Operation Holitna - Guilty Pleas in Large Child P_rn Ring, Kidnapping Cases

- Massachusetts man pleads guilty to solicitation to kidnap a child
"Dungeon discussed in online chats discovered in defendant's basement"
- Eastern Kansas man pleads guilty to producing child pornography
- Massachusetts man sentenced for production of child pornography
"Led to a network of child pornographers around the world; 38 arrested, 138 children rescued"
- Boston-area child sexual exploitation investigation leads to arrests in the Netherlands
"Dutch officials consequently arrested a 27-year-old daycare center employee who confessed to dozens of sex crimes with children."
- Extraordinary endings in kidnapping cases
(Jaycee Dugard, Elizabeth Smart, Shawn Hornbeck, Natascha Kampusch)


News Releases  May 6, 2013 Boston, MA
Massachusetts man pleads guilty to solicitation to kidnap a child

Dungeon discussed in online chats discovered in defendant's basement; discussed mutual interest in abducting, raping, murdering and eating children with others in California, Florida, Kansas, New Jersey and New Mexico – latest developments in Operation Holitna

BOSTON — A citizen of the United Kingdom and most recently of Worcester, Mass., pleaded guilty May 6 to solicitation to commit a crime of violence – kidnaping of a child – and distribution and possession of child pornography. The guilty plea is the result of an extensive worldwide investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

According to the agreed upon statement of facts, Geoffrey Portway, 40, of Worcester, engaged in numerous chats with many individuals about a mutual interest in abducting, raping, murdering and eating children. Many of these conversations were accompanied by the trading of child pornography. These chats also included images of children known to them, accompanied by discussions of the desire to sexually abuse, murder and cannibalize those children....

At least as early as 2010, Portway utilized Skype and other programs to communicate with Arnett, trading child pornography including images of injured, mutilated and deceased children while chatting about the sexual abuse, rape, abduction, murder and cannibalism of children. Over months, Portway repeatedly solicited Arnett to kidnap a child for him, with the intent that Portway would ultimately rape, kill and eat that child. These solicitations for help abducting a child included discussing real children – by name and photo – that Arnett claimed to know and have access to.

In the chats, Portway and Arnett discuss different ways to kidnap children and the age range that Portway prefers. During the time that Portway was soliciting Arnett, Portway had been told that Arnett had helped others with such requests before and that Arnett had experience with the abduction and sexual abuse of children. Arnett has since pleaded guilty in Kansas to the sexual exploitation of a child for the purposes of producing child pornography....

A forensic examination of the computers uncovered evidence of over 4,500 trades of child pornography between Portway and others. Many of these trades involved Portway distributing child pornography to others based on their stated specific preferences, including images and videos appearing to depict dead children and the cannibalism of children....

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1305/130506boston.htm

News Releases  February 11, 2013 Kansas City, KS
Eastern Kansas man pleads guilty to producing child pornography

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A suburban Kansas City man, who was arrested in May as part of an international investigation into child sexual exploitation, pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to producing child pornography.

This guilty plea resulted from an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Michael D. Arnett, 38, of Roeland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of producing child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

During a May 15 search warrant, investigators discovered images of child pornography on a computer at Arnett's home in Roeland Park. The discovered child pornography included images of victims from Overland Park, Kan., who were identified through clues in the photos. For example, some photos showed a water bottle with a unique business logo and a phone number beginning with the 913 local area code. Both clues identified an aquatics business in Overland Park. This detective work allowed HSI investigators to significantly narrow the focus of their search for the victims.

With the assistance of teachers at an elementary school in Shawnee Mission, Kan., HSI investigators ultimately identified three boys who had been photographed at Arnett's home at 5451 Juniper Drive in Roeland Park. At the time the photos were taken, the boys were 11, 8 and 2 years old....
http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1302/130211kansascity.htm


News Releases June 8, 2012 Boston, MA
Massachusetts man sentenced for production of child pornography
Led to a network of child pornographers around the world; 38 arrested, 138 children rescued

BOSTON – A Milford man was sentenced to 18 years in prison in federal court. This investigation has led to an international child pornography case involving the abuse of 138 children. This ongoing worldwide investigation is being led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Robert A. Diduca, 48, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 18 years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release. On Nov. 17, 2011, Diduca pleaded guilty to production, distribution and possession of child pornography....

Diduca engaged in an online chat with an individual being separately prosecuted in Arizona, persuading him to sexually abuse a four-year-old child and take sexually explicit photos of the child. Diduca provided the individual with a camera and suggested how the child should be posed.

Diduca was also a member of an online forum for those with a sexual interest in children, and sent a pornographic image of a child via email. An investigation of that distributed image led to the identification of the child, and the arrest of a Dutch national in the Netherlands, who was charged with production, distribution and possession of child pornography, as well as the sexual assault of 87 minors.

Forensic evidence revealed over 27,000 images of child pornography in Diduca's possession....

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1206/120608boston.htm
http://goo.gl/Odi5E 


News Releases December 13, 2010 Boston, MA
Boston-area child sexual exploitation investigation leads to arrests in the Netherlands

BOSTON - Special agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Boston, along with Massachusetts State Police (MSP) detectives assigned to the Worcester District Attorney's Office, conducted advanced computer forensics on a computer seized in a child sexual exploitation investigation in the Boston-area. After intensive investigative work, HSI special agents and the MSP, working with Interpol and Dutch authorities, were able to track these photos to the Netherlands. Dutch officials consequently arrested a 27-year-old daycare center employee who confessed to dozens of sex crimes with children....

Shortly thereafter, on the same evening, KLPD-Ipol, along with Amsterdam Police, arrested a 27-year-old suspect. The suspect had babysat the victim and had worked at at least two daycare centers in Amsterdam. He also offered his services online as a babysitter.

The man's computers were seized and will be searched for evidence of child sexual exploitation and he has since confessed to dozens of sex crimes allegedly committed over the past year and a half. On Sunday, more than 50 parents were also informed that the suspect has either confessed to abusing their children or was thought to have done so....

http://www.ice.gov/news/releases/1012/101213boston.htm


Extraordinary endings in kidnapping cases

Tue May 7, 2013

The rescue of three kidnapping victims is an extraordinary ending for the child abductees.

Such endings are rare, but here are some similar cases of child kidnappings which have occurred in recent years:

Jaycee Dugard
Ms Dugard was kidnapped in June 1991 in South Lake Tahoe, California at age 11 and remained missing for more than 18 years....

Elizabeth Smart

Ms Smart was abducted from her bedroom in an affluent suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, in March, 2003, at age 14.

She was found nine months later in Sandy, Utah, only a few miles from her home....

Shawn Hornbeck

Mr Hornbeck was 11 years old when he was abducted near his home in Richwoods, Missouri while riding his bicycle and remained missing for more than four years.

He was found, along with Ben Ownby, 13, who had been abducted more recently, in the Kirkwood, Missouri, apartment of Michael J Devlin, in January 2007.

Devlin pleaded guilty to abduction and child sex abuse and was sentenced to life in prison.

Natascha Kampusch
Ms Kampusch was abducted at the age of 10 in March 1998 on her way to school in Vienna, Austria and held for more than eight years in a secret cellar in the small town of Strasshof until she escaped in August, 2006....

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-07/extraordinary-endings-in-kidnapping-cases/4674938