72 People Charged in Global Child Porn Ring Operating Through Online Bulletin Board
Seventy-two people have been charged with participating in an international child pornography ring that operated through a members-only online bulletin board.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced the unsealed indictments in a press conference today, the Justice Department reports in a press release. “We have charged that these individuals shared a dream—to create the pre-eminent online community for the promotion of child sexual exploitation,” Holder said. “But for the children they victimized, this was nothing short of a nightmare.” MSNBC.com and CNN have coverage.
So far, 52 of the 72 charged defendants have been arrested, and 13 of those individuals have pleaded guilty. The defendants were all accused of conspiracy to advertise and distribute child pornography, and 50 were also charged with engaging in a child pornography enterprise.
A high school football coach in Virginia was among those charged, the Roanoke Times reports.
The defendants are accused of using online aliases to hide their identities while participating in an online child porn bulletin board called Dreamboard. Membership was gained by posting videos of child sex abuse. Proxy servers were used in an attempt to disguise the members’ actual locations.
According to Holder, the indictments represent “the largest prosecution in history of individuals who participated in an online child exploitation enterprise conceived and operated for the sole purpose of promoting child sexual abuse, disseminating child pornography, and evading law enforcement.”
