May 21, 2014
Ernesto McConnell
Reporter
Headlines
Agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and New York authorities have arrested over 70 individuals who are being accused of possessing, producing or distributing sexually explicit images of children. The suspects seem to not know each other, but were all involved in the use of software that uploaded images to computers, tablets, and smart phones. Special Agent in Charge James Hayes stated that the use of the child pornography shareware has “reached epidemic proportions;” Hayes is also the head of Homeland Security Investigations New York. The operation resulted in 71 arrests, and the seizure of almost electronic 600 devices. The professions of those arrested will come as a shock: a TSA supervisor, a Rabbi, multiple New York Police officers, an au pair, a New York Fire Department medic, a registered nurse and a Boy Scout den master were all arrested during the bust. Currently, a third of the suspects are still in custody, while the rest were released on bonds anywhere in the market of $30,000 to $500,000.
