Just to be fair it started in St. Paul
Townshend's Porn Case Started In St. Paul
Wed Jan 15,10:05 AM ET Add Local - Channel4000.com
While fans mull the explanation from famed rock 'n' roll guitarist and composer Pete Townshend about why he admittedly used his credit card to subscribe to an online child porn service, the case against the Who founder is another that sprang from the actions of a St. Paul postal inspector in the spring of 1999.
That's when the inspector followed up on a tip about a Web site offering child pornography images online to subscribers paying a fee and mailing some pictures to members.
That tip led him to the owners of a Texas production company, who federal officials contend masterminded a massive porn ring that operated in the perceived anonymity of the Internet, but proved to be anything but anonymous.
It was last August when Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) strode before a podium to announce the largest bust of a commercial child pornography ring that grew from that St. Paul postal inspector's follow-up.
By the time Ashcroft went public with details of Operation Avalanche in early August, more than 100 people had been arrested across the country in the undercover sting that grew from that tip.
Part of the probe reportedly turned up reams of credit card numbers of subscribers to the service, including a reported 800 Minnesotans.
His superiors said that at the time the inspector knew he had discovered what he described as "the tip of the iceberg."
"The numbers are staggering when you look at it because this is one operation off one Web site," Cmdr. Rick Anderson of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Minnesota said last summer. "There's literally hundreds of thousands -- if not millions -- of Web sites available.
"I really do think we are just scratching the surface," Anderson said.
In addition to the credit cards authorities traced to Americans, there was a long list of numbers that originated overseas, and the FBI (news - web sites) reportedly provided them to Interpol in Europe.
It's from that list that authorities reportedly found Townshend's credit card number, which led to police seizing his computer and arresting him earlier this week.
He was released from police custody and hasn't been charged with a crime.
The St. Paul inspector who began the case hasn't wanted his
identity revealed.
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