[Palladin]

Great news! These creeps are being rounded up and many will spend at least 10 years in federal prison.

They have been traced by their credit cards.

A lot of internet perverts are shaking in their boots tonight.

Many more arrests are expected in the next few days.

[cyborg]

such lovely people...I'll take comfort in knowing they'll be received well in prison as most abusers of children are.

[MHGinTN]

New Jersey, First In Cannibalism, now this!

[ancient_geezer]

New Jersey's U.S. Attorney asked the credit card companies to flag all purchases from Regpay, and Connections U.S.A., two credit card processing companies.

"Money launderers should be aware that they can no longer hide behind the click-of-the-mouse anonymity of cyberspace."

Indeed!

[PAR35]

Including the campus minister at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung.

"a private Catholic secondary school" as they say on their website.

[Palladin]

More...looks like this is a worldwide bust:


CBS
Video
Kiddie porn ring busted in New Jersey, Michael Pomeranz reports.
Global Kiddie Porn Ring Busted

About Two Dozen People Were Arrested In New Jersey

Jan 15, 2004 4:22 pm US/Mountain
NEWARK (CBS) Federal officials on Thursday announced they had cracked a Belarus-based international child pornography ring with arrests in France, Spain and the United States.

The cases stem from an Internet processor of Web site subscriptions in Minsk, Belarus, which collected fees for memberships to child pornography Web sites that brought in millions of dollars, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

An executive with a Florida company has pleaded guilty in the case.

"When we followed the money, we ended up getting both the operators of this outfit ... and meanwhile back here at home we were doing search warrants on people's computers who had subscribed via credit card to these child pornographic Web sites," said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.

About two dozen people in New Jersey and 20 others around the United States have been charged with downloading child pornography, including a doctor, a minister and a teacher, the office said.

They were snared by tracking the fees from the companies to the consumers of child pornography, with the assistance of credit card companies, said Michael J. Garcia, assistant secretary of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.

At a New Jersey federal courthouse today, prosecutors revealed that many of the 270,000 credit card transactions on the sites were from Americans.

"This is the first time that this type of comprehensive investigation has been done in this country — to go after the child pornography industry from the top to the bottom," Prosecutor Christopher Christie told CBS.

Federal authorities in New Jersey can prosecute people for actions taken overseas because images were downloaded in the state by consumers, he said.

The Belarus company, Regpay Co. Ltd., and Connections USA, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were indicted in a money-laundering scheme involving paid memberships to about 50 pornography Web sites.

Four of Regpay's leaders were indicted, and three were arrested over the summer in France and Spain.

The U.S. government is seeking the extradition of Regpay's president, Yahor Zalatarou, 25, and marketing director, Alexei Buchnev, 26, who are in Paris, and its technical administrator, Aliaksandr Boika, 29, who is in Madrid. All had lived in Minsk.

All three are accused of conspiracy to send child pornography by computer, conspiracy to commit money laundering and other charges. The most serious counts carry 15 to 30 years in prison.

U.S. authorities said they were working with Belarus to arrest Regpay's administrative and financial assistant, Tatsiana Sienko, 25, who is charged with conspiring to distribute child pornography and conspiracy to launder its proceeds. The charges can bring five to 20 years in prison.

Connections chief executive officer Eugene Valentine, 38, from Florida, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a conspiracy to launder money for Regpay and its principals.

On Tuesday, Connections employee Keith Czarnecki, 46, also from Florida, pleaded guilty for failing to report the offense to law enforcement.

Regpay was formerly known as Trustbill, while Connections did business as Iserve. Regpay allegedly operated at least four child pornography sites from Minsk, and it carried advertising for other pornographic Web sites. One Regpay site referred to itself as "underground pedo world," the indictment said.

"Today's indictment strikes at the heart of the commercial trade of child pornography by attacking the commercial profits derived from such a deplorable venture," Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

He said the ring was dismantled through efforts of law enforcement in Belarus, France and Spain, as well as agents from the Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI.

"Regpay Co. Inc. allegedly processed nearly $3 million in subscription fees by persons seeking pornography — much of it being child pornography," Ashcroft said.

The investigation is part of Operation Falcon, aimed at severing commercial support of child pornography. As of Tuesday, $800,000 in sales proceeds has been seized and 160 cases initiated, the Justice Department said.

[Old Professer]

I think it is time to make stupidity a federal crime.

