Corruption & Internet Gambling: Joplin Councilman BILL SCEARCE Admitted knowing about Gambling Operation

Source: www.facebook.com/joplinglobe/posts/10151657477837142

Councilman Bill Scearce said that he ultimately did know there was illegal gambling going on in an office he was renting to another man in the early 1990s in Joplin, Missouri.

BILL SCEARCE

Scearce, who had previously denied (to the Joplin Globe) having any knowledge that a illegal bookmaking operation was being carried out, said he did not know that was to be the use of the office at the time he agreed to rent it to Kenneth Lovett. But, he also said, that he did not do anything about it after he found out.

Scearce called the Globe and said he wanted to clarify earlier statements he made regarding his knowledge of bookmaking operations that had gone on in an office behind one of his former businesses, Olsten Staffing Services.

He is facing an investigation sought by the City Council into a previous FBI probe of gambling in Joplin. The council wants to know whether the FBI had turned up anything about Scearce that might have constituted a violation of council rules. In the same investigation, recent questions about property transactions involving Councilman Mike Woolston, a real estate agent, are to be scrutinized.

Councilman Mike Woolston

Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean said Friday the council probe will continue.

“We’re going to let the investigation play out,” she said. “Maybe earlier it could have been waylaid or suspended but at this point it would behoove us to follow through to make sure everything is on the up and up.”

An FBI probe that started in Joplin in 2008 resulted in the firing of at least one Joplin Police Department officer and the indictments last year of three Joplin men on bookmaking charges.

Mayor Melodee Colbert-Kean (left)

Lovett, 73, and William Lisle, 58, were named in a Feb. 29, 2012, indictment with conducting illegal sports betting on the Internet from 2003 until 2011.

Lovett was fined $2,000 and ordered confined to his home for six months. He also was placed on probation for two years. Lisle received a similar sentence as did Clyde A. Jeffries, 77, who now lives in Las Vegas. See: http://www.fbi.gov/kansascity/press-releases/2012/former-joplin-man-indicted-for-internet-gambling

In court documents filed with the men’s cases, Scearce was listed as having been the person from whom Lovett rented an office in the early 1990s. Lovett was engaged in bookmaking during those years as well, according to court documents.

Scearce was asked by the Globe last year about the nature of his association with Lovett. He said Lovett had rented office space from him and that he was unaware of for what he used the office. He also said he resented the Globe asking him about it. He told the Globe again, in September of this year, that he had no knowledge of what transpired in the office he had rented to Lovett.

On Friday, Scearce said he did not know Lovett would use the office for gambling when he first rented it to him.

“I did later find out he was gambling,” Scearce said. “I did become aware that Kenney was a bookie. There were a lot of people going in and out of there.”

Scearce said he personally never gambled with Lovett. He said when he found out that was what was going on in the rental office, he sought advice from legal advisers. He said he was advised to do nothing and to stay out of Lovett’s office. He said he called a meeting of his staff members and told them “none of us was to have any association with them.”

Scearce said that he was questioned by the FBI at one time in regard to the operation.

“The FBI came and visited with me,” he said. “They asked if I gambled, and I said no, I didn’t. They didn’t charge me with anything.”

Scearce said the FBI also did not charge Lovett with any crime related to the time frame of the office rental, which was from 1991 to 1995. Lovett’s indictment was related to Internet gambling that had taken place since 2008.

Scearce, asked in a second conversation on Friday if he should keep his council seat in view of the changing statements, said, “I just wanted to make sure you understand I didn’t feel I had to do anything about it” when he learned of the gambling. “Why would it have any bearing on my ability to serve on the council? This happened in 1991. I was not on the council when this took place. I was a private citizen.”

The Globe, in September 2012, filed a formal request for the FBI reports regarding the gambling and public corruption probe it had conducted. Those reports have not so far been forthcoming. The council asked that its investigator obtain the reports.

Wisconsin ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2012: David Whitworth, 40, of Monroe, arrested and charged with production and receipt of child pornography via Internet

U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced on March 15th 2012 that David Whitworth, 40, of Monroe, Wisconsin, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with production and receipt of child pornography. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, a fine of 250.000 USD or both.

U.S. Att. William Hochul

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maura K. O’Donnell, who was handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, the defendant posed as a modeling agent online to induce minors in the Western District of New York and elsewhere to produce pornographic images of themselves, which they then forwarded to Whitworth via the Internet.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The charges are the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota; Officers from the Lancaster Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gerald J. Gill, Jr.; and Officers from the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zack.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/

California ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2010: Pete Andre Flores, 24, of Thornton, Sentenced to Six Years in Prison for Child Pornography Charges

On March 15th, 2012, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that Pete Andre Flores, 24, of Thornton, was sentenced by United States District Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. to six years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, for possessing child pornography.

US Att. Ben Wagner

According to court documents, on February 6th, 2010, an undercover LE Officer from New Hampshire was invited by Flores to use a peer-to-peer file-sharing program. The officer downloaded approximately 200 files depicting child pornography directly from Flores. On February 16th, 2010, a Sacramento FBI agent downloaded 20 files from Flores that depicted child pornography.
  
