Burnsville Man Charged with Producing, Distributing Child Pornography

ICE.gov ^ | September 23, 2005

[Calpernia]

ICE investigation beginning in Atlanta leads to Minnesota Department of Homeland Security, ICE

MINNEAPOLIS—As a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) special agents and local law enforcement agencies, a Burnsville man made an initial appearance in federal court today after being criminally charged for allegedly using prepubescent girls to produce child pornography in his basement.

ICE special agents, assisted by Burnsville Police officers, arrested Bruce W. Betcher, 51, of Burnsville, Minn., yesterday morning. He was later charged by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Minnesota with using a minor to produce sexually explicit images and then distributing them.

The local investigation was triggered when ICE special agents in Atlanta executed a federal search warrant at a residence in August, during which a computer was seized. More than 2,000 images of child pornography were found on the computer’s hard drive. These images were forwarded to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) for forensic analysis. The ICE CyberCrimes Center in Virginia has special agents assigned to a NCMEC task force.

Analysis of the images led NCMEC and ICE to believe that some of them — which showed prepubescent girls engaged in explicit sex acts — were taken in the basement of a Twin Cities area home, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The investigation led ICE agents, working with the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children (MICAC) task force and the Burnsville Police Department, to Betcher’s residence.

During the execution of a search warrant Monday evening by the Burnsville Police Department, officers seized three computers, a digital camera and storage media, and a printed page bearing images of child pornography.

ICE Bloomington special agents and Burnsville Police identified six local girls in the photographs. During an interview with law enforcement officials, one of the girls named Bruce Betcher as the photographer, according to the criminal complaint.

“ICE works in close partnership with all levels of law enforcement to protect the most vulnerable among us,” said Mark A. Cangemi, special agent in charge of the ICE office in Bloomington. “Removing dangerous sexual predators from our communities is a top priority.”

If convicted of the charges, Betcher faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erica MacDonald is prosecuting the case.

As with any criminal case, a charge is merely an accusation; a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Betcher’s arrest is part of Operation Predator, ICE’s comprehensive initiative to safeguard children from foreign national pedophiles, international sex tourists, Internet child pornographers, and human traffickers. Since Operation Predator was launched in July 2003, ICE agents have arrested more than 6,300 individuals nationwide, including 191 in Minnesota, making it one of the top 10 states for these arrests.

To enhance efforts to protect children, ICE has formed partnerships with several non-governmental organizations, including the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and World Vision’s child sex tourism prevention project, to provide prevention and deterrence information to the public. ICE plans to expand these partnerships in the coming year.

Members of the public wishing to report suspicious activity may contact ICE at 1-866-DHS-2ICE or Operation.Predator@dhs.gov. Additionally, NCMEC can be contacted at 1-800-843-5678 or at http:/www.cybertipline.com. Additional information about the operation is posted at www.ice.gov.

Member agencies of the MICAC task force participating in this investigation are: St. Paul Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department, Anoka County Sheriff’s Department and the Woodbury Police Department.

[Calpernia]

[Calpernia]

>>>>National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC)

A bit on tracking victims

[Calpernia]

>>> international sex tourists

More on Sex Tours

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/1472612/posts
Sex Tours

[Calpernia]

ping

[Valin]

Shoot him...small caliber...in the gut....let him bleed to death.

[R.W.Ratikal]

Surely a good argument can be made to establish corporal punishment for certain crimes. For example, distributors of child porn, car theft, minor dope dealers, shoplifting, housebreaking, larceny, petty theft, assault, certain white-collar crimes and other non-violent acts and behavior..

A judge could be given the option of sentencing someone convicted of named crimes with a level of lashes laid on with a cane or whip as defined by law.

Level One could be 10 lashes on the bare back and buttocks for gang members, minor thefts and the like.
Level two twenty lashes, for dealing drugs, etc.

Physical pain is not soon forgotten and people who are repeat criminals are usually cowards who will do anything to avoid it.

In fact, to avoid such punishment some might even go so far as to obey the law.

[Calpernia]

For child porn, I won't settle for less than the death penalty.

The other infractions we can review on a case by case bases ;)

[Sirknight71]

Please help. I am the father of 2 of the children that he has photographed. This man is my wife's father who got custody of the 3 kids from Hennepin County back in 1998. Hennepin County took the kids from me and my wife and gave them to her father. Now, this man has done these unthinkable things. And if that wasn't enough, Dakota County Social Services removed the kids from the home and are thinking about placing the kids back into the home with his wife. I am sorry but she says that she did not know anything. I say BULL to that. He had pics on paper in his office. He subscribed to sites for 2 to 3 years as often as one month ago. And she didn't know. BULL!!!
Here's the part where you can help me, my wife, and the 3 kids we have had since than to get our family back together. On September the 28th(this Wednesday) at 10 AM in Hastings, MN. Dakota County is holding a CHIPS court hearing to determine where the children should go. I need way to stop them from placing those children back into the same home where the wife is living. BTW, the wife of Bruce Betcher is the kids Step Grandmother and my wifes mother has offered to take the children until the court grants us custody. Please if there is anything that you can think of contact me by email @ Sirknight71@yahoo.com

Thank you for your time and your willingness to help me and my family in this time of need.

[SC Swamp Fox]

See post #8. Curious post from a new member.

[Sirknight71]

Why did you delete my post?

[SC Swamp Fox]

I didn't pull your post. I alerted the moderators to the presence of your post. We get a lot of "odd" people that sign up and post things here. We tend to be suspicious of people who have signed up in the last 24 hours, and the content of your post qualifies as "unusual". If the mods did pull your post, they have put it back now.

Advise: Get a lawyer. I don't think you'll get any additional help here since none of us know why they were granted custody of your children in the first place.

[Gava]

Umm, this is definitely NOT the place to look for advice on life or death situations. Nevertheless here are the basic (simple/broad) rules to remember: First find a lawyer and get as much knowledge about the law as you can so you can work effectively together. Next, when you're on the stand, whatever you do, do not express anger or contempt towards the other party, no matter what you are feeling towards them. Anger will make it appear that you are more interested in the "ownership" of your children then their actual well-being. Yes, a trial is a stage. You probably already know that but I'll say it anyway just in case. Very Important.

[Melas]

That pesky constitution just keeps getting in the way of things doesn't it? It's a sad fact of life, but the 8th Amendment gets about as much respect from some posters on freep as the 2nd Amendment gets in liberal coffee houses.