Washington, D.C. (AHN) - A federal grand jury in Pensacola, Florida charged Tuesday 12 American members of an international online child pornography trafficking ring for taking part in trading over 400,000 images and videos of children in sexual acts.
According to indictment papers of the case, charged for advertising, transporting, and shipping of child pornography materials since August 2006 were Michael Berger, 33, of Mechanicsville, Virginia; James Freeman, 47, of Santa Rosa Beach, Florida; Ruble Keys, 55, of Medford, Oregon; Gary Lakey, 54, of Anderson, Indiana; Marvin Lambert, 33, of Indianapolis, Indiana; Neville McGarity, 40, of Medina, Texas; John Mosman, 46, of Waterbury, Connecticut; Warren Mumpower, 63, of Spokane, Washington; Raymond Roy, 54, of San Juan Capistrano, California; Erik Wayerski, 46, of Round Rock, Texas; Warren Weber, 56, of Boise, Idaho; and Ronald White, 59, of Burlington, North Carolina.
Two other suspected American members of the syndicate--Stepan Bondarenko, 38, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Daniel Castleman, 43, of Lubbock, Texas-were arrested on Friday.
Eight members of the group based in England, Canada and Germany were also arrested by local police.
The ring was first discovered by Australian authorities and undercover agents infiltrated the group in January 2006. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, investigators from Germany and the U.K. and the Toronto, Canada police joined the investigation initiated by the Queensland, Australia police.
Investigators eventually cracked the computer security codes and other security measures used by the ring and accessed their online users group, where they conducted their illegal activities.
Meanwhile, authorities have identified and rescued 20 victims of the ring. According to Freepress.com, FBI executive assistant director J. Stephen Tidwell said it will take years to find the other victims, who appeared in the 400,000 images of the group.
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