On February 18th, 2010, a federal search warrant was executed at Flores’s residence, and more than 27.300 images of child pornography were found on a Acer laptop computer belonging to Flores.

USDJ Morrison England

This case was the result of an investigation by the FBI, Sacramento Division, Sacramento Valley Hi-Tech Crimes Task Force on Internet Crimes Against Children, and the Keene Police Department in New Hampshire. Assistant United States Attorneys Michelle Prince and Ellen Endrizzi prosecuted the case.

Connecticut ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2012: Arthur Galloway, 38, of Shelton Sentenced to 30 Months in Federal Prison for Trading Child Pornography on the Internet

Deirdre M. Daly, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Arthur Galloway, 38, of Shelton, was sentenced on June 27th, 2013, by United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 30 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for trading child pornography on the Internet.

According to court documents and statement made in court, on March 14, 2012, the Connecticut State Police Computer Crimes Unit, Shelton Police Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a court-authorized search of Galloway’s residence and seized a laptop computer, an external hard drive, and other items. Investigators determined that Galloway used the Internet to trade numerous images and video of child pornography, and he was arrested at that time.

Subsequent forensic analysis of the seized items revealed that Galloway possessed 11 printed photographs, 913 images, and 45 videos of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the videos exceeded 20 minutes in length.

On January 11, 2013, Galloway pleaded guilty to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography.

The Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which is housed at the main FBI field office in New Haven, investigates crimes against children occurring over the Internet and provides computer forensic review services for participating agencies.

MARYLAND Online Child Predators 1995 - 2012: Matthew David Sluss sentenced to 33 years in prison (Guildsolutions)

Matthew David Sluss aka "guildsolutions" had some time in his life, where he never thought he could be gay, until he endeavoured into the World-Wide-Web when knew for sure he was (gay) - when he has received a picture of a 14 year old boy - right there he was obsessed. He went on collecting these kind of photographes, by encrypting his CPU so that he would never be found. Disastrously for him, he was negligent in his attitude of login information, so finally his pictures were cought.

Matthew David Sluss

In 1995, Sluss was charged in Maryland for possession of child pornography. He was shocked to learn that he gets into trouble by possessing old photographs of naked and molested children that he never had contact with nor didn't even know them. Additionally he was also charged with intent to deliver child pornography as with fourth degree sexual assault. Having reached a plea deal with the prosecutors at the time, he received 18 months on probation and was ordered to obtain counseling and stay away from children.

Eric C. Hagen

Later in his life, Sluss moved to the state of Arkansas (possibly to leave behind his shock and prisonal past) and stayed with some other like-minded pedophile buddy. His dream about starting a new life with the old behaviour, has not turned out as the way he thought it would. But something in some moment provided him with the opportunity to befriend some neighborhood children who were being severely neglected, some common pedophile rationalization. Trying to establish the best he could in Arkansas, he decided to returned home to his native Maryland. Back home he learned, that he was wanted by Law Enforcement in Arkansas for the sexual abuse of those neighborhood children he had befriended, and was arrested and put to jail.

Meantime, Sluss continued to interact with children, even though it was expressly against the conditions of his Maryland conviction for child pornography. Upto that very day, Sluss continued to interact with children, having taken a trip with at least two of them and some other adult pedophile, Eric C. Hagen, aka "Stewedsquirrel" from Aurora, Colorado, in July of 2006, as evidenced by the photo gallery on his former blog - (blog.guildsolutions.com - Site is down). It is believed that Sluss and Hagen were roommates in Colorado at the time.

Jim Finn

Matthew Sluss also had another interesting connection to the pedophile world. In addition to the above, he also used to be a friend-of-a-friend of Jim Finn, aka Jimf3. Finn has been arrested for possession of child pornography.

Sluss had been working in the IT profession (he holds an associates degree in computer science from Allegany College of Maryland), he owned an internet hosting service at www.guildsolutions.com.

Besides the child pornography charges, Sluss was formerly been charged with unlawful possession of a credit card number, being in receipt of a stolen credit card, receipt of a credit card unlawfully, being a fugitive from justice (the Arkansas incident), child abuse by custodian, battery and theft.

On March 12th, 2012, U.S. District Judge Ellen B. Hollander sentenced Matthew Sluss, age 36, of Rawlings, Maryland, to 33 years in prison followed by lifetime supervised release for advertising child pornography through an Internet file sharing program. The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein.

Ellen L. Hollander

“Two prior convictions for sexually abusing children did not deter Matthew Sluss from using the Internet to contact other pedophiles and produce child pornography, so now he will spend most of his remaining years in federal prison where he will pose no danger to children,” said Rosenstein.

According to his plea agreement, Sluss had previously been convicted of two offenses related to the sexual abuse of two minor boys and was required to register as a sex offender.

