Online sex offenders tracked

[Al-khiyal]

Global child porn network exposed

December 11, 2008 -- Australian police have charged 19 men with being part of a global child pornography network involving people in 70 countries.

The investigation was prompted by a tip-off from Brazilian police.

The victims were from countries around the world and their identities were often difficult to establish.

Some 500,000 images of child abuse and 15,000 videos were seized. The Australian Federal Police said that more arrests were expected this week.

Some of the seized videos showed victims as young as 12 months old. Some showed children being abused for more than two hours.

The police described the images as some of the worst they had ever seen.

Children saved

The year-long investigation was launched after a tip-off from the Brazilian authorities last December.

The Australians said that information supplied by Brazil to the international policing network, Interpol, has helped identify more than 200 suspects in 70 countries.

At least two children had been removed from harm as a result of the investigation, police said.

And although it is difficult to identify the victims of abuse, they appear to be based primarily in Eastern Europe, and North and South America.

All the charges relate to accessing the images over the internet, in what is called a peer-to-peer network.

The charged men each face a potential 10-year sentence for possessing child abuse material.

[Bent_Bladi]

!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[Al-khiyal]

Man who raped daughter, posted videos of abuse online pleads guilty

SPOKANE, Washington, December 17, 2008 — A man who raped his daughter and posted videos of the abuse online before fleeing to China pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday and could face the rest of his life in prison.

Kenneth John Freeman, 46, pleaded guilty to production of child pornography and interstate transportation of a minor for the purpose of unlawful sexual activity.

The deal with federal prosecutors calls for a sentence of 50 years in prison, plus three years of probation, when Freeman is sentenced March 25. Freeman had faced up to life in prison.

Freeman said little in court except to answer questions from U.S. District Judge Lonny Suko about whether he understood his actions.

Asked if his plea was voluntary, Freeman said: "It is, your honor."

Freeman was scheduled to plead guilty to state court charges later Wednesday. He is accused of three counts of child rape in south-central Washington's Benton County, and has agreed to a sentence of 20 years to run concurrently with the federal prison time. He will serve his time in federal prison.

Freeman, a computer adviser, bodybuilder and former reserve sheriff's deputy in Benton County, fled the U.S. in 2006 and lived in China. He was on the most-wanted lists of the U.S. Marshals Service and Immigration and Customs Enforcement until his arrest in May 2007 in Hong Kong.

The abuse occurred in 2000, when the girl was 10. His daughter, now 19, first told her mother about the abuse in November 2005.

In federal court Wednesday, Freeman pleaded guilty to producing child pornography in Washington, and to producing child pornography and having unlawful sexual activity with a minor in Oregon. The Oregon charges stem from incidents where Freeman took his daughter to the Portland area. Several other charges were dropped.

Prosecutors said Freeman videotaped the abuse of his daughter and distributed hundreds of images around the world via the Internet.

Freeman had been living in Seattle when he fled to Hong Kong in March 2006. He later lived for a year in the interior of China before his arrest in May 2007 as he re-entered Hong Kong. He agreed to be extradited to the United States.

Before his extradition, Freeman issued a news statement indicating he had written an autobiography while in custody. Authorities seized the 400-page document, which contained confessions to much of the criminal conduct for which he was charged, court documents said.

[Al-khiyal]

Grösster Fall von Kinderpornografie :
Waadtländer Polizei lässt weltweit über 2000 Pädo-Kriminelle auffliegen

Lausanne, Sonntag, den 28 Juni 2009 -- Die Schweizer Strafverfolgungsbehörden sind dem 61-jährigen Seng F. Y. aus dem US-Bundesstaat Maryland zum Verhängnis geworden. Die amerikanische Richterin Catherine Blake hat ihn vor einer Woche zu zehn Jahren Haft verurteilt. F. Y. ist geständig, im Mai 2008 über hundert kinderpornografische Filme von einer Westschweizer Internetseite heruntergeladen zu haben. Auf die Spur kam ihm die Waadtländer Polizei.

Wie erst jetzt bekannt wird, hat sie dank einem Hinweis von Interpol Brüssel im letzten Sommer «den grössten Fall von Kinderpornografie mit Tatort Schweiz aufgedeckt und die internationale Polizeioperation Present ausgelöst», wie Jean-Christophe Sauterel von der Kantonspolizei Waadt bestätigt. Die Ermittlungen gegen Pädo-Kriminelle laufen seither weltweit auf Hochtouren.

