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Feds Dismantle Massive Child Porn Ring Involving Over 250 Victims
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 19, 2014
Modified Mar 19, 2014
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Mar 19, 2014
Modified Mar 19, 2014
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Federal agents have successfully dismantled one of the biggest child pornography rings ever investigated in the United States; 14 individuals who were allegedly involved with the ring have been arrested, including a 27-year-old man from New Jersey and a 30-year-old immigration activist from Brooklyn.
Authorities say they've identified at least 251 minors who were victims of the ring. The accused individuals allegedly ran a secret child porn website containing about 2,000 pornographic videos that was blocked from outside view on hidden online network Tor. The majority of the victims, most of whom were from the United States, were between the ages of 13 and 15; four victims were ages 7 to 9, one victim was between 4 and 6 and two victims were 3 years old or younger.
Officials believe the men used fake female personas on social networks to help lure young children into the ring. "Never before in the history of this agency have we identified and located this many minor victims in the course of a single child exploitation investigation,” U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale said in a statement yesterday. “Our agency is seeing a growing trend where children are being enticed, tricked and coerced online by adults to produce sexually explicit material of themselves."
Of the 14 individuals named in the indictment, Stanley Zdon III, 27, of Tuckerton, N.J., was charged with conspiracy to produce child pornography. Roy Naim, 30, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiracy to produce child pornography, attempted sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography; an undocumented immigrant and Israeli native, he was arrested on child porn charges in September.
Ringleader Jonathan Johnson, a 27-year-old resident of Louisiana, was also arrested and faces a maximum punishment of life in prison if convicted.
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Rebecca Fishbein
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