Santa Rosa Beach, Florida Man Ordered to Pay Restitution to Victim in International Child Exploitation Case

PENSACOLA, FL—On June 23, 2009, James Freeman of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., was ordered to pay restitution to a victim of child pornography whose images he possessed.  Freeman was previously sentenced to life in prison for his activity in a global child pornography trafficking enterprise.  Today, Senior U.S. District Judge Lacey A. Collier issued a judgment ordering Freeman to pay restitution in the amount of $3,263,758, announced U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Thomas F. Kirwin. 

Freeman, a registered sex offender, was found guilty following a six-day trial in January 2009 of six counts relating to his criminal activities as a member of the child exploitation enterprise.  The charges alleged in these counts included engaging in a child exploitation enterprise; conspiracy to advertise, transport, ship, receive and possess child pornography; advertising, transporting and receiving child pornography and obstruction of justice.

This restitution judgment is one of the first of its kind in the United States.  At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Goldberg presented the testimony of a forensic pediatrician and a psychologist in order to inform the court of the long-lasting trauma that child pornography has upon the victims whose images are taken.  Judge Collier noted, “Each and every individual who possesses and downloads these images victimizes these children.”  Though Freeman had previously been sentenced to life in prison, he has assets from which the restitution judgment can be obtained.

According to evidence introduced at trial, Freeman and his co-defendants were members of a highly sophisticated international network.  The group was a well-organized criminal enterprise whose purpose was to proliferate child sex abuse images to its membership during a two-year period.  The defendants were found guilty of participating in an illegal organization that used Internet newsgroups - large file-sharing networks where text, software, pictures and videos can be traded and shared - to traffic in illegal images and videos depicting prepubescent children, including toddlers, engaged in various sexual and sadistic acts.

Specifically, an Australian constable, who infiltrated the group in August 2006, testified at trial about how group members employed a complex system of pseudonyms, screening tests for new members and sophisticated encryption methods to avoid detection.  He also testified that the group traded more than 400,000 images and 1,000 videos of child sexual abuse before it was dismantled by law enforcement.

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 U.S. 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 case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Goldberg of the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorney LisaMarie Freitas of CEOS. The case was investigated by the Innocent Images Unit of the FBI and the Queensland, Australia, Police Service, with the assistance of the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) Child Pornography Unit in Germany and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre in the United Kingdom.