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North County Times

Hearing set in pornography case

SAN DIEGO ---- An Aug. 27 preliminary hearing was set Wednesday for an ex-counselor and a salesman accused in an international pornography ring in which members allegedly distributed pictures of themselves molesting young girls.

Paul Whitmore, 43, of San Diego, and Brooke Rowland, 40, of Poway, have pleaded innocent to child molestation and child pornography charges involving six girls. Each is being held on $2 million bail.

Members of the ring allegedly exchanged pictures and videos of children as young as 3 years old engaged in sexual acts on the Internet, authorities said.

Whitmore, who used to counsel developmentally disabled children, and Rowland, who worked for an outdoor advertising company, are accused of abusing one of the girls together.

Authorities behind the investigation ---- code-named Operation Hamlet ---- arrested 25 people in the United States, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and other unidentified countries.

Most of the children have been identified and are receiving psychological counseling, he added.

None were students at the Stein Education Center in Grantville, where Whitmore worked, prosecutor Jeffrey Dort said.

---- City News Service

5/23/02

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North County Times

Man pleads not guilty in porn case

SAN DIEGO ---- A Poway man accused of using the Internet to distribute pictures of himself molesting girls pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges involving five alleged victims.

Brooke Rowland, 40, a salesman for an outdoor advertising company, was ordered held on $2 million bail, the same as his co-defendant Paul Whitmore. Rowland kept his head bowed during his arraignment in Superior Court.

Prosecutors said the two defendants were part of an international pornographic ring in which they exchanged pictures and video of themselves molesting girls with other people on the Internet. The alleged pornography ring was uncovered by a watchdog group in Sweden.

Whitmore, 43, pleaded innocent Wednesday to 23 counts, including committing a lewd act on a child, aggravated sexual assault on a child, using a minor to display obscene matter and dissuading a witness from reporting a crime.

Whitmore worked for 14 years at the Stein Education Center in San Diego, which trains children with disabilities such as autism.

The alleged victims in his case were not students at the school, said Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Dort. Superior Court Judge David Szumowski ordered Rowland back to court April 3 for a readiness conference. A preliminary hearing is set for April 10.

JJ, here is what is weird. Damon takes trips out of the country.

What if ?.......

Damon had something on his computers the court won't let us see.

What if ?..........