Sluss was a widespread Internet user of a publicly available peer-to-peer file sharing network and was involved in the advertising and distribution of child pornography. According to his plea, in 2009, the FBI Philadelphia Division began an undercover investigation into a user of a file sharing program, later identified as Sluss, who was sharing more than 115.000 files.

Rod J. Rosenstein

The FBI browsed through the content of the shared files and observed child pornography images and hundreds of videos with titles symbolic to child pornography.

During November and December 2009, the FBI downloaded 108 images and one video that contained visual illustrations of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. At that time, Sluss was residing in Denver, Colorado and a search warrant was executed at his home.

Law enforcement seized multiple computers and hard drives from the residence. Sluss advised the agents that he was previously employed as a network administrator, and that he hosted his own mail server and website, so, according to Sluss (seems like a make-believe), all of the data on his computers and hard drives was encrypted to protect the “documents” and prevent anyone without the appropriate password from viewing the files. A forensic review of the computers and hard drives revealed that much of the data was encrypted.

By February 2010, Sluss had moved to his parents’ home in Rawlings, Maryland, and on February 8th, 2010, registered as a sex offender with Maryland’s Sex Offender Registry, as required due to his previous convictions.

In spring and summer 2010, five separate law enforcement officers working in an undercover sting, determined that Sluss was downloading and sharing large amounts of child pornography over a publicly available file sharing program. The FBI’s Baltimore, Buffalo, Miami, and Sacramento Divisions, as well as the Toronto, Canada Police Service, all downloaded child pornography being shared by Sluss over the Internet. Video surveillance was conducted at Sluss’s residence in August and September 2010, during which Sluss was observed sitting at his computer in his bedroom, using the file sharing program and downloading images and videos of child pornography.

On September 15th, 2010, the FBI executed a next warrant at the Sluss home. Just prior to the execution of the warrant, Sluss was observed sitting at his computer in his bedroom using the file sharing program. As agents entered the residence, Sluss attempted to block the agents’ entrance at the kitchen door. As the agents began to enter, Sluss ran towards his bedroom (like a little child), where he was stopped by an agent who entered the residence through Sluss’ bedroom window.

When law enforcement agents viewed Sluss’s computer, the computer was logged onto the file sharing program and investigators were able to view the recent chat history between Sluss and his pedophile socalled “friends” on the file sharing program, as well as to access much of the data on Sluss’s various PCs.

One of the computers wired to Sluss’ bedroom was located in the rear of the crawl space under the first floor of the residence. Investigators were able to view and copy most of the data contained on this computer, which revealed over 25.000 files containing images and video of child pornography. One of the computers in Sluss’s bedroom contained much encrypted volumes.

According to the plea agreement, the file sharing program used by Sluss contains a “chat” feature that allows the user to communicate with others who use the program either through “private” or “public” chats. A review of Sluss’ computer revealed numerous chats from Sluss using the file sharing program in which he encourages the production, transportation, and distribution of child pornography. Specifically, Sluss encouraged his pedophile “friends” to make videos of boys engaged in sexually explicit activity by webcam, and share those videos with Sluss.

For example, in early September 2010, Sluss posted the following messages:

• “I don’t want teens... But I’m not giving out the private shares unless I get similar back... preteen...”

• “And again, im looking for stuff that is very recent. im spending HOURS each day... getting boys to go private for me i want the same.”

SOURCES: 
FBI
http://www.baltimoresun.com/
http://www.thebaynet.com/
http://evil-unveiled.com/
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/

INTERNATIONAL Online Child Predators: The Lost Boy Bulletin Board (Part 5)

Jeffrey Greenwell

At the sheriff's office in Union, the Franklin County seat, Chuck Subke opens a red binder on a conference-room table. On the front it reads: "Sensitive information enclosed. Not for public release. Law-enforcement eyes only."

Inside is a 175-page document, entitled, "How to practice child love. Child love explained by professionals." Subke and the St. Louis FBI agent say the guidebook is much like the one on the Lost Boy forum, explaining everything from "risks involved" and "when to start/what age" up to "exploring the child's genitals" and "making love for the first time." This specific version incorporates a section called "Our Latest Project: How to kidnap children." It seems basically like a Wikipedia for predators.

One section points out a particular relevance to the Greenwell case. Its title: "Single parents and moms with kids.". The chapter begins with: "Unfortunately not all of us are blessed with children in our lives, as in having our own children, or children in the family," and "But do not worry, that is not a show stopper."

The handbook suggests advertising for dates on websites and in newspapers and limiting one's search to single mothers looking for long-term relationships. It states:

"The usual guy does not really like single moms with a lot of kids running around,". "So these moms are therefore suffering from the lack of men, love and self-confidence." 

Readers are encouraged to emphasize a mom's "inner values" during the romance.

The writer warns:

"We want to apologize in advance for this statement," & "The uglier and fatter the moms, the easier it will be for you to get into that family."

Brian Mize notes, that pedophiles are connecting more and more with their young victims via interest-specific websites, such as a youth soccer team's home page. Mize also says, that predators fine-tune their Facebook profiles, to match the interests of the kid they're targeting. The omnipresent smartphones these days, facilitates communication out of range of parents' prying eyes and ensures that video capability is just a click away.

