Authorities say the administrators of a major international online child pornography ring went to great lengths to keep investigators from sniffing out their website, on which millions of explicit images were traded.
Members, who numbered 1,000 at its peak, were granted access to the hierarchical group's website by invitation only and had to be vetted by senior members. Only the most trusted members controlled the huge stash of child pornography, and members advised one another in forums on how best to cover their tracks.
But a single weak link brought the network crashing down, allowing investigators to follow a trail of incriminating data from the website to its users and net more than 50 arrests thus far, authorities said.
"Any time we can get into and, for lack of a better term, 'bust' an online community that has protected itself, that is a big accomplishment," said Matthew Dunn, section chief of the child exploitation section at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Cyber Crimes Center, which took part in the investigation.
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Federal prosecutors revealed details of their two-year investigation this week, saying more than 50 arrests had been made in the U.S., including 22 of 26 suspects who have been charged in federal court in Indianapolis in an alleged conspiracy to distribute child pornography. Nineteen of the 22 defendants have pleaded guilty or been convicted, and authorities are trying to identify the other four suspects.
Prosecutors said they are also trying to extradite the group's alleged leader, Delwyn Savigar, who is serving a 14-year prison term in England after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting or trying to sexually assault three underage girls there. Savigar's attorney did not respond to a phone message Friday seeking comment.
Authorities got wind of the website in late 2007, after an Alabama man who was the target of another investigation gave the U.S. Postal Inspection Service consent to use his electronic accounts, Dunn said. Authorities took over the man's e-mail and online identity, and used it to access the website.
"Once we're in, and we see the material, there's your investigation," Dunn said. "You realize they are distributing child pornography."
Investigators followed clues to computers across the globe, including to hard drives in Indiana, where authorities decided to prosecute the case as a conspiracy.
Prosecutors waited until this week to announce the arrests because they didn't want to tip off suspects.
