2 local San Diego men face charges in child porn investigation
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International ring used Internet to distribute photos, prosecutors sayBy Onell R. Soto February 21, 2002 Two men from San Diego and Poway are facing child molestation and Internet child pornography charges from what authorities say is an international ring uncovered by a Swedish watchdog group. Other arrests in the case also have been made in Central California, Germany and Denmark, authorities said yesterday. The case demonstrates how computers allow child pornography to be distributed rapidly across great distances, said local officials, who also launched a drive to alert parents about the dangers of letting children roam the Internet without supervision. Paul Whitmore, a child and family counselor from Grantville, pleaded not guilty yesterday to 23 child molestation and child pornography charges involving two girls ages 10 and 13. Whitmore was originally charged with 11 counts last month, but with the additional charges a San Diego Superior Court judge doubled his bail to $2 million. Whitmore also allowed another man, Brooke Rowland, 40, of Poway, to abuse one of the girls he was abusing, said San Diego District Attorney Paul Pfingst. "They're exchanging kids," Pfingst said. Rowland, a salesman for an outdoor advertising company, is scheduled to be arraigned in San Diego Superior Court today on child molestation and pornography charges involving five children, said prosecutor Jeffrey Dort. Rowland is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. In a separate case that prosecutors said is also tied to cyberspace child abuse, David Martineau, the federal fire chief in charge of protecting San Diego County's military facilities, pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges that he sexually abused a 15-year-old boy he met on the Internet. At a news conference announcing billboards, bus ads and a Web site, Pfingst said parents must adapt the lessons they learned as children to a world in which sexual predators use the Internet. "There are people who wake up in the morning, and their goal that day is to talk to young people," he said. "You think your kids are talking to a friend from school, and your kids are talking to a 34-year-old person." The Web site – www.dasafenet.com – recommends that parents monitor their children's Internet use and keep the family computer in a central part of the home, among other things. Prosecutors said Whitmore and Rowland were part of a child pornography ring in which they exchanged pictures and video of themselves molesting girls to other Internet users. The investigation in that case began in November after the Swedish affiliate of the child advocacy group Save The Children tipped off police about new child pornography they found on the Internet, according to court records. So far, police in Denmark, Germany and the Fresno suburb of Clovis have arrested people accused of being members of the ring, court records show. Whitmore was arrested last month by investigators looking into pictures found on a computer seized in Denmark, records show. After arresting him Jan. 27, San Diego police found cameras, computers, photos and videotapes at Whitmore's home, as well as leather restraints, rope and handcuffs, according to court records. Whitmore lost his job as a child counselor and computer expert at the Stein Education Center in Grantville after he was arrested. None of the abused children were students at the school, prosecutors and police said yesterday. Whitmore's attorney, Gary Roberts, refused to comment on the case yesterday. Rowland was arrested Friday after pictures of him abusing a girl were found on Whitmore's computer, police said. The investigation is continuing, but Whitmore and Rowland, who have known each other for years, are the only two San Diego County men suspected as part of the international ring, Dort said. Authorities around the country are looking for possible links to the ring, said San Diego police Sgt. Dave Jones, a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is coordinating the investigation locally. But because the Internet is impossible to control, Jones said, child pornography created by members of the ring may reappear elsewhere. "It's out there forever," he said. "There's no way to take it back." |