FBI investigators say Jeffrey Greenwell relied on a consistent method to seduce boys: In nearly every instance, he sought out single mothers on online dating websites. He would romance a woman and spoil her son, frittering the boy with attention and gifts. After a while he would push the relationship to a more intimate level, taking the boy on trips to Six Flags or babysitting him and, finally, sexually molesting him.

Six Flags New England

"You're talking about "the best" predators ever," the federal agent from St. Louis stated.  

"Greenwell was very smooth-talking. He dressed normally. He wooed the heck out of the mothers. This wasn't 'the guy in the ice cream truck.'"

The agent points to a flow chart the investigators created to diagram Greenwell's various connections to molestation victims and their parents, as well as two suspected fellow pedophiles. He gestures to photos of four mothers and ticks off Greenwell's tie to each: "boyfriend, boyfriend, babysitter, coworker."

Subke and his partner from the FBI questioned their objective at the sheriff's office on the evening of Greenwells arrest.

Subke began, by offering Greenwell, age 37 at the time, a soda. After reading him his rights, the investigators explained that there had been some allegations made against him. At first the conversation was heading toward small talk.

Investigator: "Mr. Greenwell, what kinds of hobbies are you into?" 

Greenwell: "Scooby Doo, SpongeBob and playing Xbox."

Investigator: "What's your type, Mr. Greenwell? Guys or girls?"

Greenwell: "Guys. Young males, specifically - around eight to twelve years old. But I don't like hardcore sex images, as Society doesn't look too kindly upon adult males who like young boys."

Investigator: "Let's talk about child porn,".

Greenwell: "They're boring," 

His computer skills, Greenwell added in response to another question, were "beginner to low-intermediate." He said he had encrypted the contents of his hard drive "because of personal information."

The Federal agent asked about a framed picture of a boy he had seen on a wall in Greenwell's home: It appeared to be a formal school portrait. Greenwell explained that it was an old photo of a boy he'd been a father figure to.

After a while the investigators brought up the fourth grader who had described how Greenwell had sexually molested him. Eventually Greenwell admitted that he had fondled the boy's penis and photographed the experience.

But Greenwell didn't stop there.

Aware of Greenwell's affinity for Scooby-Doo, the investigators brought up the topic in the hope that he might be familiar with the "Scooby-Doo Productions" material that LA investigators had uncovered on Lost Boy. But instead of referencing those videos, Greenwell described a pornographic video a friend had sent to him - and also a non-pornographic video he had made, which featured the son of a coworker playing in a park.

"We didn't know what the hell he was talking about," said the Federal Agent. "So we played off of it."

"Yeah, tell us about those other videos," the agent prompted. At that point Greenwell abruptly opened up.

He admitted incorporating Scooby-Doo imagery into the home movie he'd shot in the park, featuring a boy he knew. He began spouting "computer lingo," as the agent puts it - saying he had used the Sony Vegas software to tag three other videos with his "Scooby-Doo Productions" .

He hadn't shot those videos, he said; they'd been sent to him by acquaintances. He said he'd obscured background details so as not to reveal where the videos had been made.

"Everyone knew him as 'the computer guy,'" the federal agent noted in afterthoughts. "If there was something in the background that identified someone, he would take care of it."

The detectives asked Greenwell who'd sent him the videos. One man was from New Hampshire, he said; another, who went by the screen name "SpongeBob," was from Utah. The investigators could hardly believe what they were hearing.

"LA was hot after 'SpongeBob,'" the FBI agent explains. When Greenwell offered up the man's name, Antonio Cardenas, "We immediately called LA, and Salt Lake started their investigation full-bore."

And Greenwell kept talking and admitting.

He also admitted that the framed photo on his wall was of a boy he had molested, and he told Subke and the agent where the boy's mother lived. He admitted that he was "Muddyfeet." He admitted to operating a child-porn message board of his own, called "aLL bois." He identified by name all of the boys in photos that had been sent from Los Angeles. He came up with the screen names of ten additional fellow porn traders.

After three and a half hours of questioning, minus a few breaks for cigarettes, Greenwell finally broke down.

Part 1:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators.html

Part 2:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_10.html 

Part 3:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_11.html 

Part 4:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_16.html

INTERNATIONAL Online Child Predators: The Lost Boy Bulletin Board (Part 4)

Saint Louis Downtown

As the assigned FBI Agent from St. Louis watched a live video stream in a nearby room, Connell sat down in a face-to-face encounter with the fourth grader they were able to identify. As soon as the young boy told her that Jeffrey Greenwell had groped his genitals and photographed the act, the FBI agent called Subke. The agent recalls saying: "I said, 'I got it, Chuck, let's go,'"

Eventually, Subke was prepared for this probability. After providing a search warrant, Subke embarked with his team into the woods of Missouri. The FBI agent as well alerted Brian Mize, asking for the decryption specialist, to come down from Clayton to provide his expertise in collecting evidence.

