Trinity Mount Ministries

Showing posts with label child exploitation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child exploitation. Show all posts

Friday, August 20, 2021

Floridians Charged and Convicted in Connection with International Enterprise that Operated Sexually Exploitive ‘Child Modeling’ Websites

 

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JUSTICE NEWS

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, August 18, 2021

JUSTICE NEWS


1

Floridians Charged and Convicted in Connection with International Enterprise that Operated Sexually Exploitive ‘Child Modeling’ Websites

A series of charges and convictions were announced today in connection with an international enterprise based in Florida that operated subscription-based sexually exploitive “child modeling” websites.

According to court documents, Kenneth Power (deceased at 58, of Weston), was a principal member of the Newstar Enterprise – an internet-based business aimed at for-profit sexual exploitation of vulnerable children under the guise of “child modeling” through a collection of websites called the Newstar Websites. Patrice Eileen Wilowski-Mevorah, 53, of Tampa, and Mary Lou Bjorkman, 58, of Lutz, recently pleaded guilty to laundering money for the Newstar Enterprise. Other members of the Newstar Enterprise resided in Europe. Kenneth Power’s wife, Tatiana “Tanya” Power, 41, of Weston, is currently pending trial on money laundering charges in connection with the Newstar Enterprise.

According to court documents, founded around 2005, the Newstar Enterprise built, maintained, hosted and operated the Newstar Websites on servers in the United States and abroad. To populate the Newstar Websites with content, Newstar Enterprise members sourced, enticed, solicited and recruited males and females under the age of 18, some of whom were prepubescent, to use as “child models” for the Newstar Websites. Using the recruited child-victims, the Newstar Enterprise produced more than 4.6 million sexualized images and videos to distribute and sell on the Newstar Websites. Some of those images and videos, though non-nude, depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. For example, images and videos sold on the Newstar Websites depicted children as young as 6 years old in sexual and provocative poses, wearing police and cheerleader costumes, thong underwear, transparent underwear, revealing swimsuits, pantyhose and miniskirts. Most of the child-victims - recruited from Ukraine, Moldova and other nations in Eastern Europe - were particularly vulnerable due to their age, family dynamics and poverty. Law enforcement officers have disabled the servers hosting the Newstar Websites.

The Newstar Enterprise maintained a membership list for subscribers and customers of the Newstar Websites, who originated from 101 nations across the world. Images in the websites’ galleries were freely available to the public to preview, but greater access and more content required purchasing a subscription. The sale of purported “child modeling” content on the Newstar Websites generated more than $9.4 million during the course of the conspiracy. To process, receive and distribute this money, Newstar Enterprise members fraudulently opened merchant and bank accounts in the United States and laundered proceeds using a bogus jewelry company. 

To date, four members of the Newstar Enterprise have been charged in connection with the Newstar Websites. The chart below shows the statuses of each case. 

Name

Case Number

Charge(s)

Status

Maximum Penalty

Tatiana Power

8:21-cr-244-MSS-AAS

Conspiracy to commit money laundering; international promotion money laundering; concealment money laundering

Indicted,

pending trial

100 years’ imprisonment

Kenneth Power

8:21-cr-00032-SDM-AAS

Conspiracy to advertise child pornography; conspiracy to distribute child pornography

Defendant deceased; case dismissed

60 years’ imprisonment

Patrice Wilowski-Mevorah

8:21-cr-00206-MSS-TGW

Conspiracy to commit money laundering

Pleaded guilty, sentence pending

20 years’ imprisonment

Mary Lou

Bjorkman

8:21-cr-00227-SDM-AAS

Conspiracy to commit money laundering

Pleaded guilty, sentence pending

20 years’ imprisonment

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The defendants have also been notified that the United States intends to forfeit a total of $9.4 million, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses, in addition to real property located in Florida.

These cases were investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa, with substantial assistance provided by Homeland Security Investigations offices in Fort Lauderdale, Athens, and the Hague, as well as the IRS-Criminal Investigation in Tampa. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided investigative assistance.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Murray of the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Kyle Reynolds of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) are prosecuting these cases.

This investigation benefited from foreign law enforcement cooperation and substantial assistance by the Republic of Bulgaria, Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office and National Investigation Service; the Republic of Moldova, Office of the Prosecutor General and National Inspectorate of Investigations; the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Department for Combating Crime Cybercrime Office, Public Prosecution Service (North-Holland Unit); the Italian Republic; and the Czech Republic, Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, Czech Police.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Saturday, June 20, 2020

Trinity Mount Ministries - CyberTipline - NCMEC - DOJ - Report Child Abuse! 1-800-843-5678



In March 1998, using hardware, software, and programming assistance donated by Sun MicroSystems, NCMEC launched the CyberTipline® to further NCMEC’s mission of helping to prevent and diminish the sexual exploitation of children.

