More than 1,200 Arrested Worldwide in Massive Child Pornography Case

In what is believed to be the largest Internet child pornography investigation to date and the first time the U.S. government has targeted the financial side of Internet child pornography, ICE agents have arrested 237 individuals in the United States and have provided information to foreign law enforcement that has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests abroad. The arrests in Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom are part of an ongoing probe into Regpay, an Internet billing company in Minsk, Belarus.

In Jan. 2004, the company was charged with money laundering as well as providing credit card billing services for 50 child pornography websites worldwide and operating at least four child pornography websites on its own. To date 35 people have been arrested in the United States, France, and Spain including three of Regpay’s top officers in Europe. The investigation has also resulted in guilty pleas by two officers of Connections USA, a Florida firm that processed Regpay’s U.S. credit card transactions, and two guilty pleas by individuals affiliated with LB Systems, Inc., a California firm that helped Regpay process credit card transactions.

Having dismantled the leadership of this enterprise, ICE agents are focusing on those who purchased child pornography subscriptions from these sites. Some of the subscribers arrested to date include an elementary school teacher, priests, school principals, school coaches, school janitors, camp counselors, campus ministers, pediatricians, circus clowns, Boy Scout leaders, police officers, firefighters, and many others with direct access to children. Some of these individuals were also found to have been involved in the production and distribution of child pornography.

Two-Month-Old Girl Victimized in Internet Child Pornography Case: On Feb. 26, 2004, ICE agents arrested Larry Michael Jeffs at his residence in El Dorado Hills, California, on federal child pornography charges. During the arrest, ICE agents seized a sexually explicit video showing Jeffs engaged in sexual acts with a two-month-old girl. ICE agents believe the infant is one of the youngest sexual assault victims they have ever encountered. According to the charges in the case, Jeffs videotaped himself molesting the infant then distributed images of the molestation over the Internet. Jeffs pleaded guilty on July 15, 2004. On Sept. 30, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Two Men Convicted for Seeking to Swap Their Children for Sex: During Nov. and Dec. 2003, ICE agents in Michigan arrested two predators on charges of child pornography possession and attempted travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct. The first, Guy Lendrum, was charged with molesting five children, the youngest 18-months old, and subsequently convicted and sentenced to a minimum19 years of incarceration. The second, Brian Urbanawiz, admitted to molesting his nine-year-old twin sons and his 12- year-old son, for which he received a sentence of four to 20 years for communicating with another to commit a crime and 35-60 years for the molestation charges.

Ohio Couple Arrested for Sexually Abusing 4-Year-Old Disabled Girl: As part of an Internet child pornography case, ICE agents in Ohio executed a search warrant at the home of John Stoneman in June 2003. Computer evidence seized in the search revealed that Stoneman and his girlfriend, Patricia Kelley, were sexually abusing a four-year-old severely disabled girl in their care. After the search, the couple fled to Canada where they were arrested by Canadian authorities in March 2004 after a profile on “America’s Most Wanted” generated tips to the pair’s location. The couple pleaded guilty to the charges of rape of a child and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. On December 13, 2004 both Stoneman and Kelley were convicted and each sentenced to two consecutive life terms. In addition to being charged and convicted in the United States they now face additional pornography charges in Canada.

Former Boy Scouts Official Pleads Guilty to Possessing, Distributing Child Pornography: As part of an international investigation between ICE and Bundeskriminalamt (the German Federal Police Service) Douglas Sovereign Smith Jr. was charged and plead guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography. After a search warrant was issued for America On Line (AOL) to produce electronically stored data for Smith’s AOL e-mail account police found multiple images in video format of males under the age of eighteen engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Smith faces a statutory sentence between five and twenty years, a $250,000 fine, and up to a lifetime of supervision.