Christopher M. Horton, 20, of Highland, Illinois, pled guilty today in the United States District Court to an indictment charging him with five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of attempt sexual exploitation of a minor, Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today.
Documents filed in U.S. District Court establish that while employed as a martial arts instructor at a studio in Belleville, Illinois, Horton sexually abused three students between the ages of 6 and 10 years and video-recorded these acts using his Apple iPhone. Horton also attempted to engage a fourth minor in sexually explicit conduct for the purposes of producing a recording of the conduct. Approximately 57 video files containing child pornography were recovered from Horton’s cellular phone, which were created between the dates of May 1, 2012, and February 9, 2013. During an interview with law enforcement, Horton confessed to sexually abusing the minors and to having produced video recordings of the abuse using his cellular telephone.
Horton is scheduled to be sentenced on March 7, 2014, at which time he faces a term in prison of not less than 15 years but not more than 30 years on each count, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years, up to and including, a lifetime of supervision once he is released.
The case was investigated by the Madison County Sheriff’s Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Metro East Cyber Crimes and Analysis Task Force, the Highland (Illinois) Police Department, and the Belleville (Illinois) Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ali Summers.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Attica Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge
BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that Paul J. Havlen, Jr., 48 of Attica, New York, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Richard J. Arcara, to attempting to receive child pornography.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen A. Lynch and Paul J. Campana, who are handling the case, stated the defendant posted an ad on Craigslist seeking a young man who was interested in smoking marijuana and engaging in sexual activities. Between October 26, 2011 and December 19, 2011, Havlen engaged in graphic e-mail and text exchanges with a person he believed to be a 15-year-old boy. During those chats, the defendant asked the 15-year-old for pictures and made arrangements to meet him at a park in Attica. The individual that Havlen was actually chatting with was an undercover police officer, and the defendant was arrested after he drove to the area of the park on December 19, 2011.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Brian P. Boetig, Special Agent in Charge, and the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Acting Sheriff Gregory J. Rudolph.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathleen A. Lynch and Paul J. Campana, who are handling the case, stated the defendant posted an ad on Craigslist seeking a young man who was interested in smoking marijuana and engaging in sexual activities. Between October 26, 2011 and December 19, 2011, Havlen engaged in graphic e-mail and text exchanges with a person he believed to be a 15-year-old boy. During those chats, the defendant asked the 15-year-old for pictures and made arrangements to meet him at a park in Attica. The individual that Havlen was actually chatting with was an undercover police officer, and the defendant was arrested after he drove to the area of the park on December 19, 2011.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The plea is the culmination of an investigation on the part of the special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Brian P. Boetig, Special Agent in Charge, and the Wyoming County Sheriff’s Department, under the direction of Acting Sheriff Gregory J. Rudolph.
Former Hudson County Teacher Pleads Guilty to Distributing Images of Child Sexual Abuse Over the Internet
TRENTON, NJ—A former substitute teacher at a private school in Jersey City, New Jersey, today admitted to distributing images of child sexual abuse over the Internet, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Guy West, 45, of Jersey City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography. West was working as a permanent substitute teacher who regularly taught and supervised children between the ages of 2 and 14 at the time of his January 2013 arrest.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made during West’s guilty plea proceeding:
West admitted that on December 18, 2012, he made images and videos of child pornography available that were stored on his home computer for others to download via a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. On that date, an undercover law enforcement agent successfully downloaded 120 images and 24 videos of child sexual abuse from West via the file-sharing network.
As part of his guilty plea, West agreed to forfeit the computers and computer accessories he used to commit the offense.
The count of distributing child pornography to which West pleaded guilty carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for February 4, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI Newark Division’s Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark; officers of the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Robert Cowan; and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Alfonzo Walsman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.
Defense counsel: Nace Naumoski Esq., Roseland, N.J.
Guy West, 45, of Jersey City, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography. West was working as a permanent substitute teacher who regularly taught and supervised children between the ages of 2 and 14 at the time of his January 2013 arrest.
According to documents filed in the case and statements made during West’s guilty plea proceeding:
West admitted that on December 18, 2012, he made images and videos of child pornography available that were stored on his home computer for others to download via a peer-to-peer file-sharing network. On that date, an undercover law enforcement agent successfully downloaded 120 images and 24 videos of child sexual abuse from West via the file-sharing network.
As part of his guilty plea, West agreed to forfeit the computers and computer accessories he used to commit the offense.
The count of distributing child pornography to which West pleaded guilty carries a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for February 4, 2014.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI Newark Division’s Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark; officers of the Jersey City Police Department, under the direction of Chief of Police Robert Cowan; and the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, under the direction of Acting Prosecutor Gaetano T. Gregory with the investigation leading to today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Alfonzo Walsman of the U.S. Attorney’s Office General Crimes Unit in Newark.
