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FBI Busts Porn Ring, Child Molesters

Priests, law enforcement officers among 89 arrested in sweep

Originally published at MSNBC.com, March 18, 2002

WASHINGTON — At least 36 kids were molested by members of a nationwide Internet child pornography ring that was being shut down Monday by federal agents and police, U.S. law enforcement officials announced Monday. More than 80 people were arrested in the nationwide sweep, including clergy members and law enforcement officers, they said.

Approximately 7,000 people were registered as members of the Candyman e-group, including 4,000 people living outside the United States, Attorney General John Ashcroft and Bruce Gebhardt, head of the FBI’s Criminal Investigation Division, said at a news conference at FBI headquarters.

The private community Web site was operated by Yahoo!, the Internet search portal, which was not aware of the group s activities, Ashcroft said.

By midafternoon Monday, 89 people had been arrested in 26 states, including 27 who have been charged with molesting children, Gebhardt said. More arrests were expected in the coming weeks and months, he said.

“Operation Candyman demonstrates our commitment to protecting our nation’s children from sexual predators,” Ashcroft said.

Gebhardt and Mike Heimbach, head of the FBI’s crimes against children unit, said authorities initially concentrated on identified members of the Candyman group who held sensitive jobs that either involved working with children or were positions of authority.

The first 21 arrested were in that category of significant perpetrators because they held a position of trust, Heimbach said.

Among those arrested in Monday’s initial roundup or previously were two Roman Catholic priests and either one or two other members of the clergy; two law enforcement officers; Little League coaches, a school-bus driver and a nurse, Gebhardt said.

Few details were immediately available on the individual arrests, but Gebhardt said one of the Catholic priests had been arrested in the Baltimore area and one of the law enforcement officers was from Pittsburgh.

Gebhardt said the FBI’s Houston office had spearheaded what was dubbed Operation Candyman, which began last year, but all of the bureau s 56 field offices participated in the investigation.

The use of the Internet to sell and trade child pornography has grown sharply in recent years.

In 2001, the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Unit opened 1,541 cases against people suspected of using the Internet to commit crimes involving child pornography or abuse, compared to 113 cases in 1996. The FBI had 20 employees devoted to cases involving Internet crimes against children in 1995, compared to about 150 agents now.

U.S. law-enforcement officials and experts on pedophilia generally agree that there is a link between child pornography and sexual abuse of children. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service said last year that 36 percent of child pornography investigations undertaken by its inspectors since 1997 led to child molesters.

The arrest of the priests was likely to add to the controversy swirling around recent allegations that a handful of church clergymen, including defrocked priest John Geoghan of Boston, were serial pedophiles. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops promised to discuss a comprehensive national response to the issue during the bishop s next meeting in June.