MANILA, Philippines – Officials from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Wednesday, March 19 (Manila time), that it had arrested 14 men for operating a child pornography ring that victimized at least 251 minors.

Working with the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) and the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, the arrests were part of what they called “Operation Round Table.” The operation, they said, was “one of the largest online child exploitation investigations in the history of ICE.”

Their announcement noted how the ring had a wide reach and affected minors from 39 states in the US, as well as 5 other countries. According to their list, Those affected included 228 in the US, with 23 in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Belgium. 

Officials revealed the breakdown of the victim demographics. According to their report, 243 were male, and 8 were females.

They also noted 159 of the victims were 13 to 15 years old. Other age ranges were represented, with 59 of the victims being 16 and 17, while 26 victims were aged 10 to 12, and 4 were aged 7 to 9. Three of the victims were 6 or younger. 

They added, “All victims have been contacted by law enforcement and U.S. victims offered support services from HSI victim assistance specialists.”

The admin and their operations

Some of the men assumed female identities to trick some of the victims.

Jonathan Johnson, 27, was the site’s primary administrator. He was charged with operating a child exploitation enterprise, and admitted to creating multiple fake female personas on social networks to target and sexually exploit children. He also admitted to coaching other child predators in his inner circle to do the same. 

Johnson, the officials said, “has been in federal custody since his arrest June 13, 2013, and faces 20 years to life in prison.”

Hidden on Darknet

The website was a hidden service board on Darknet’s Onion Router, also known as the Tor network. It was operational from June 2012 to June 2013, had over 27,000 members, and contained over 2,000 videos. 

The website shared webcam-captured videos of mostly juvenile boys enticed by the operators of the site to produce sexually explicit material. 

The Tor network provided the users anonymity by directing the Internet traffic through a network with thousands of relays. This helped keep users’ locations hidden.

The officials also said that more than 300 investigations have been opened to look for potential subscribers to the website, with 150 in the US and 150 elsewhere. 

The investigation hopes to reveal more, and investigators are anticipating new arrests and possibly more victims. More than 40 terabytes of data were seized in the operation. – Rappler.com