The CyberTipline provides the public and electronic service providers (ESPs) with the ability to report online (and via toll-free telephone) instances of online enticement of children for sexual acts, extra-familial child sexual molestation, child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the Internet. NCMEC continuously reviews.
CyberTipline reports to ensure that reports of children who may be in imminent danger get first priority. After NCMEC’s review is completed, all information in a CyberTipline report is made available to law enforcement.

In furtherance of NCMEC’s mission, the CyberTipline allows NCMEC to engage with the Internet industry on voluntary initiatives to help reduce the proliferation of child sexual abuse images online. NCMEC uses the information submitted to the CyberTipline to create and tailor NCMEC’s safety and prevention publications that are provided to educators, parents and the public to help to prevent future victimization.

Members of the public are encouraged to report information regarding possible child sexual exploitation to the CyberTipline.



Thursday, January 23, 2020

Trinity Mount Ministries - CyberTipline - NCMEC - DOJ - Report Child Abuse! 1-800-843-5678



In March 1998, using hardware, software, and programming assistance donated by Sun MicroSystems, NCMEC launched the CyberTipline® to further NCMEC’s mission of helping to prevent and diminish the sexual exploitation of children.

The CyberTipline provides the public and electronic service providers (ESPs) with the ability to report online (and via toll-free telephone) instances of online enticement of children for sexual acts, extra-familial child sexual molestation, child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the Internet. NCMEC continuously reviews.
CyberTipline reports to ensure that reports of children who may be in imminent danger get first priority. After NCMEC’s review is completed, all information in a CyberTipline report is made available to law enforcement.

In furtherance of NCMEC’s mission, the CyberTipline allows NCMEC to engage with the Internet industry on voluntary initiatives to help reduce the proliferation of child sexual abuse images online. NCMEC uses the information submitted to the CyberTipline to create and tailor NCMEC’s safety and prevention publications that are provided to educators, parents and the public to help to prevent future victimization.

Members of the public are encouraged to report information regarding possible child sexual exploitation to the CyberTipline.



Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Here's How Pedophiles Trick Your Kids Through Video Games



"I've seen kids as young as 6 sexually abuse their siblings at the demand of the predator," said an HPD officer.

Author: Melissa Correa

HOUSTON — Want to feel old? Try to play a current video game.

You're no longer limited to playing with one other person who is sitting right next to you.

"And you probably had to stay in your living room, right? Now, every kid has cellphones and iPads and we give them all this access to the world," said Houston Police Department Sergeant Luis Menendez-Sierra.



Menedez Sierra leads the Houston Police Department's online child sex crimes unit. A lot of the cases are linked to online video games designed for children.

"The video games, parents kind of have this false, safe feeling. Oh, well he’s just playing a video game," said Menendez-Sierra. "But you don’t even think that some of these safe games that are tailored for children, specifically have dangers, because they have chat options, where they can chat with other people."

And not just text chats, which are offered in games likes Fortnite and Roblox. Video games like Minecraft now offer a voice chat option.

And while popular games offer a "kids only" version, videos posted on YouTube can walk you through ways to "hack" into a kid game server.

"You have to be cautious," urges the police sergeant. "Because just as easily as your child logged in as a 9-year old is as easy as I can go in there and pretend to be a 9-year old."

While many parents know that pedophiles look for ways to interact with their children in video games, Menendez-Sierra explains how it all happens.

And it doesn't happen immediately. We're talking months that the predator is chatting with a child while pretending to be a kid, too.

"That’s where they develop that relationship. That’s where they develop that trust. Let’s say you’re playing with me, some game where we’re working as a team. You’re developing a relationship with that person where you begin to trust them. You say, you have my back, right? In the video game, not knowing that the ulterior motive is to get to your child."


AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THE ONLINE CONVERSATION PROGRESSES

Hey, how are you?

What's your name?                                                             
Where do you live?
                                                                              Do you play often?

What games do you like to play?

**time passes, trust is built**

Do you have a boyfriend or girlfriend?

Why don't you?

Have you ever done this or that?

**more time passes**

Do you have another device where we can talk?

Do you know how we can share pictures?

I want to see what you look like.

**it progresses from there**

"The next thing you know," says Menendez-Sierra, "inappropriate pictures are exchanged and that's where it barrels out of control."

A LOOK AT THE CASE LOAD

If you think conversations like that are rare, you're wrong. Menendez-Sierra says Houston police are tracking a 200% increase in cyber tips reported in the last three years. He reminds us that a lot of these cases start with that simple video game chat.

"Once they get that one picture, let’s say there’s a picture that’s inappropriate. That the child sends an inappropriate picture, they’ve gotten them, coerced them to do that? It can lead to exploitation."