Ein IT-Spezialist der Waadtländer Kantonspolizei beobachtete während zehn Tagen vom 18 bis zum 28 Mai 2008 eine legale Hip-hop-Internetseite. Darauf hatten unbekannte Täter in einem Forum verbotene Kinderporno-Filme so versteckt, dass die lokalen Betreiber der Seite nichts merkten. Auf einschlägigen Pädophilen-Foren erhielten interessierte Konsumenten einen Zugangscode zum versteckten File mit Namen «smpls.rar». Sie mussten für die 100 Filme rund 500 Franken bezahlen.

Die Polizei konnte während der Observation 2299 IP-Adressen von Personen in 78 Ländern sicherstellen. Damit mussten sich die Fahnder begnügen und die Observation abbrechen. Sie standen unter Zeitdruck, weil die Provider in vielen Ländern Kundendaten zu IP-Adressen nur für kurze Zeit aufbewahren. Auch in der Schweiz werden die Daten nach sechs Monaten gelöscht. Deswegen sind in der Vergangenheit schon grosse Operationen gegen Cyber-Kriminelle gescheitert.

Verhaftungen stehen in der Schweiz kurz bevor

Hierzulande stehen 32 Männer in 13 Kantonen unter Verdacht. Ermittelt wird in acht Deutschschweizer und drei Welschschweizer Kantonen sowie im Tessin. Teilweise stehen Verhaftungen kurz bevor. Im Kanton Glarus ist ein Mann bereits verurteilt worden - zu einer bedingten Geldstrafe. «Ein Konsument von Kinderpornografie ist indirekt gefährlich, indem er durch seine blosse Nachfrage die Produktion fördert», sagt Christoph Hohl, Leiter des Verhörrichteramts Glarus. Doch die Produzenten der Filme erwische die Polizei selten. «Sie produzieren vielfach in Ländern, in denen dies nicht verboten ist oder zumindest nicht oder kaum verfolgt wird», sagt Hohl.

Die Täter vermutet die Kantonspolizei Waadt in Osteuropa. Sie ist überzeugt, dass die Betreiber der Waadtländer Internetseite missbraucht wurden. «Ich war extrem schockiert, als ich von der Polizei erfuhr, welche Files auf meiner Seite versteckt waren», sagt der Webmaster heute. Dieses Vorgehen der Täter sei neu, sagt Jean-Christophe Sauterel von der Kapo Waadt. «Bisher boten die Täter solche kinderpornografischen Filme auf illegalen Seiten an. Jetzt verstecken sie sie auf legalen Plattformen.»

In Polen hat die Polizei 31 Männer verhaftet, in Griechenland haben die Ermittler ebenfalls zugeschlagen. In den USA wartet ein geständiger Sportlehrer aus Boston im Gefängnis auf seine Verurteilung.

[Al-khiyal]

Child porn ring tied to hip-hop site

BERN, Switzerland, June 28, 2009 -- Swiss police say they have uncovered a child pornography ring involving more than 2,000 people in 78 countries.

Federal Police spokeswoman Eva Zwahlen says authorities were monitoring a Web site with a provider in the Swiss canton Vaud, acting on a tip from Interpol.

She says the site was devoted to hip-hop music. But unknown individuals used a forum on the site to hide illegal child pornography films.

Zwahlen confirmed a Swiss newspaper report that the investigation involves people from the U.S., Poland, Greece and other countries.

Weekly SonntagsZeitung reported Sunday that 32 men are under suspicion in Switzerland.

[Al-khiyal]

Jail for woman who groomed girl

July 7, 2009 -- A woman has been jailed for grooming a schoolgirl for sex, in what is believed to be the first case of its kind. Sarah Wilson, 21, from Camberwell, south London, sent the 15-year-old girl "sexually graphic" messages via mobile phone and the internet for six months. She was arrested after persuading the "vulnerable" girl to meet her at King's Cross station in January this year. Wilson admitted trying to meet the girl after sexual grooming and was jailed for 20 months at Southwark Crown Court.

