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Archives > Volume 8 Issue 39 - May 28, 2010 Feds bust child porn 'social networking site'...Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that they had broken up a major online international child pornography ring that at its peak had more than 1,000 members trading millions of sexually explicit images. AP story from MSNBC here 
More than 50 people have been arrested in several states since the 2008 start of the investigation, U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison said in a statement, and authorities said they are seeking the extradition of several suspects from overseas. Immigration and postal agencies also took part in the investigation, along with state and local police.
"This is the largest crimes against children case brought anywhere by anyone," Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. DeBrota said. One suspect, 47-year-old Edward Oedewaldt, who was arrested April 23 in Arcadia, Louisiana, was brought to Indianapolis on Wednesday to face charges of conspiracy to advertise and distribute child pornography and was ordered to remain in federal custody pending trial. He has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Howard Bergstein, declined to comment Wednesday. Prosecutors said 35 ring members have been convicted of various child pornography distribution charges. Some of them have received sentences of up to 20 years in prison. Besides Indiana and Louisiana, suspects came from California, Alaska, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, Virginia and Florida, DeBrota said. The government is working with police in several countries, including France, Germany and England, to investigate other suspects, DeBrota said. Investigators also believe the group had members in Asia, Africa and South America. The U.S. is working to extradite the group's alleged ringleader, Delwyn Savigar, who is serving a 14-year prison term in England for sexually assaulting three underage girls, DeBrota said. Savigar created and ran a password-protected website from which members could access collections of sexual images - some including as many as a million files - share their fantasies about having sex with children and give advice to each other about how to build their collections and avoid getting caught, according to DeBrota. In other news... 
Under pressure to publicly name individuals banned for life from coaching or membership, USA Swimming has released its list of men who it has permanently barred, mostly for sexual misconduct allegations. ABC News story here The list names 46 individuals: 36 banned for sex-related offenses, two banned under allegations of fraud, deception or dishonesty, two for alleged felonies that aren't specified, and one accused of using illegal drugs or substances. The remaining five don't have offenses listed. USA Swimming said it would publish the list after an ABC News "20/20" investigation in April revealed the number of coaches who had been banned due to sexual misconduct. (See vol8_iss26, vol8_iss27, vol8_iss29, and vol8_iss30 for more information.) The organization, which is the governing body of swimming in the U.S., previously declined to release the names. Click here to read the complete list The highest profile is Everett Uchiyama, the director of the U.S. national team from 2002 until his suspension in January 2006. USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus told ABC News' "20/20" that he received information "a number of years ago" that Uchiyama, now listed as the Director of Aquatics at a Colorado country club, "had an inappropriate relationship with an athlete who he was coaching. Meanwhile, an Indiana swimming coach has admitted to sexual misconduct with a young athlete he coached, the latest case in a string of incidents by USA Swimming coaches. additional ABC News story here Chris Wheat, 36, was charged with multiple sex crimes with a 14-year-old swimmer that took place in his Central Indiana coach's office in Sept. 2009. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor and one felony count of child solicitation.
It might go against conventional wisdom, but a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project is adding fuel to the argument that young people are fast becoming the gurus of online reputation management, especially when it comes to social networking sites. findlaw.com story here Among other things, the study found that they are most likely to limit personal information online - and the least likely to trust free online services ranging from Facebook to LinkedIn and MySpace. The Pew study found, for instance, that social networkers ages 18 to 29 were the most likely to change the privacy settings on their profiles to limit what they share with others online. The percentage who did so was 71%, compared with just 55% of the 50- to 64-year-old bracket. Meanwhile, about two-thirds of all social networkers who were surveyed said they've tightened security settings. The survey also determined that about half of young people in that 18-29 bracket have deleted comments that others have made on their profile, compared with just 29% of those ages 30 to 49 and 26% of 50- to 64-year-olds. The numbers were similar when it came to social networkers who removed their names from photos that were tagged to identify them. Finally, when asked how much they can trust social networking sites, 28% of the youngest adults surveyed said "never." A fifth in the 30-49 bracket said that and just 14% of those ages 50 to 64 agreed. The full report is available online from http://www.pewinternet.org/. See eGuide/MySpace and Facebook for more information on social networking.
The Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape is urging Pennsylvanians to contact WBEB 101.1FM in Philadelphia and express their displeasure with the station's decision to deny PCAR radio advertising space for its HERO Project campaign. story from prnewswire.com here The station denied PCAR space because the 30-second public service announcement, urging adults to report child sexual abuse, contained the words "rape" and "sexual." WBEB's General Manager Blaise Howard offered PCAR space only if it altered the wording to remove the word "rape" from the organization's name and say "child abuse" instead of "child sexual abuse", citing that the station's listeners would be upset by the words that are currently used. Howard stated to PCAR's executive director that WBEB doesn't take "explicit ads" because they are a "straight laced" company. However, the station does play sexually suggestive music by artists such as Prince, Madonna, Lady GaGa and George Michael. "Child sexual abuse is not about sexuality," PCAR Executive Director Delilah Rumburg said. "It's about violence to our children. If the station doesn't believe its listeners could handle hearing words about abuse, imagine what child victims of sexual abuse are experiencing." To listen to the HERO Project public service announcements visit http://heroproject.org/en/listen-radio-spots.
The father of a 14-year-old girl who was raped and murdered joined the latest legal offensive against registered sex offenders in California when he backed legislation to require them to carry marked driver's licenses. AP story here The endorsement by Maurice Dubois was part of a growing push to overhaul the way the state punishes and tracks such criminals. It came more than a month after convicted sex offender John Albert Gardner pleaded guilty to raping and murdering Amber Dubois and 17-year-old Chelsea King. (For more on this story, see vol8_iss16, vol8_iss17, vol8_iss18, vol8_iss19, and vol8_iss28.) The bill co-authored by Assemblymen Pedro Nava and Paul Cook would require people convicted of some sex crimes to carry a driver's license or state identification card identifying them as an offender. The markings could include a distinctive stripe or color. The strategy is used in two other states. Driver's licenses in Delaware are marked with the letter "Y," and Louisiana emblazons licenses with the words "sex offender."
A 19-year-old woman has requested a temporary restraining order against the man who once falsely claimed to have murdered JonBenet Ramsey in 1996. AP story here San Francisco Court Commissioner William Gargano issued the order against John Mark Karr on April 19, on behalf of Samantha Spiegel, 19. Spiegel claimed that Karr, who now goes by the name Alexis Valoran Reich, made what was described as "ongoing death threats" and "threats of sexual exploitation to children" in e-mails. "I'm concerned for my safety: he knows where I sleep, where I go to school, what I look like," Spiegel wrote in her request for the restraining order. "(He) has seriously threatened to hunt me down and kill me by any means necessary." Fox News takes a look at Karr's bizarre life and what it describes as his efforts to form "a cult of Jon Benet lookalikes." Fox News story here For more on this story, see vol4_iss34, vol4_iss35, vol4_iss36, vol4_iss38, vol4_iss40, vol4_iss42, vol4_iss43, vol4_iss44.
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