Jeffrey Greenwell

Less than a day after the school principal pointed out the fourth grader, the Federal Agents and Franklin County Detectives arrived together at Miramiguoa Park. They waited until Greenwell exited his house and drove off. At that particular moment the search team went in.

Purely a preview of what they would discover inside the house, was the Scooby-Doo sticker on the Front door.

Mize descibed it as follows: "The whole place was littered with Scooby-Doo,"  and goes on: "A Scooby-Doo bedspread, a life-size Scooby-Doo blowup doll and numerous Scooby-Doo figurines.".  

 "There was also a small dog in a crate in the living room, happily wagging its tail. The dog's name was 'Scrappy'" Subke recalls.

Scooby-Doo Blowup Doll

Brian Mize's appearance practically screams "Cop" all over the place, face, partly because of his square-edged chin and the short close-cropped haircut. The computer forensics whiz-kid is a Detective on the Chesterfield police force in the second-ring western suburb of St. Louis. When Brian talks about crime-scene analysis, he sounds more like a doctor, which is what he aims laying back in time when he majored in biology. Then his passion fell into Law Enforcement. "We are crime-scene technicians, and our magnifying glass is software, which lets us look for clues,"  Mize sums up.

Mize belongs to the Regional Computer Crimes Education and Enforcement Group (RCCEEG), a task force, launched in 2002 in order to team up the FBI's area cybercrime squad with its counterparts from the U.S. Secret Service and other local law-enforcement agencies. Working as a unit, the group provides technical forensic support to fight computer crimes throughout Missouri and the nation, including those related to child abuse, which is definitely more than just a simple crime !

The FBI seized two PCs from Greenwell's residence, along with numerous external storage devices, two digital cameras and a Sony Handycam video camera, as well as a nest full of DVDs and CDs (these were found by agents in a locked safe). Greenwell's Property Owner later found a third digital camera, wrapped in clothing, while getting rid of his former pedophile occupant's belongings.

A SONY Handycam found with Greenwells belongings

Mize quickly found out that Greenwell had encrypted the hard drive on his main Computer. After working his way past the suspect's safety shields, Mize found around 15.000 still images of child pornography and molestation. Some of the photos included Greenwell and/or other men engaged in sex with those young boys, children.

Greenwell Photoshopped

Many of the pictures were photoshopped in a manner not to reveal the faces of those pedophiles involved in these atrocious acts. In order to identify the victims, Mize had to search for reappearing details, like f.ex. a specific pair of pajamas, birthmarks or scars. The painstaking process of sorting and grouping these images has just begun. If Brian noticed a discarded article of children's clothing in the background of one photo and then spotted it being worn by a boy in another, he'd group the photos together, each in a single category.

With this technique, Mize was able to create a file for each suspected victim. He named these "Series 1" "Series 2" and so forth.

For each series then, he created a "sterilized" non-pornographic image that showed the victims face and any peculiar physical feature that might aid on the road of identification. This workprocess took weeks. After the accomplished Forensic ID-Mission, Mize believed he had identified at least five victims who were raped by Greenwell, and possibly as many as 10.

Investigators finally were able to determine that Greenwell had been molesting and photographing his victims since at least 2003. Most of the pictures were taken in whatever home Greenwell was renting at the time. Other were taken during trips to other towns or tourist attractions.

Meanwhile Investigators in California found out, that some specific area in the Lost Boy forum was assumed, as a work in progress, an on and ongrowing guidebook of suggesting tips, on how to repress boys into a trusting liaison, a process often referred to as "educating" or "grooming".

From every Lost Boy forum member, it was expected to share tips to the handbook, which contained suggestions like, "targeting children from broken homes" or "poverty-stricken conditions" and "going after sons of drug addicts". A member reported that "introverted boys from Latin America's poor broken homes (street kids) are the easiest to handle and for cost per boy ratio they are the cheapest."

The "guidebook" advised "manipulating boys with drugs, alcohol and sleeping pills"

Elsewhere the "guidebook" advised "manipulating boys with drugs, alcohol and sleeping pills"  in order "to lower their self-consciousness" and suggested "molesting them while they're unconscious". Another section on the Bulletin Board offered advice "on ways to move on from victims who have outgrew their charm".

Part 1:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators.html

Part 2:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_10.html 

Part 3:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_11.html

Part 5:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_25.html

Cybercrime Review 2013: The largest Hacking Scam in US history is prosecuted The NASDAQ Hack (Aleksandr Kalinin)

Four Russians and a Ukrainian have been charged in what prosecutors call "the largest hacking and data breach scheme in US history".

The five plotted in a "worldwide scheme that targeted major corporate networks, stole more than 160 million credit card numbers and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in losses," said Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

US Attorney Paul Fishman

Companies that have been focused included Citibank, 7-Eleven, PNC Financial Services Group, France's largest retailer Carrefour and computers used by the Nasdaq Stock Market.

US prosecutors in New York separately indicted one of the five men and another Russian in another hacking scheme that targeted 800.000 bank accounts. Two of the men are in custody.


