The following article was posted to Usenet on February 20 by greensk@phx.primenet.com. The Phoenix Gazette February 17, 1995 Tempe Man's Computer Files Helped Break Child Porn Ring by Val Ellicott and Mitch McKenney WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Cox News Service -- Files from a Tempe man's computer seized in May have sparked a nationwide investigation into computer distribution of child pornography. A palm Beach middle school teacher has been arrested, and U.S. Customs Service officials said more arrests around the country could be pending. Richard Lee Russell, 28, a social studies teacher at Crestwood Middle School in Royal Palm Beach, was charged with exchanging child pornography in interstate commerce after "meeting" other computer users through America Online, one of the three major online computer services in the U.S., U.S. Customs agents said. Russell also used the online service to transmit and receive pictures of children engaging in sex acts and sometimes charged money for the photos he sent, according to federal agents. One person police say he met online was Robert Greene, a fifth-grade teacher at Hollywood Central Elementary in Broward County, also charged with interstate exchange of child pornography. ARRESTS JUST STARTING Federal agents say the two Florida cases are "the first wave" of arrests expected as part of their investigation of computer distribution of child pornography. "It's a domino effect, in a sense," said Mark Basten, who heads the U.S. Customs Office in Phoenix. "The arrests in Florida are two of many we expect to make in the near future." The information came from Danny Hood, a Tempe man who was arrested in May for operating a computer bulletin board that contained child pornography, Basten said. "We went to his computer and got information that we were able to get several other leads on other bulletin boards around the country," Basten said. Basten added that an additional arrest had been made in Salt Lake City. Don Huycke, who manages Customs' child pornography enforcement program in Washington D.C. said, "The big problem we are running into now is the Internet. You can join Internet news groups anonymously." Because of that anonymity, it has been virtually impossible to find out who is posting the pornographic pictures, Huycke said. Even large commercial online services, such as America OnLine, are exploited by porn distributors who sometimes upload the material to the services' "shareware" sections, where any subscriber can find it. It might take only 15 or 20 minutes for a service to discover and remove the pornography. "But by then, maybe 15 or 20 people have downloaded it," Huycke said. Russell has been in the county jail since he was arrested Feb. 10 at his Wellington home on charges of making and mailing a videotape showing two young boys engaging in sex acts. He also sent and received other examples of child pornography through America Online, agents said. TEACHER REASSIGNED Officials at America OnLine were unavailable for comment. The school district has reassigned Russell to his home and assigned a long-term substitute to teach his eighth-grade classes. Russell will be prohibited from entering school grounds until the investigation is complete, and then, the district will ask him and his attorney to meet with them to decide what to do next. The videotape Russell allegedly made was discovered by Customs agents last year in Hood's Tempe home. The boys -- one was 11 years old when the tape was made and one was between 11 and 15 -- used to live near Russell but were not his students, federal agents said. Palm Beach County sheriff's deputies say they plan to charge Russell and Greene, 47, of Fort Lauderdale with sexual battering the two boys portrayed in the videotape. "There is the possibility that other victims exist," John Sullivan, who heads the West Palm Beach office of the U.S. Customs Service, said Thursday. Part of the videotape Russell sent to Arizona was shot at a Florida hotel, part was shot at his home and part was shot inside the cab of his truck while it was parked at Okeeheelee Park, Customs agent Donna Adams said in an affidavit. Russell paid the two boys $15 each, Assistant U.S. Attorney John McMillan told U.S. Magistrate Ann Vitunac on Thursday in a bond hearing. Agents said Russell sent the videotape to Hood, who operated the Grotto computer bulletin board. MEN SWAPPED PORN Russell, Greene and two other unidentified men, whom Russell also met through America OnLine, were involved in having sex and making videotapes with the boys, according to Adam's affidavit. Greene, arrested Wednesday and also being held in the Palm Beach County Jail, told agents he had received approximately 20 to 30 examples of child pornography from Russell and from other computer users Russell solicited to provide pictures to Greene, Adams said in her affidavit. Vitunac ordered Russell held without bond. But she said she would consider releasing him later to a hospital where he would receive counseling. His attorney, David Lee Brannon, of the Federal Public Defender's Office, said Russell would welcome therapy. Russell has been a Palm Beach County teacher since fall 1993. He previously taught at a Aiken, S.C. boarding school. His personnel file shows no disciplinary problems. ----- Includes information from GAZETTE reporter Chris Moeser.