Defense counsel: Nace Naumoski Esq., Roseland, N.J.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Former School Employee Sentenced to 20 Years for Child Sexual Exploitation
SPRINGFIELD, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a former employee of the Joplin, Missouri school district, was sentenced in federal court today for sexually exploiting several child victims.
Ronny Justin Myers, 35, of Joplin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court granted the government’s motion for an upward variance and sentenced Myers to a longer prison term than was recommended under the federal sentencing guidelines (151 to 188 months). Following his prison term, Myers will be on supervised release for the rest of his life. The court also ordered Myers to pay $5,000 in restitution to a 14-year-old victim (identified in court documents as “C.A.”).
On May 13, 2013, Myers pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor and to enticing a minor for criminal sexual activity. At the time of his arrest, Myers had been employed as an assistant network systems administrator for the Joplin school district since December 2005.
According to court documents, Myers contacted C.A. via Facebook in November 2012. This contact prompted C.A. to disclose to a school counselor that she had been repeatedly sexually molested by Myers when she was between the ages of 8 and 12. A law enforcement officer assumed C.A.’s identity and began communicating with Myers. These Internet exchanges became very graphic and Myers sent obscene images to C.A.
On February 15, 2013, Myers attempted to entice C.A. to meet him in order to engage in sexual activity during his lunch hour from work. Myers drove to the Joplin mall to pick up C.A. but was met by law enforcement officers who were waiting for him. Myers avoided capture and led police on a high-speed car chase through the city of Joplin before being arrested.
During an interview with law enforcement officers, Myers admitted that he had sexually molested three young girls (ages 6, 9, and 11). He also admitted that he secretly recorded a 17-year-old engaging in sexual activity.
Myers also told law enforcement officers that he secretly stored child pornography on his computer. He stated that he had approximately 10 child pornography images of Joplin school district students, four of whom have been identified and range in age from 15 to 16 years old. Myers discovered those images when he accessed the students’ laptop computers.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Baxter (Kansas) Police Department, and the FBI.
Ronny Justin Myers, 35, of Joplin, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Beth Phillips to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court granted the government’s motion for an upward variance and sentenced Myers to a longer prison term than was recommended under the federal sentencing guidelines (151 to 188 months). Following his prison term, Myers will be on supervised release for the rest of his life. The court also ordered Myers to pay $5,000 in restitution to a 14-year-old victim (identified in court documents as “C.A.”).
On May 13, 2013, Myers pleaded guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor and to enticing a minor for criminal sexual activity. At the time of his arrest, Myers had been employed as an assistant network systems administrator for the Joplin school district since December 2005.
According to court documents, Myers contacted C.A. via Facebook in November 2012. This contact prompted C.A. to disclose to a school counselor that she had been repeatedly sexually molested by Myers when she was between the ages of 8 and 12. A law enforcement officer assumed C.A.’s identity and began communicating with Myers. These Internet exchanges became very graphic and Myers sent obscene images to C.A.
On February 15, 2013, Myers attempted to entice C.A. to meet him in order to engage in sexual activity during his lunch hour from work. Myers drove to the Joplin mall to pick up C.A. but was met by law enforcement officers who were waiting for him. Myers avoided capture and led police on a high-speed car chase through the city of Joplin before being arrested.
During an interview with law enforcement officers, Myers admitted that he had sexually molested three young girls (ages 6, 9, and 11). He also admitted that he secretly recorded a 17-year-old engaging in sexual activity.
Myers also told law enforcement officers that he secretly stored child pornography on his computer. He stated that he had approximately 10 child pornography images of Joplin school district students, four of whom have been identified and range in age from 15 to 16 years old. Myers discovered those images when he accessed the students’ laptop computers.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force, the Baxter (Kansas) Police Department, and the FBI.
Project Safe Childhood
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
FBI Arrests Chicago Man on Child Pornography Charge
CHICAGO—A 24-year-old Chicago man was arrested on a federal charge of possession of child pornography following the execution of a search warrant that resulted in the discovery of alleged child pornography images on a computer found at his residence. The arrest and charge were announced today by Robert J. Shields, Jr., Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois.
Devin Jones, of 1810 West Jackson, was taken into custody without incident yesterday by special agents and investigators assigned to the Chicago FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Jones was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of possession of child pornography, which is a felony offense. He appeared yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason and was ordered held until his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Monday, October 28, 2013.
