Former Teacher Sentenced on Child Pornography Charges

A former fifth grade teacher in Pahrump, Nevada has been sentenced to 97 months federal prison for receiving child pornography over the Internet as a result of an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

According to the case affidavit, the investigation into Gogerty began after ICE received a tip from the Toronto Police Services Sex Crime Unit that a child pornography video file had been posted on the Internet via “yousendit.com.” Subscriber information supplied by the Internet provider led ICE agents to the Las Vegas address where Gogerty resides.

During a subsequent consensual search of Gogerty’s home, investigators discovered numerous images and video files containing child pornography on his computer. A forensic analysis revealed Gogerty possessed more than 60,000 images containing child pornography, including some depicting sadistic and masochistic conduct and minors under 12.  The court took those factors into consideration in determining Gogerty’s sentence.

Middle School Teacher Held on Suspicion of Molestations

Thomas Arthur Beltran, 60, a teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica has been arrested on suspicion of molesting four of his female students. Police said they believe some of the alleged abuse occurred during school hours, and in at least one case continued for more than a year.

Santa Monica Police Lt. Dan Salerno said that the parents of a 12-year-old students brought her to police headquarters on Friday, where she told officers Beltran had molested her.

Beltran was taken into custody Saturday and jailed in lieu of $1.1 million in bail, police said. He has yet to be charged by the district attorney’s office.

Military Contractor Guilty of Identity Theft

A former U.S. Navy contractor has been convicted of exceeding authorized access to a computer and aggravated identity theft the Department of Justice announced today.

Randall Craig, 41, of Houston, entered pleas of guilty to both counts of an indictment returned by a Houston grand jury on April 16, 2008, admitting he had sold information, including the names and social security numbers of military personnel contained on a military database to a person he believe to be a representative of a foreign government, but who was actually an undercover FBI agent.

Craig, who in September 2007 worked as a private computer contractor at the Marine Corps Reserve Center in San Antonio , Texas , had access to and obtained the names and social security numbers of United States Marines from a Marine Forces Reserve database, not accessible to or by the public. On Feb. 6, 2008 , Craig met with someone he believed to be a representative of a foreign government at the Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston to discuss the sale of a “thumb drive” containing the information Craig had obtained from the military data base. The foreign government representative was actually an undercover FBI Special Agent. Craig sold a “thumb drive” to the FBI undercover Agent for $500. The FBI undercover agent told Craig the data would be analyzed and he would contact Craig again soon.

A forensic examination conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) determined the data, unclassified but designated for “Official Use Only,” contained on the thumb drive indicated the files were extracted from a U.S. government Information System located on a computer at the Marine Corps Reserve Center where Craig worked as a subcontractor. The database contained names and social security numbers of about 17,000 military personnel assigned to a Battalion of the United States Marine Corp (USMC) in San Antonio . Significantly, the investigation established that none of the information unlawfully obtained by Craig was either sold to others or otherwise compromised.

At a subsequent meeting with the FBI undercover agent at the Galleria Mall in Houston on Feb. 22, 2008 , Craig admitted he had made efforts to contact other foreign countries in an attempt to offer his services. The FBI undercover agent and Craig discussed future contact, using cell phones and e-mail. Following his arrest on April 18, 2008 , Craig confessed to selling the information from the database for $500 to the FBI undercover agent, a person he believed was a representative of a foreign government.

The conviction for exceeding authorized access to a computer for financial gain carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment. Aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two year-sentence that must be served consecutive to any sentence imposed for the exceeding authorized access count. Both counts also carry terms of supervised release to be served following release from prison and maximum fines of $250,000. A sentencing hearing has been set for July 28, 2008 , at 3:00 p.m. Craig is being held in federal custody without bond and will remain in custody pending his sentencing hearing.

Sacramento Man Sentenced To Seven Years For Possession Of Child Porn

Ronald Taylor, 65, of Sacramento, was sentenced today to seven years in federal prison. The defendant had previously plead guilty to possession of images depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on January 14, 2008.

 

According to Assistant United States Attorney Carolyn K. Delaney, who prosecuted the case, in sentencing the defendant, Judge Damrell acknowledged that the defendant accepted responsibility for re-victimizing the minors portrayed in the images and videos he possessed, and remarked that the market for child pornography was predicated on the false belief that the victimization of the children concluded upon the end of the sexual abuse.

As the government pointed out, however, the victims of sexual abuse can be haunted forever by the images of their abuse circulating the internet for the perverse pleasure of others.

In addition to the prison term he will serve, Taylor will be required to register as a sex offender.

IDAHO MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN INTERNATIONAL CHILD PORN CASE

The United States Department of Justice announced today that Warren Weber, 56, of Boise, Idaho, plead guilty to charges concerning his involvement in a vast global child pornography trafficking enterprise.