[Eva]

We used to have a porn store, known as the Bookstore is downtown (a one street downtown), that was right across the street from the Pizza parlor. My son said that he recognized several teachers and coaches from a neighboring town going inside. I'm sure if you look hard enough, you'll find all sorts of people engaging in this type of activity on the sly.

[LisaMalia]

The ACLU will be all over this one like flies on crap. Come to think of it, that's not a bad analogy either.

[ValerieUSA]

And in an unprecedented move, the government has charged company executives with money laundering, for helping fund the child porn industry by collecting monthly fees.

Nice touch. I hate credit card companies more than defense lawyers.

[Coleus]

Child Porn Customers Included Doctor, Teacher, Minister >>>

See they were married, some protestant and not celibate papist priests. Perversions affect all people of all faiths regardless of creed or marriage status.

Pastor (Protestant) convicted of soliciting sex from teenager

 

30 Jerseyans to face Internet child-porn charges

Federal authorities say arrests include pediatrician and teacher
Thursday, January 15, 2004

 

BY MATTHEW J. DOWLING AND ROBERT RUDOLPH
Star-Ledger Staff

 

Federal authorities plan to announce today the arrests of about 30 New Jersey residents -- including a pediatrician, teacher and minister -- on charges that they downloaded nude photos of children from the Internet, law enforcement sources said.

 

The months-long, nationwide investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has targeted dozens of other alleged pedophiles across the country, sources said. Federal officials have called a news conference in Newark today to detail the arrests and how investigators tracked down those seeking child pornography on the Web.

 

Among those already charged is Ronald M. Hiles, 44, of High Bridge. Hiles, a substitute teacher at the High Bridge elementary and middle schools in Hunterdon County, was arrested Tuesday morning after agents from ICE raided his home and seized two computer hard drives that contained 15 images of nude boys, authorities said.

 

Earlier this month, Lee Matthews, a minister and drama teacher at Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung, was arrested on similar charges. Matthews, 48, of Plainfield, is accused of downloading more than 100 pornographic pictures of boys and girls on his home computer. After his arrest, Matthews was relieved of his duties at the all-girl college prep school.

 

Agents from ICE, which is part of the federal Department of Homeland Security, have been executing search warrants throughout New Jersey this week. The investigation is an offshoot of "Operation Predator," an international investigation into child pornography and child prostitution that has resulted in 1,600 arrests since July.

 

Hiles, who is married and the father of three, posted a $100,000 bond yesterday after his first appearance in U.S. District Court before Judge Madeline Cox Arleo. He was banned from having access to computers or the Internet and ordered not to have unsupervised contact with children, other than his own, in nonpublic places.

 

"I'm sorry, at the advice of counsel, I have no comment for you," Hiles said when he answered the door at his Michael Lane home last night.

 

Hiles told authorities after his arrest that he used the Internet to view images of nude boys between the ages of 8 and 18, and subscribed to Web sites that provided child pornography, according to court documents.

 

If convicted, Hiles could face up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000. High Bridge school Superintendent Patricia Ash said that Hiles, who worked in the district for about 2 1/2 years, was removed from the substitute teacher list yesterday. "We are very upset with what has happened," Ash said from her home last night. Ash, who has been in touch with the U.S. Attorney's Office and Customs agents, said she was told that there is no connection between the charges and Hiles' work in the High Bridge schools.

 

"We are a small community and a very caring community. This is just one of those things we are going to have to deal with," Ash said.

 

In addition to working as a teacher in High Bridge, Hiles also has volunteered with youth programs at Presbyterian churches in Clinton and Califon.

 

The Rev. Tim Harrison, co-pastor of the Clinton Presbyterian Church where Hiles has volunteered for the last two years, said church leaders met last night to discuss the arrest.

 

Harrison said he does not have reason to believe Hiles had any inappropriate contact with children participating in the youth programs, which always have multiple adults supervising children.

 

He described Hiles as friendly and said he was surprised to learn of the charges against him.

"This is just very sad," Harrison said.

 

Staff writer Peter N. Spencer contributed to this report
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-5/1074149551322861.xml

[little jeremiah]

Christopher Christie: "If you are a member of one of these sites, if you buy this material and you download it, you are committing a federal crime. We will catch you, and we will put you in jail."

Instead of putting in jail, how about public beatings? Please? Public pain and public shame would be much more effective. What to speak of cheaper.