Human Trafficking Watch

The AP is reporting that 55 men were arrested after an eight-month-long investigation into an online file-sharing operation:

Fifty-five men, including a former sheriff’s deputy and at least one attorney, were charged with possessing child pornography following an eight-month investigation, authorities said Tuesday.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles said the suspects used peer-to-peer networks to exchange graphic images and videos, then stored the files on their computers.

All were charged with possession of child pornography. Some had been charged with additional offenses, such as production of child pornography and committing crimes while registered sex offenders.

This is a bizarre story in that the perpetrator, Jeremy Noyes,  allegedly was attempting to convince a New Zealand woman to raise her daughter as his sex slave. The FBI was tipped off by a classmate via a Web site and then a former girlfriend confirmed the allegations. However, the FBI can’t confirm the mother and daughter exist.

Noyes wanted them to move in with him and that “his long term intent was to assemble a ‘family’ of female sex slaves that would begin with” the woman and her daughter.

“Noyes intended to impregnate (the 4-year-old) when she was between the ages of 8 and 14 and then continue to breed the future offspring that would result from his plan,” Noyes’ classmate told the FBI. “Noyes intends to buy a farm or an island where he could put his new society together.”

The FBI investigation said it found women who corresponded with Noyes online and, in turn, the child-sex images in his e-mail account earlier this month.

I’m always astounded when women are willing to deal in child porn and even more so when those women involve their own children. I can only hope the women who sent him the images don’t actually have children. Hopefully the images will lead to their arrests also.

27-year-old Philip Thompson pleaded guilty to child porn charges and was sentenced indefinitely to prison in Britain, using a wait-and-see approach to how long he’ll actually serve. His lawyer made excuses for him:

Lawyer Brian Russell said Thompson had cooperated with police since his arrest in February.

“This is really a young man who has fallen into that stereotype of a rather sad and lonely teenager who spends too much time in a darkened room in front of a computer screen,” Russell said. “He has not had much life experience to get himself mature.”

Immature? I hope there aren’t a lot of people buying into that line of thinking when it comes to child porn trafficking online. Calling Thompson a stereotype insinuates that child porn is something acceptable if you only know the circumstance. In addition, Thompson is 27 years old, not a teenager.

It is these situations that make me wonder how some defense attorneys sleep at night. At least the judge had a reasoned opinion of him:

Judge Michael Taylor gave him an indeterminate prison sentence, saying he must prove he is not a risk to society before he can be released.

He told Thompson he was “somebody who is prepared to go to extreme lengths to feed your lust. You are a very dangerous individual indeed.”

Indeed.

I hate the way that people abuse good things for their evil purposes:

A Santa Barbara man is charged with advertising on Craigslist for a guide who would help him find children to have sex with in Thailand.

Michael Patrick Mahoney had his bond set at $100,000 Monday in federal court in Los Angeles. He was arrested Saturday by federal agents at Los Angeles International Airport after he boarded a flight for Bangkok. He was carrying children’s stuffed animals, Disneyland shirts and chocolates.

The 51-year-old faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of a child sex tourism charge.

The investigation into Mahoney began last week after immigration officials noticed his ad on the Craigslist Web site.

Officials say an undercover agent posed as a travel guide and sent an e-mail offering to arrange meetings with children.