The court heard that Wilson contacted the girl in an internet chatroom. Prosecuting, Peter Zinner said their relationship quickly escalated into a "multitude" of text messages and phone calls which became increasingly sexually graphic. Mr Zinner said the girl had a poor relationship with her parents and "suffered from low self-esteem". He said it became clear that she was "becoming more and more emotionally dependent on the flattery that Wilson fed her over the internet". "I have spoken to my learned friend and this is probably the first case of an adult female grooming a young girl," Mr Zinner said.

The girl agreed to play truant and travel from her home in North Lincolnshire, to meet Wilson and her 39-year-old boyfriend Peter Richardson in London. But the girl's mother reported her missing and British Transport Police (BTP) recognised her as she arrived at King's Cross station. Wilson and Mr Richardson were arrested at the station. Police later found sex toys, pornographic DVDs and a child's underwear at the couple's bedsit. Wilson admitted contacting the girl and knowing that she was 15, but initially denied intending to have sexual contact with her. She later admitted one count of "travelling to meet a child following sexual grooming". Mr Richardson, who was described as a "reluctant partner in the enterprise", was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Sentencing, Judge Stephen Robbins described Wilson's conduct as "utterly shameful". "This offence was planned, it was sophisticated and you showed determination over a period of time in grooming this young girl. And what's more this came very close to success... it was only due to the alertness of her school, who in turn made contact with her mother and the success of the BTP that, fortunately, she was intercepted."

Wilson must also register as a sex offender for 10 years and was banned from working with children for life. Outside court, Det Sgt Dave Gritton said the girl was "a classic victim of sexual grooming. She was brainwashed and befriended with the sole intention of sexual offences being carried out," he said. "Undoubtedly if Wilson had managed to meet the victim and take her to the flat then serious sexual offences would have taken place."

[Al-khiyal]

Girl, 12, abducted by ‘internet stalker’ on family holiday in France

July 8, 2009 -- A 12-year-old British girl was found sobbing in a French airport after a Belgian man abducted her from a holiday villa and tried to take her on a flight to Madrid. The girl from Glasgow had been staying with her family in a villa in Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer in the South of France when she was lured away by a 41-year-old man she had met on the internet.

The man had made contact with the girl online four months earlier, when he claimed to be 28. On Friday he abducted her from her family’s holiday villa and took her to Marseilles Provence airport to board a flight to Spain. When he arrived at the airport, he discovered that the girl had no travel documents with her, and abandoned her in the terminal. He went to board a aircraft bound for Madrid. The girl, who has not been named for legal reasons, was found sobbing and alone in the airport and told police that a man had been trying to take her to Spain. Police from Marseilles boarded the plane and arrested the man minutes before the flight was due to take off.

Police said that the girl had been missing for about three hours when she was found, and that her parents had not reported her disappearance in that time. A police spokesman said that the abduction had taken place in the middle of the day when her parents thought that their daughter was out playing. The man had taken her in a taxi and police said they believed that he had followed her to Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer after she told him where she was going with her family.

The girl met her kidnapper on the social networking and role-playing website Gaia.com, which describes itself as “an online gathering of environmentally and spiritually conscious people”. The man told the girl that he was 28 and apparently also contacted her by e-mail and told her that he would find her when she arrived on holiday.

The man arrived in the resort last Tuesday, and waited three days before luring the girl away from the villa where, according to Le Figaro newspaper, she had been staying with her parents, brothers and sisters. The police spokesman said: “When we notified the parents, they were horrified to learn their daughter had been found at Marseilles airport. It seems she had at first gone with the man willingly, but he abandoned her at the airport when he found she had no passport. She told the aiport police the man was aboard a flight to Spain. The plane was halted about ten minutes before take-off and a 41-year-old Belgian suspect was found on board.”

The man, who lives in Spain, told frontier police that he was the girl’s uncle, but he was arrested and remanded in custody in the town of Luynes over the weekend before being charged with child abduction by a court in Aix-en-Provence on Monday. The girl was returned to her family in their holiday resort.

Campaigners in Europe have been lobbying governments to set-up an all-ports alert system similar to the Amber Alert system in the United States, which would notify air and shipping ports across the continent when a child was reported missing. Experts say that such a system could have aided in the investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann and might also have alerted police to the actions of Robert Williams, the Scottish lorry driver who was jailed last month for abducting and having sex with a girl aged 15 before taking her to France.