According to the complaint, another individual under investigation gave permission to an FBI agent to access an e-mail account used by that individual, and the agent noted an exchange of six e-mails with another e-mail account, kingexcellence@gmail.com, in which child pornography photos and videos were exchanged. The investigation led to a court-authorized review of the kingexcellence@gmail.com e-mail account, and according to the complaint, agents determined that approximately 85 percent of the e-mails between the kingexcellence@gmail.com account and other e-mail accounts concerned the exchange of child pornographic photographs. A series of investigative steps led to the identification of Jones as the user of the kingexcellence@gmail.com account and to the execution of the federal search warrant at his residence. At the residence, the FBI recovered a laptop computer containing a number of images allegedly depicting child pornography.
If convicted of the charge filed against him, Jones faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years and a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. He also faces a maximum fine of $250,000.
The FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force is part of a nationwide effort known as the Innocence Lost National Initiative targeting those involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States. In Chicago, the CETF is composed of FBI special agents and officers and investigators from the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Devin Jones, of 1810 West Jackson, was taken into custody without incident yesterday by special agents and investigators assigned to the Chicago FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force. Jones was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with one count of possession of child pornography, which is a felony offense. He appeared yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael T. Mason and was ordered held until his next court appearance, which is scheduled for Monday, October 28, 2013.
According to the complaint, another individual under investigation gave permission to an FBI agent to access an e-mail account used by that individual, and the agent noted an exchange of six e-mails with another e-mail account, kingexcellence@gmail.com, in which child pornography photos and videos were exchanged. The investigation led to a court-authorized review of the kingexcellence@gmail.com e-mail account, and according to the complaint, agents determined that approximately 85 percent of the e-mails between the kingexcellence@gmail.com account and other e-mail accounts concerned the exchange of child pornographic photographs. A series of investigative steps led to the identification of Jones as the user of the kingexcellence@gmail.com account and to the execution of the federal search warrant at his residence. At the residence, the FBI recovered a laptop computer containing a number of images allegedly depicting child pornography.
If convicted of the charge filed against him, Jones faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years and a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. He also faces a maximum fine of $250,000.
The FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force is part of a nationwide effort known as the Innocence Lost National Initiative targeting those involved in the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the United States. In Chicago, the CETF is composed of FBI special agents and officers and investigators from the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
North Tonawanda Man Indicted on Child Pornography Charges
BUFFALO, NY—U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a three-count indictment charging Thomas A. Sparks, 21, of North Tonawanda, New York, with receipt and possession of child pornography. The charges carry a mandatory minimum penalty of five years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, on June 25, 2013, the defendant knowingly received 94 images of child pornography. Sparks also possessed a SanDisk Cruzer Glide 4GB USB flash drive that contained images of child pornography. Some of these images depicted a prepubescent minor and a minor under 12 years old.
The indictment is the culmination of an investigation on the part of agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Brian P. Boetig, Special Agent in Charge.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron J. Mango, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, on June 25, 2013, the defendant knowingly received 94 images of child pornography. Sparks also possessed a SanDisk Cruzer Glide 4GB USB flash drive that contained images of child pornography. Some of these images depicted a prepubescent minor and a minor under 12 years old.
The indictment is the culmination of an investigation on the part of agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Brian P. Boetig, Special Agent in Charge.
The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
Ocean County Man Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Distributing Child Pornography
TRENTON, NJ—An Ocean County, New Jersey man was sentenced today to 13 years in prison for using a computer in his home to distribute images of child pornography, including images of infants, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
Arthur Frazer Jr., 35, of Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Frazer admitted distributing images of infant child pornography via email using a home computer in December 2010. He also admitted to possessing more than 600 images of child pornography on his computer and accessories, which were seized from his residence in February 2012. Frazer acknowledged that among the images of child pornography he possessed and distributed were images which depicted minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct with other minors and adults, including material portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence. Frazer was previously charged by complaint with distribution of child pornography in February 2012 and has been in custody since his arrest.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Pisano sentenced Frazer to seven years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $7,000.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Muoio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.
Arthur Frazer Jr., 35, of Lanoka Harbor, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Joel A. Pisano in Trenton federal court to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
Frazer admitted distributing images of infant child pornography via email using a home computer in December 2010. He also admitted to possessing more than 600 images of child pornography on his computer and accessories, which were seized from his residence in February 2012. Frazer acknowledged that among the images of child pornography he possessed and distributed were images which depicted minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct with other minors and adults, including material portraying sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence. Frazer was previously charged by complaint with distribution of child pornography in February 2012 and has been in custody since his arrest.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Pisano sentenced Frazer to seven years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution of $7,000.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI’s Child Exploitation Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.
The government is represented by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Muoio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Trenton.
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