On June 25th, 2013, Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the unsealing of an indictment against Aleksandr Kalinin, aka “Grig,” aka “g,” aka “tempo,” for hacking certain computer servers used by the NASDAQ Stock Market. In a separate indictment also unsealed, Kalinin and another Russian hacker, Nikolay Nasenkov were charged in the same matter.
Both, Kalinin and Nasenkov remain at large.

Fishman said: "This type of crime is the cutting edge. Those who have the expertise and the inclination to break into our computer networks threaten our economic wellbeing, our privacy and our national security."

US Attorney Preet Bharara

Preet Bharara said: “As today’s allegations make clear, cyber criminals are determined to prey not only on individual bank accounts, but on the financial system itself. But would-be cyber thieves should take note: Because of the close and growing collaboration between the U.S. government and the private sector on issues of cyber security, our ability to unmask and prosecute the anonymous perpetrators of cyber crimes - wherever they may be located - has never been stronger.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge George Venizelos said: “As alleged, Kalinin infiltrated NASDAQ’s servers, allowing for the manipulation and theft of sensitive data. In a series of separate schemes, Kalinin and Nasenkov stole hundreds of thousands of bank account numbers, PINs, and other code to withdraw millions of dollars from victim accounts. Today, their password has expired.”

FBI (AD) George Venizelos

                                   The NASDAQ Hack

From November 2008 through October 2010, Kalinin hacked various computer servers used by the NASDAQ to conduct its business operations. During the courses of these hacka, Kalinin installed on certain NASDAQ servers malicious software (Malware) which permitted him and his companions to secretly access the compromised NASDAQ servers to execute commands on those servers, including commands to delete, change or steal data. (The infected servers did not include the trading platform that allows NASDAQ customers to buy and sell securities.)

                      The Citibank and PNC Bank Hacks

From December 2005 through November 2008, Kalinin and Nasenkov allegedly stole bank account information from financial institutions through computer hacking. Kalinin, Nasenkov, and their co-conspirators then used that account data to access the bank accounts of thousands of individual victims without authorization and without those victims’ knowledge, resulting in the theft of millions of dollars from those accounts.

The Cybercriminals then fraudulently obtained bank account numbers, customer identification numbers (a unique number embossed or printed on the front of an ATM card. See picture), card security codes (a security feature which helps authenticate an ATM card. See picture), and personal identification numbers (PINs) for victims’ accounts at financial institutions, including Citibank and PNC Bank, through computer intrusion and other hacking techniques. As part of the scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators then encoded the stolen account data onto the magnetic strips of blank plastic ATM cards so that those ATM cards could be used to access individual victims’ bank accounts through ATMs. The ATM cards were then used, along with the stolen account PINs, to access individual victims’ accounts through ATMs located around the world, including the United States, Estonia, Canada, Great Britain, Russia, and Turkey, and to withdraw from those accounts millions of dollars.

CSC

In January 2006, the PINs for hundreds of customer accounts were compromised as a result of a cyber attack launched against PNC Bank’s online banking website. Nasenkov allegedly supplied stolen account information, including PINs, from the compromised bank accounts to co-conspirators who, in return, used the stolen account information to encode blank ATM cards and withdraw approximately 1.3 million USD from victims’ accounts.

In 2007, Kalinin, placed malware on a computer network that processed ATM transactions for Citibank and other financial institutions. This malware recorded data passing over the network and exported it to an outside computer. Using this malicious computer code, Kalinin stole bank account information for approximately 500.000 bank accounts, including approximately 100.000 Citibank accounts. The stolen account information was used to create ATM cards that in turn were used to withdraw approximately 2.9 million USD from Citibank customers’ accounts.

In 2008, Nasenkov used a computer program to mount an attack against Citibank’s online banking website that resulted in the theft of account information for more than 300.000 accounts. The stolen account information was used to create ATM cards that in turn were used to withdraw approximately 3.6 million USD from the compromised accounts.

Kalinin, 26, of St. Petersburg, Russia, is charged with one count of computer hacking in connection with the NASDAQ hack, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. In connection with the scheme to steal bank account information, Kalinin is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; 4 counts of bank fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of seven and a half years in prison; one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison. All in all Kalinin could be sentenced to 174 years and a half in prison.

NASENKOV, 31, of St. Petersburg, Russia, is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; 4 counts of bank fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit access device fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of seven and a half years in prison; one count of computer intrusion to obtain information, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of computer intrusion to further fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; one count of aggravated identity theft, which carries a mandatory sentence of two years in prison; one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. All in all Nasenkov could be sentenced to 219 years and a half in prison.

Albert Gonzalez

The men conspired with Albert Gonzalez, a Miami hacker serving 20 years in prison for stealing 130 million credit- and debit-card records from Heartland Payment Systems.