Weber was one of 14 alleged members of the enterprise who were charged in a 40-count superseding indictment on March 19, 2008.  He has pleaded guilty to five counts relating to his criminal activities as a member of the group: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, ship, receive and possess child pornography; advertising child pornography; transporting child pornography; and receiving child pornography.  His case represents one of the first convictions under the Child Exploitation Enterprise statute, passed in July 2006 as part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act.

Weber has admitted to participating in a highly-sophisticated and well-organized criminal enterprise whose purpose was to proliferate child sex abuse images to its membership over a two year period.  According to Weber’s guilty plea, members of the illegal organization utilized Internet newsgroups - large file-sharing networks where text, software, pictures and videos can be traded and shared - to traffic in illegal images and videos depicting prepubescent children, including toddlers, engaged in various sexual and sadistic acts.  Group members utilized sophisticated encryption methods to avoid detection and traded more than 400,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse before being dismantled by law enforcement.  The charges were developed after law enforcement infiltrated the group in August 2006.

Trial for the remaining defendants is scheduled to begin June 2, 2008, in Pensacola, Florida.  

Two Men Charged for Providing Material Support to Terrorism

The United States Department of Justice announced today the filing of a seven count superseding indictment against AHMED ABDELLATIF SHERIF MOHAMED and YOUSSEF SAMIR MEGAHED, both defendants reside in Tampa.

According to the indictment, the defendants were discovered near Goose Creek, South Carolina on August 4, 2007 in possession of explosive materials and a destructive device. The FBI later discovered an instructional video recording which defendant Mohamed had distributed to the Internet on the making and use of a remote controlled detonation and ignition system.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Joint Terrorism Task Force in Tampa, Florida and Charleston, South carolina.

Man Arrested for Identity Theft From New York Presbyterian Hospital

The Department of Justice announced the arrest late Friday of former New York Presbyterian Hospital employee Dwight McPherson for his participation in a scheme to steal the identities of more than 40,000 people, and then sell those stolen identities to individuals seeking to commit fraud.

According to the Complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, over the course of approximately two years, McPherson, as a patient admissions representative, had access to the hospital’s patient registration system which contains the personal identification information of patients.

Starting in early 2006, McPherson agreed to provide the personal identification information of patients of New York Presbyterian to at least two co-conspirators in return for money. McPherson knew that these individuals were going to use this information to commit crimes.

In connection with the scheme, McPherson accessed approximately 49,841 patient records over a two year period of time. In December 2007 and early 2008 alone, McPHERSON sold over 2,000 patient identification records to his co-conspirators in New York. In February 2008, approximately 221 of these records were seized by federal agents in Atlanta, Georgia.

If convicted, McPHERSON faces a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment, a maximum fine of the greatest of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss derived from the offense.

If you believe you were a victim of this crime, including a victim entitled to restitution, and you wish to provide information to law enforcement and/or receive notice of future developments in the case or additional information, contact Wendy Olsen-Clancy, the Victim Witness Coordinator at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, at (866) 874-8900 or Wendy.Olsen@usdoj.gov. For additional information, go to: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nys/victimwitness.html on the Internet.

Former Dallas Transit Police Officer Pleads Guilty To Federal Civil Rights Violation

Lance Kendall Bonner of Dallas, Texas, a former police officer with Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), pleaded guilty on Friday in federal court to violating the civil rights of a Dallas woman, the Department of Justice announced.

During his guilty plea, Bonner admitted that on October 10, 2004 , he saw the woman at a Dallas convenience store, followed her and arrested her after a traffic stop.  Bonner then drove the woman to the Dallas County jail but did not take her inside.  Instead, he drove her to an empty DART substation and forced her to engage in sexual acts with him.  Bonner then released the woman from custody.  Bonner acknowledged that he violated the woman’s constitutional rights and caused her bodily injury.

“I applaud the victim for her courage in coming forward to make this prosecution possible,” said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  “Although most officers perform their duties honorably, the Department of Justice will prosecute those few who cross the line.”

 

Military Recruiter Indicted for Child Porn

United States Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced that an indictment had been returned against RAMON SANTOS, Jr., 41, of Lemoore, California, alleging that the defendant possessed and received or distributed images of child pornography.

According to court documents, Santos was identified after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents analyzed a computer that had been seized in West Palm Beach, Florida. The analysis suggested Santos had sent images of child pornography to the owner of the computer by e-mail. When a search warrant was executed at Santos’ residence in California, agents discovered numerous images of child pornography on a computer. Santos admitted that he had acquired and distributed images of child pornography through use of e-mail and peer-to-peer file-sharing programs. Santos, a 17-year Army veteran, most recently had worked on active duty as a military recruiter. His case was investigated by the Fresno office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Fresno County Sheriff’s Department Computer Crimes Investigation Unit, and the Navy Criminal Investigation Service.