Successful investigation leads to arrest - from Cybertipline report (US Hotline)
February 22, 2012
On May 31, 2011, the CyberTipline received a report from the registered Electronic Service Provider (ESP) Microsoft regarding an incident of possible child pornography uploaded to their service. In accordance with federal law, the ESP provided incident information, including an e-mail address, a screen name, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, and the images in question.
An Exploited Children’s Division (ECD) analyst conducted an online look-up of the reported IP address and found a possible connection to the state of Oregon. During online searches of the associated e-mail address, the analyst found a profile containing pivotal clues; the profile listed a possible first and last name for the suspect, but also referenced two cities in Oregon. A subsequent search resulted in a second profile that detailed the suspect’s educational history and included additional identifying information. Both profiles contained multiple images of an adult male, presumably the suspect, which were carefully documented. The analyst quickly forwarded the CyberTipline report to the Oregon Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, an OJJDP-funded program out of the Oregon Department of Justice.
Posing as a 14-year-old female, and using photos in their undercover profile that had been age-regressed by age progression artists with the Missing Children Division at NCMEC, law enforcement initiated a conversation with the suspect. On December 8, 2011, after two months of chatting, the suspect offered to send a taxi to pick up the “child,” and bring her to his apartment, purportedly to engage in sexual acts. An undercover officer acted as the cab driver and knocked on the suspect’s door. After confirming that the resident was the suspect, and observing as he paid the undercover officer for his “services,” an awaiting tactical team took the suspect into custody. At that point, a search warrant was executed on the residence. The age-regressed photos were found, along with sexually explicit images of the suspect. According to investigators, the suspect disclosed that he has more than 15,000 videos and 10,000 photos containing child pornography on two computers and an external hard drive.
The suspect was charged with 10 counts of encouraging child sexual abuse and one count of luring a minor, with the possibility of more charges once a thorough forensic search of his computers has been completed. The suspect is currently in custody and is awaiting trial.
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