Police have stacks of evidence that shows how the predator convinces the child to do outrageous things in an effort to get more photos.

"And once the child says, no, well guess what? I know everything about you. I know all your friends. I know all your family. I know what school you go to and I'm going to send them that picture you sent me before, if you don't send me a picture now."

Houston police detectives have seen horrific instances where children have even sexually abused their siblings at the demand of a predator.

"I've seen some as young a six," said Menendez-Sierra who is a husband and father.

He says a lot of the victims have no idea what's going on, because they're growing up in a #SelfieCulture, where it's normal to see adults and older children take photo and photo of themselves.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO PROTECT YOUR CHILD?

1) Install monitoring software:

"You do have to pay for the good ones, and it’s worth every penny."

2) Make sure your child only plays the games in front of you.

3) Turn off wi-fi at night-- because kids can also access games through devices        distributed by their school, or from a pedophile who is worried communication      may be limited.

WHAT IF YOU FIND SOMETHING CONCERNING ON A DEVICE?

If you find something concerning on your child's device do not delete the content. Police need you to preserve as much evidence as possible. Take screen shots. Get user names. Save the chats. Do not respond to the person who is communicating with your child. Don't give them a reason to vanish. Collect as much information as possible and call police.

HOW TO LEARN MORE

Houston Police use NETSMARTZ when giving presentations to parents. There is also kid-appropriate training material for kids as young as kindergarten. 
NETSMARTZ is a resource built by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which offers more resources AND offers the option for someone to make a CYBER TIP. You can also call in a tip about cyber crimes against children through a free 24-hour hotline: 1-800-843-5678.
Houston police are a part of this federal task force. You can learn more at ICACtaskforce.org 
The FBI also offers online resources about all of the ways and reasons predators want to access children. 


Saturday, October 12, 2019

Operation Independence Day Arrest Results in Guilty Plea


Sperry Man Admits to Sexual Exploitation of a Child

A man arrested as part of a month long operation to capture predators and identify child victims pleaded guilty Friday in federal court for sexual exploitation of a child, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.
Thomas Dustin Daughtry, 42, of Sperry, illegally engaged with the minor from Feb. 18, 2019 through June 25, 2019. In his plea agreement, Daughtry stated that he knowingly enticed a 15-year-old into engaging in sexually explicit conduct and persuaded the minor to send sexual images to him.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is a fierce advocate for Oklahoma’s children,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “Child predators like Mr. Daughtry use the internet as their hunting grounds to find vulnerable prey. Prosecutors and our law enforcement partners will remain vigilant in our own righteous hunt for these abusers and bring them forward to account for their crimes.”  
This prosecution resulted from Operation Independence Day, an investigation which was conducted in the month of July and resulted in nine individuals being charged federally in the Northern District of Oklahoma.
The nationwide operation relied on the 86 FBI-led Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Forces, which leverage the resources and intelligence of other federal, state, local and tribal partners. In total, law enforcement recovered or identified 103 child victims and arrested of 67 sex traffickers.
The FBI and Tulsa Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Cozzoni is prosecuting the case.

Topic(s): 
Project Safe Childhood
Component(s): 
Contact: 
Public Affairs 918-382-2755


Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Logan County Man Indicted on Child Exploitation, Pornography Charges



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Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Central District of Illinois

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 17, 2019

Logan County Man Indicted on Child Exploitation, Pornography Charges

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. –  An initial trial date has been set for Aug. 6, 2019, before U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough for Jason Fulmer, 33, of the 1200 block of Lake View Dr., Lincoln, Ill., who has been indicted on child sexual exploitation and child pornography charges. Fulmer was ordered detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending his release on conditions.  
A six-count indictment alleges that on three occasions, in January and February 2017, Fulmer persuaded a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct and to send the images using a computer, and that Fulmer received images of child pornography on three occasions in 2016 and 2017.
If convicted, for each count (three counts) of sexual exploitation of a child, Fulmer faces a statutory penalty of a minimum 15 years to 30 years in prison. For receiving child pornography (three counts), the statutory penalty is five to 20 years in prison.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor Yanz. The charges are the result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Lincoln Police Department, the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.



Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Wyoming County Man Charged With Child Exploitation Crimes

 Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Middle District of Pennsylvania


SCRANTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Sean Michael Fryer, age 37, of Factoryville, Pennsylvania was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury for multiple child exploitation crimes.
According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, the indictment alleges that Fryer used the internet and a cellular device to coerce a minor to produce child pornography and to engage in sexual conduct.  The indictment further alleges that Fryer received, distributed and possessed material in the form of visual depictions involving the use of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. 
The charges stem from an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – Philadelphia Division.  Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit  www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
Indictments are only allegations. All persons charged are presumed to be innocent unless and until found guilty in court.
A sentence following a finding of guilt is imposed by the Judge after consideration of the applicable federal sentencing statutes and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.
The maximum penalty under federal law is life imprisonment, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a fine. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the Judge is also required to consider and weigh a number of factors, including the nature, circumstances and seriousness of the offense; the history and characteristics of the defendant; and the need to punish the defendant, protect the public and provide for the defendant's educational, vocational and medical needs. For these reasons, the statutory maximum penalty for the offense is not an accurate indicator of the potential sentence for a specific defendant.
Topic(s): 
Project Safe Childhood
Component(s): 

Thursday, November 1, 2018

Police: Children recruiting other kids for human trafficking at schools



Florida ranks 3rd in the nation for calls to human trafficking hotline

By Erik von Ancken - Anchor/Reporter

Posted: 4:37 PM, October 31, 2018 pdated: 6:33 AM, November 01, 2018
ORLANDO, Fla. - Human trafficking is real and it is happening in Central Florida.

Crystal Blanton, co-chair of the Marion County Human Trafficking Task Force, said she receives thousands of reports from the National Human Trafficking Hotline every year. 

"Usually the reports are in the thousands, every year," Blanton said. "Thousands of people are being human trafficked. Right here in Marion County and across the state of Florida."

Blanton said it's not like the movies ("Taken" 2008), where young girls are taken during their summer vacations by foreign human traffickers to be sold to sultans or sheiks.

But local children, often as young as 12, are being recruited into a life of forced prostitution.

"I just think it's the internet, I hate to say it," Blanton said. "Social media has grown the field of human trafficking. It's easier for these traffickers to make contact with victims."

Blanton said traffickers look for vulnerable teenagers online -- runaways, teenagers complaining about their lives and their parents, young people with drug addictions -- and befriend them.

But human trafficking isn't confined to any race or class, according to Blanton.

Some victims were on the honor roll headed to college.

"We've had doctors' children who have been intertwined," Blanton said.

Blanton also said human traffickers align with students and use them and their schools as recruiting grounds.

"There are recruiters, juvenile recruiters in the schools, working with a pimp of some kind, and they are sent out in the schools and given a job to bring other minors on board," Blanton said.

Blanton said the task force has had success educating Marion County elementary, middle and high school principals in looking for signs of human trafficking and placing Human Trafficking Hotline posters in schools.

Mike Lanfersiek, a sergeant at the Human Trafficking Squad at Orlando's Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation (MBI), said the definition of human trafficking is forcing a person to have sex or to work through force, fraud or coercion.

"Human trafficking is quite simply the exploitation of another person for commercial sex or forced labor," Lanfersiek said. 

Lanfersiek said once victims, female or male, enter into the life of human trafficking, they are kept there by their captor, taking advantage of their vulnerability.

"A vulnerability to substance abuse, the fear of physical beating, or withholding passports or documents, things like that," Lanfersiek.

Lanfersiek's Human Trafficking Squad has rescued hundreds of young women and children, often from hotels in the tourist district of Orange and Osceola Counties.

"Anywhere where the trafficker thinks there might be demand for commercial sex," Lanfersiek said.

Traffickers often set up their prostitution operation at hotels because they cater to visitors in town for business or pleasure who are looking for sex, according to Lanfersiek.

Lanfersiek said he just rescued a 15-year-old girl from a hotel on International Drive.

"She had met someone on the 'Plenty of Fish' website and felt this person was her boyfriend, exploiting her vulnerabilities, pimping her out," Lanfersiek said.

In July, MBI agents arrested three men for luring a teenage girl through a social media app to an International Drive hotel and then prostituting her and having sex with her. 

In 2016, Orlando police charged two men with the death of a 14-year-old girlwho they'd been allegedly prostituting, driving her to men's homes to have sex.

Lanfersiek said MBI regularly sets up undercover sting operations to catch traffickers and rescue victims.

MBI analysts spend their days online, searching through postings by human traffickers looking for victims and offering them for prostitution.

Lanfersiek offered this warning: If you're coming to Central Florida looking for a date for sex, you may get a date with an undercover officer.

Copyright 2018 by WKMG


NCMEC - SEARCH FOR MISSING CHILDREN


Active AMBER Alerts
NameMissing FromIssued ForAlert Date
Jonathan Nunez-CoronadoPhoenix, AZAZSep 1, 2018
Victor Nunez-CoronadoPhoenix, AZAZSep 1, 2018
Jayme ClossBarron, WIWIOct 15, 2018

Notice: The The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® certifies the posters on this site only if they contain the NCMEC logo and the 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678) number. All other posters are the responsibility of the agency whose logo appears on the poster.

Select an image to view the poster for one of these missing children.












If you have any information, please call:

1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)