Posted on 08/09/2002 8:59:43 AM PDT by NYer
WASHINGTON (AP) _ Ten Americans and six foreigners were charged Friday with taking sexually explicit photographs of their own children or children in their care and sending them over the Internet to an international child pornography ring, the U.S. Customs Service said.
Forty-five children, including 37 in the United States, were victims and have been removed from the care of those indicted, Customs officials said. Most of them are in the custody of another parent or relative.
The defendants include nine people from seven states who were indicted in Fresno, Calif., along with six residents of Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The indictment alleges that members of the ring, referring to themselves as ``the club,'' traded messages across the Internet requesting photographs of specific sexual poses. One man asked for an audiotape so he could hear a child crying while being spanked, the indictment said, and another posed naked with an underage girl.
The Customs Service coordinated the U.S. investigation that began last November with a request for help from the Danish National Police, who were acting on a tip about an international child pornography ring. ``I congratulate the investigators whose ingenuity and perseverance brought these people to justice,'' Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said in a statement.
The Americans charged include: Lloyd Alan Emmerson of Fresno County, Calif.; Paul Whitmore and Brooke Rowland, San Diego County, Calif.; Tracy Reynolds, Texas; Leslie Peter Bowcut, Idaho; Michael David Harland, Florida; Harry Eldon Tschernetzki, Washington state; John Zill, South Carolina; Craig Davidson, Kansas. The identity of the tenth American was not immediately available.
The foreigners were identified as Eggert Jensen and Bente Jensen of Denmark; Jean-Michael Frances Cattin, Marcel Egli and Peter Althaus of Switzerland; and Dirk-Jan Prins of the Netherlands.
On the Net: Customs Service: http://www.customs.ustreas.gov
AP-ES-08-09-02 1114EDT
Yeah, but make sure they are in the general prison population. It's the most fitting punishment I can think of.
How could such a thing happen in Fresno? Other perps in San Diego. I wonder if there's a Fresno/San Diego connection?
For example - the question was put forward "if homosexuality is correct and the only thing that seperates it from other supposedly deviant acts is the term 'informed consent' or just 'consent' then who's to say anything else is wrong."
Well - you think the answer to that would be obvious but there were a number of the kids in that forum who were seriously accepting that if it could be demonstrated that "kids" were consenting it would therefore be OK. There were those in the forum who responded with great offense at such positions but they were eventually ignored into silence.
So I put the question out for my fellow freepers to discuss: If informed consent can be demonstrated do you think that "child porn" and "pedophilia" should be viewed differently? After all - I have seen plenty of articles and papers in the past couple of years stating that very thing.
Part of the reason I ask this is these people obviously found it within themselves to justify sexually abusing their own children - did they believe it was wrong? Were they ashamed? Or are we repressing the possibility that such behavior is consentual in nature?
Let me be clear - I find pedophilia and child pornography immoral to the nth degree... in fact - there are no degress of separation. I find pornography of any kind immoral - but that's a different discussion entirely. I mention this, however, to make it clear that I'm not trying to defend anyone.
My whole premise in the question is that we've so brazenly accepted what was considered to be previously be deviant sexual behavior and made it normal - why not child/adult sexual encounters?
Lastly - let us remember - just as homosexuality has been practiced historically and always has been - child/adult sexual encounters are nothing new in supposed advanced/historical cultures and so have other so-called "deviant" sexual practices. Is it not possible that we should rethink our views on other behaviors just as we have on homosexuality?
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/2717378.htm
And David Westerfield is on trial for the murder of Brenda VanDam. I think they got the wrong man.
UCANSEE2 I know you are familiar with this, so wanted to ping you.
In our "tolerance" and open-mindedness are we breeding a generation/s of future law-makers and "setters of the social norm" that will completely make todays views of sexual behavior look as restrictive as the "religiou and restive" views of the 50's and earlier look now?
I really creep out at what kind of society my children and grandchildren are growing up in and will live in in the next 20+ years.
I think you're being naieve about it - when sexual activity stops being goverened by moral rules but instead by social norms we can rationalize anything. We are already doing it and people are already asserting that sexual encounters with adults was not only NOT harmful but clearly beneficial for their social development.
| Update: Fresno man indicted in pornography ring (Published Friday, August 9, 2002, 9:20 AM) |
| Clovis chiropractor Lloyd Alan Emmerson, indicted in February on federal charges that he sent photos over the Internet of children engaged in sexually explicit acts, is part of an international child pornography ring that U.S. officials cracked down on today. Ten Americans, including Emmerson, 45, and six foreigners were charged today with taking sexually explicit photographs of their own children or children in their care and sending them over the Internet to an international child pornography ring, the U.S. Customs Service said. Clovis police, who have led the local investigation, said families may have had their pictures taken in Emmerson's offices in Fresno or Visalia, but it is also possible "their children may have had separate pictures taken without their knowledge." Emmerson pleaded innocent in February to the two-count felony indictment of committing sexual exploitation of children and receiving and distributing material involving the sexual exploitation of minors. Clovis investigators said in May that ongoing checks of Emmerson's computer continued to reveal images of children they were attempting to identify. After his arrest by Clovis police officers, Emmerson allegedly admitted sending photos over the Internet, according to court documents. Clovis police detective John Weaver said in an affidavit that the investigation involved U.S. Customs agents and Danish police and had led to arrests of several people in Europe. Forty-five children, including 37 in the United States, were victims and have been removed from the care of those indicted, Customs officials said. Most of them are in the custody of another parent or relative. Customs officials made today's announcement in Washington, D.C., after indictments were unsealed in the Fresno federal courthouse. A press conference in Fresno is scheduled for 10 a.m. The new indictment alleges that members of the ring, referring to themselves as "the club," traded messages across the Internet requesting photographs of specific sexual poses. One man asked for an audiotape so he could hear a child crying while being spanked, the indictment said, and another posed naked with an underage girl. The Customs Service coordinated the U.S. investigation that began last November with a request for help from the Danish National Police, who were acting on a tip about an international child pornography ring. "I congratulate the investigators whose ingenuity and perseverance brought these people to justice," Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said in a statement. The Americans charged include: Emmerson; Paul Whitmore and Brooke Rowland, San Diego County; Tracy Reynolds, Texas; Leslie Peter Bowcut, Idaho; Michael David Harland, Florida; Harry Eldon Tschernetzki, Washington state; John Zill, South Carolina; Craig Davidson, Kansas. The identity of the 10th American was not immediately available. The foreigners were identified as Eggert Jensen and Bente Jensen of Denmark; Jean-Michael Frances Cattin, Marcel Egli and Peter Althaus of Switzerland; and Dirk-Jan Prins of the Netherlands. |
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