Crimes against Children 8-27-12

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Halifax police have laid sexual assault and child pornography charges against a 66-year-old Bayside man.

Michael Kevin Stanhope was arrested without incident at his home on Fader Drive in Bayside early Wednesday morning.

Police searched his home and his business, Hairdressers Market on Hollis Street in downtown Halifax.  Police say the search of the business uncovered images that police believe constitute child pornography.

Las Vegas, NV
A convicted sex offender is headed back to prison after authorities discovered sexually explicit images of minors on his computer, officials said.

William Greenfield, 70, of Cal-Nev-Ari, was sentenced Wednesday to 21 years, eight months in prison for possessing and trading child pornography online, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release. He pleaded guilty on May 23 to one count of transporting child pornography.

Montgomery, AL
An Alabama man who was accused of posing online as pop star Justin Bieber while urging young girls to send him explicit photos of themselves pleaded guilty Thursday to producing child pornography, authorities announced.

Christopher Patrick Gunn, 31, of Montgomery, promised young girls free tickets and backstage passes to a Bieber concert if they would agree to send him inappropriate photos or webcam transmission of themselves, authorities said.

A statement released Thursday by U.S. Attorney George L. Beck in Montgomery said Gunn used chat rooms and other social media outlets to threaten hundreds of girls ages 9 to 16 throughout the United States and abroad over a period of more than two years as part of a far-ranging "online sextortion scheme" that included posing as Bieber and other ruses.

Pittsburg, PA
A resident of West Mifflin, Pennsylvania has been sentenced in federal court to 12 months and one day of imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years’ supervised release, on his conviction of possession of material depicting the sexual exploitation of a minor, United States Attorney David J. Hickton announced today.

United States District Judge Nora Barry Fischer imposed the sentence on Steven M. Miller, 49, of 104 Saniel Drive, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania.

According to information presented to the court, in May 2007, Miller possessed approximately 78 videos, in computer graphics files, depicting the sexual exploitation of minor boys, some of whom had not attained the age of 12 years. The videos included those involving sexual intercourse. The videos were maintained on a laptop computer and external hard drive that Miller carried with him while employed as an interstate, long-haul trucker.

Denver, CO
Richard Howard Craft, age 68, of Thornton, Colorado, surrendered to the FBI this week after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer, United States Attorney John Walsh, and FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge James Yacone announced. Craft was a former interim pastor of Family of Christ Presbyterian Church of Greeley. Craft appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge on August 22, 2012, where he waived advisement on the charges pending against him and the penalties associated with those charges.

The indictment, which was returned by the grand jury on August 20, 2012, alleges that Craft knowingly distributed and attempted to distribute child pornography that has been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, between July 2007 and January 2008 as well as in December 2009. Further, the indictment states that Craft knowingly received and attempted to receive child pornography that has been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, in August 2007. Finally, Craft was charged with possession of child pornography that has been shipped and transported in interstate and foreign commerce by any means, including by computer, between July 2007 and January 2008.

The indictment also includes an asset forfeiture allegation, which states that upon conviction, Craft shall forfeit any and all of his rights, title, and interest in the child pornography images, the computers containing child pornography, and any other real or personal property used or intended to be used to commit or promote the commission of the offenses alleged in the indictment.

Beaumont, TX
Two Southeast Texas residents have pleaded guilty to child pornography violations in the Eastern District of Texas, announced U.S. Attorney John M. Bales today.

Stacey Marie Barron, 24, of Nederland, Texas; and Johnny Ray Baldwin, II, 27, of Lumberton, Texas, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce child pornography today before U.S. District Judge Marcia Crone.

According to information presented in court, on February 1, 2012, federal officials conducted a search warrant at a home in Orange County, Texas, after receiving information from an Internet-based image hosting website reporting that a customer had uploaded digital images from a cell phone that contained sexually explicit conduct of a young child and an adult. An investigation revealed that although the adult in the photos was deceased, another person identified as Charles Reese had been paying money for several years in return for digital pictures of sexually explicit conduct involving minor children. On March 12, 2012, a search warrant was executed at Reese’s home in Louisiana, during which multiple child pornography images and videos were discovered. Financial records indicate Reese paid over $700,000 between 2004 and 2012 for the production of child pornography.

Further investigation led to additional child pornography that had been produced by Barron and Baldwin for Reese from July 2009 to August 2011 using two young children. A federal grand jury returned an indictment on June 6, 2012, charging Barron and Baldwin with child pornography violations.

Columbus, OH
Jason L. Hutchinson, 41, of Athens, Ohio pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court to one count of using a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct.

According to a statement presented in court by the FBI, Hutchinson used a webcam in his residence in November 2010 to create a video of himself engaged in various sex acts with a 13-year-old. Hutchinson sent that video and another similar video to an individual in the greater Boston, Massachusetts area.

Law enforcement officers in the Boston area discovered the video and alerted law enforcement officials in Ohio who executed a search warrant in March 2012.

Montesano, WA
A mother who allegedly traded pornographic photos of herself sexually abusing her six-month-old son has been arrested.

Myriah Moreland, 20, of Montesano, Washington, is accused of trading sexually explicit photographs over social networking sites with Christopher Dupea.

Moreland and Dupea began their online exchanges over Skout, a social networking site, and then continued their explicit exchange via text messages, according to investigators. 

The conversation included information that the 20-year-old mother had engaged in sexual acts involving her own son, a statement from the State Patrol’s Missing and Exploited Children’s Task Force said.

 

'There were both images and videos that quite frankly are disturbing, to say the least. Even some of our most tenured and seasoned detectives hadn't seen images like those ever,' Lt. Ron Mead of the Investigative Assistance Division said.
An investigation into the production and distribution of child pornography was launched after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received an online tip-off on Monday, Lt.Mead told the Mail Online.