Other defendants from the Hacker-Ring (also known as the "Moscow-Five") charged are:

• Roman Kotov, 32, of Moscow
• Vladimir Drinkman, 32, of Moscow
• Dmitriy Smilianets, 29, of Moscow
• Mikhail Rytikov, 26, of Odessa, Ukraine

Offical Link to the indictment : HERE (Pdf-File)

INTERNATIONAL Online Child Predators: The Lost Boy Bulletin Board (Part 3)

Jeffrey Greenwell

The biggest Question remained: Who was producing this material ? Who were those men captured in the photos and the videos, carrying out acts of molestation over and over and over again ? Who and where ARE those children ?

Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse

The office of U.S. Attorney Carrie Costantin on the 21st floor of the Thomas F. Eagleton Federal Courthouse faces north, is giving the federal prosecutor an privileged view of the downtown St. Louis' Gateway Mall. The veteran assistant U.S. attorney, who grew up in University City and studied law at the University of Chicago, is blessed with a streak of spontaneous humor that is contradictious to compare it with the dark nature of her specialization.

Over a decade, trying cases for the Eastern District of Missouri, Costantin has prosecuted uncountable cases of child molesters. In 2006 she was lifted to the regional coordinator for the U.S. Department of Justice's new Project Safe Childhood program. (She stepped down a few years ago, in order to assume a new role as the supervisor of White Collar Crime Unit in Washington D.C.) It's not unthinkable that Costantin may tried more child-pornography cases than anyone else in the nation.

St. Louis' Gateway Mall

In 2010, the Eastern District of Missouri took on 84 child-exploitation cases. (More than any other judicial district in the United States. In each of the two years preceding, the office ranked second.)

In September 2009 Costantin received a call from federal Officers in St. Louis, indicating that a Los Angeles investigation into an Web-based network of child-porn devotees had turned up a possible connection to the Greater St. Louis.

A pedophile living overseas, had told the Los Angeles LE investigators that a man who went by the screen name "Muddyfeet" was producing extensive amounts of child pornography in Missouri. The name "Muddyfeet" also came up during the questioning of a Lost Boy suspect who attributed a large set of pornographic stills of young boys, to a photographer who operated under that alias. The third chase for Mister "Muddyfeet" was an archived chat-room exchange between a Lost Boy member and an outside acquaintance who went by the screen name Muddyfeet that was found on a computer, that the Los Angeles squad seized as evidence, brought the picture into a better focus. A specific file included an e-mail address, which was traced back to Franklin County, Missouri. The e-mail adress belonged to Jeffrey Greenwell.

Although the information outcome was enticing, it would be difficult, to secure a search warrant, prosecute anybody, with nothing more to go on but a"possible" name, an Internet screen name (Muddyfeet), two addresses and a handful of pictures of nameless boys being raped. In order to obtain a search warrant, at least ONE of those childs on those photos had to be positively identified.

At the same time, Costantin was fully judicious of the impact of urgency the case had. Her Los Angeles associates meanwhile were pursuing an ongoing child-porn enterprise and had good reason to presume that some of the men involved were actively molesting children.

Michael Osborn (left)

As Michael Osborn, the FBI agent who heads up the SAFE task force in Los Angeles, stated:  

"We knew there were hands-on victims out there that we had to ID as quickly as possible. We didn't have a six-month luxury. Every day counted."

The FBI assigned a St. Louis agent to investigate, based on the lead they had. For local assistance, the bureau received help from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department.

Lieutenant Chuck Subke, who runs the county sheriff's detective division, began by visiting the two addresses linked to Greenwell. One was a vacant lot. The other, about the size of a single-wide mobile home, was wrapped at the back end of Meramec State Park, only a few hundred yards from the river.

The size of a single-wide mobile home. Residence of
Jeffrey Greenwell

Subke traced the license plates on the two cars that were parked in front of the cottage. Both were registered to Greenwell's name. From observating it, it seemed he was living there on his own.

The next investigating step was that Subke along with the assigned FBI agent visited several Franklin County elementary schools, where they asked each principal to go through the halfdozen of pictures of fully clothed boys (they had received those photos from their colleagues in Los Angeles) to look for eventually familiar faces. On October 22nd, 2009, two weeks into the so far unsuccessful mission, they got their first hit, when a principal pointed out one of the boys in his school's hallway: a fourth grader.

Catherine Connell

Law enforcement then contacted the boy's mother. Later they flew in FBI investigator Catherine S. Connell from Detroit. She is specialized in questioning children and/or adolescents. Connell, had spent that past year flying around the country, interviewing the majority of the victims who had emerged from the Lost Boy investigation.

Speaking with children about molestation is complex, as demonstated in the McMartin preschool trial in California during the 1980s. That embarrassing debacle, which costed the U.S. taxpayer over 15 million USD, and jailed an innocent man for five years. The whole case was set up by false testimonies, spiffed up to the point of absurdity, that a therapist extracted hundreds of children into satanical rituals. After six years of criminal trials, no convictions were obtained, and all charges were dropped in 1990.

"You don't set out to upset the children you interview,", Connell says, "but you don't want them to suppress memories that by their nature are upsetting. Nor do you want to put words in their mouths." She continues "You talk about the truth, and you test whether they can tell the difference between a truth and a lie."

