congo and Brazil was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography and misusing his diplomatic passport while a foreign service office.

According to the Washington Post, (unbelievably we don't have to make this stuff up), Nachman asked to be married to his 21-year-old Brazilian fiancee in the courtroom by U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee after his sentencing.  His request was denied.

Southern California Sweep Nabs 55 Child Pornography Offenders

Thursday, August 21, 2008

An eight-month investigation by ICE, the FBI, Secret Service, and local law enforcement agencies including Los Angeles police departments and Ventura County Sheriff's has nabbed 55 men who were trading child pornography on peer-to-peer networks.

According to the Ventura County Star, Ventura County sheriff's Detective Anthony Aguirre said child porn on peer-to-peer networks is a growing problem. "As easy as it is to download a song, it's that easy to download a child porn video, as sad as that sounds," said Aguirre, a sexual assault investigator who is part of an Internet crime task force in Thousand Oaks.

As so often happens in child pornography investigations, evidence of contact sex crimes to children was also discovered during the investigation. Convicted sex offender Gary Samuel Cochran, 50, of Huntington Beach was arrested on suspicion of possession and production of child pornography. Investigators found evidence that he took pictures of a young girl, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.