Connell says "When broaching potentially traumatizing subjects with kids, you need to be careful to both: reassuring but skeptical."

This is the “secret tunnel” described in the McMartin case as a place where “crimes were committed”

"I try to reduce suggestibility and authority," she says, describing a technique based on guidelines adopted by the state of Michigan designed to prevent kids from fabricating stories. "The difference between what we do and what other investigators do is that we go in unbiased, seeking to test the hypothesis rather than confirm it. We use phrases like, 'If you don't know the answer, then tell me you don't know it.'"

Part 1:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators.html

Part 2:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_10.html

Part 4:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_16.html

Part 5:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_25.html

INTERNATIONAL Online Child Predators: The Lost Boy Bulletin Board (Part 2)

Jeffrey Greenwell

Although the investigators scanned the World Wide Web on a regularly basis, for clues or links that might lead to active child-porn message boards and Pedophiles, this was the very first time they had heard of the group with the Pseudonym "Lost Boy".

At this moment, this unexpected curve came for the investigating crew as a discerning eye. As Woodrow Tracy, one of the confessors, provided to LE his screen name and password, and under the guise of their informant, the investigators builded a profile of the pedophile-network members.

About thirty-six (36) members, on four continents. Online they identified themselves with Screenames like "Bobo," "Undy12" or "Harry Potter" and branded themselves as "boylovers", relating to a Club that Anthony Jasso was a member of

Note, that Justin Lee is (was) a Phoenix-based pediatric anesthesiologist

In the Court documents, is a 45-page federal grand jury indictment included, wich was filed in September 2009 as well as a 41-page sworn affidavit from an Ohio FBI agent. These records list a vast lineup of pornographic images involving young boys, and is described with numbing impersonal details, like:

"One image depicts a nude, prepubescent boy kneeling on a bed with his buttocks in the air exposing his anus, scrotum, and penis. There is semen on his buttocks."

Another image:

"depicts the face of a prepubescent boy bent over a bed and facing down. Behind him, a post-pubescent male appears to be engaging in anal sex with the boy, while holding a revolver pointed at the boy's buttocks."

In a series of seven images:

"depict a minor boy, approximately 12 to 13 years old, with a baseball bat inserted in the boy's anus. Two of the images depict what appears to be the same boy, with a Crayola marker inserted in his anus. In the message, [Lost Boy member] mr bean wrote 'almost baseball season...'."

Most of the boys in the photos were between seven and twelve years old. One even had the Down syndrome.

Among those videos that the Los Angeles Task Force seized, were several that featured an identical opening sequence: an image twirling into focus to reveal the iconic cartoon Great Dane Scooby-Doo, followed by the slogan "Scooby-Doo Productions"

The LE Agents would soon learn that those Scooby-Doos had cropped up in child-porn videos nationwide, but no one was able to trace the videos back to their sources.

In its efforts to evade detection, the group simulated an country club for only selected members. A new Lost Boy Prospect could only join, if proposed by another Forum member. In the order to remain in good standing, all members were enforced to upload new images and videos or post links to them in regular intervals. A extended span of inactivity was taken as a sign that authorities may have blown up a member's account.

Court documents indicate that members believed they were immune to detection. One wrote:

"Some Latin boys for your enjoyment,".

Another one posted: "Have fun and watch out for sticky keyboards, lol,".

In another posting, a member expressed his displeasure for "Asian boys or darker," and "If I had one in my arms, they would just be like tissue paper. Use em and then throw away."

Some other member commented on that "Throw-away"-Post, as followed:

"yeesh why throw them away when you know that me and "flipper," (a Lost Boy member) will gladly take em? (emoticon)" 

Some other member stated on the same thread:

"hey! I am attracted to tissue paper so i don't appreciate your comments. I like the rolled up kind that most people call toilet paper. I saw a roll at the grocery store the other day that looked good to me. It was 100% recycled roll so it wasx (sic) slightly darker than the rest. That turned me on. It was really soft and smooth and had a good personality. I paid a man so I could take it home with me. We played, Xbox, watched some Adam Sandler movies, and then had sweaty sex on the floor. The next day we went into town and i bought it a skateboard."

The 2009 Los Angeles indictment named twelve alleged Lost Boy members (see box above) and charged them with operating a child-exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, receive, distribute, solicit, and posses child pornography; and interstate transportation of child pornography.

Part 1:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators.html

Part 3:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_11.html

Part 4:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_16.html 

Part 5:   

• http://stayaway2.blogspot.com/2014/01/international-online-child-predators_25.html

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Steven Martinez, assistant director in charge of the FBI in Los Angeles said something very important to the LOST BOY CASE, so public should be aware what is happening every day around us (IN PLAIN SIGHT):

"The Lost Boy case represents a global subculture that exists for the purpose of trading of child pornography and other tools used to sexually exploit children. The FBI and our partners in Los Angeles and globally will continue to work together to identify these networks and to pursue charges against those who abuse children."