Department of Justice Announces First National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction

TAMPA—Following the national announcement today by Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton announced that the Department of Justice has released its National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, which includes a nationwide operation targeting sex offenders, new programs designed to increase cooperation at all levels of government, and a reinvigoration of the Department’s Project Safe Childhood. This national strategy provides the first ever comprehensive threat assessment of the dangers facing children from child pornography, online enticement, child sex tourism, commercial sexual exploitation, and sexual exploitation in Indian Country, and it outlines a blueprint to strengthen the fight against these crimes. The strategy builds upon the Department’s accomplishments in combating child exploitation by establishing specific, aggressive goals and priorities. As part of the national strategy, the U.S. Marshals Service is launching a nationwide operation targeting the top 500 most dangerous, non-compliant sex offenders in the nation. The Department of Justice also will create a national database to allow federal, state, tribal, local, and international law enforcement partners to coordinate their operations against child exploitation offenders, better engage in undercover operations, share information and intelligence, and conduct analysis on dangerous offenders and future threats and trends. The Department has created 38 new Assistant U.S. Attorney positions nationwide to devote to the prosecution of child exploitation cases.

As part of the national strategy, the Department also announced the re-launch of ProjectSafeChildhood.gov, the public website for Project Safe Childhood (PSC). PSC is an initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technologyfacilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal, and local, resources better to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

Here in the Middle District of Florida, the United States Attorney’s Office continues its vigorous efforts to bring those who exploit children to justice. United States Attorney Albritton announced that, from March 1, 2010 through August 2, 2010, 33 new PSC cases were brought by the United States Attorney’s Office, with the close assistance of numerous federal, state, and local agencies. Charges include online enticement of children to enable the production of child pornography as well as distribution, receipt, and possession of child pornography. Importantly, a number of these cases involved adults using social networking sites and other online forums to entice children into illegal sexual activity. (Summaries of representative cases appear at the end of this release.)

These 33 cases build on the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida’s record of prosecuting in FY 2009 the most child exploitation cases of any District in the country (see previous release dated December 31, 2009). The Office will immediately begin supporting and furthering the new National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction, building on its deep expertise and experience in child exploitation prosecutions.

U.S. Attorney A. Brian Albritton stated, “The Internet and new online technologies are increasingly part of our children’s daily lives, and they offer wonderful opportunities for children to communicate, socialize, and explore the world—but the Internet also presents some risks. We are committed to prosecuting those who seek to harm and exploit children online, and to equipping our families with the information they need to help keep children safe online.”

www.ProjectSafeChildhood.gov provides a wealth of information on preventing and interdicting child exploitation crimes. In addition, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children offers at www.NetSmartz.org a free, interactive education safety resource for children ages 5 -17, parents, guardians, and educators. This website uses age appropriate games, activities, and testimonials to teach children how to stay safe on the Internet and includes a link to a site especially for parents and guardians to learn about Internet safety, computers, and the web. The website also offers free Internet safety presentations tailored for specific audiences. The Attorney General of Florida hosts a similar website at www.safeflorida.net, and the Florida Attorney General’s Office also provides a free 50-minute Internet safety presentation to all public and private Florida middle schools and high schools, where students learn about the risks and tactics used by online predators and learn how to report these crimes. Educators can schedule a presentation by logging onto www.safeflorida.net and clicking on the red school house icon.

Summaries of Cases:

1) William Ciccotto, 51, of Micco, Florida, pled guilty to production of child pornography on April 29, 2010. According to the plea agreement, Ciccotto created a fictitious myspace account in the name of “Cindy Westin,” and posed as a young girl between the ages of 13 and 14 years old. Ciccotto, acting as “Cindy Westin,” sent friend requests to young girls on myspace, befriended these children, and persuaded them to take sexually explicit pictures of themselves and send the pictures to his e-mail account. Ciccotto faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

2) Anthony William Denham, 24, of Jacksonville, Florida, was found guilty by a jury on May 20, 2010, of using a minor to produce images of child pornography and receiving and possessing child pornography. According to court testimony and evidence introduced at trial, Denham contacted a child on a social networking website in early June 2009, befriended her, and persuaded her to take sexually explicit pictures of herself. He convinced the victim to send the pictures of herself to his cell phone. He then used one of the pictures to create a fake webpage on another social networking site and impersonated a young girl on this website in order to trade sexually explicit photos to other men online in exchange for cell phone minutes and money orders. Denham faces up to 60 years in federal prison.

3) Richard Eckhoff, 43, of Tampa, Florida, pled guilty to two counts of production of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. According to court documents, 43-year old Eckhoff met young girls online, posed as a 20 year-old male, and sent them a phony picture of himself to convince the victims that he was in fact a 20 year-old man. After developing an online relationship with the victims, he persuaded them to photograph themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct and to send the images to him. He sent stuffed animals, clothing, and gifts to one of his victims, and manipulated another victim by posing as a friend and telling her that Eckhoff had been in a car accident and that his mother had died. Eckhoff faces up to 90 years in federal prison.

4) Eric Albert Seiden, 45, Doral, Florida, was charged by a federal grand jury on April 6, 2010, with production of child pornography, transmission of obscene material to a minor, and using a facility of interstate commerce to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity. According to the indictment, Seiden transmitted an obscene picture to a minor and caused the minor to produce an image of child pornography. Seiden then traveled to Brevard County to engage in sexual acts with the minor.

5) Bernie Schmidlkofer, 65, Cocoa Beach, Florida, pled guilty to production of child pornography and distribution of child pornography. According to court documents, Schmidlkofer victimized two children, produced images of child pornography and distributed those images. On April 6, 2010, Schmidlkofer was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison, the maximum statutory penalty and was ordered to pay $300,000.00 in restitution to the victim.

6) Jeremy Mohr, 26, Satellite Beach, Florida, pled guilty to possession of child pornography. According to court documents, Mohr possessed 262 movies of child pornography and 47 pictures of child pornography. On June 28, 2010, Mohr was sentence to 10 years in federal prison, the maximum statutory penalty.

7) David Marshall Deal, 24, Jacksonville, Florida, was found guilty by a jury of using the Internet to attempt to entice a minor child to engage in illegal sexual activity and of attempting to produce images of child pornography. According to court testimony and evidence introduced during trial, Deal engaged in several online conversations over the Internet with a person whom he believed to be a 13-year-old child. Unbeknownst to Deal, this "child" was actually a detective with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. During the course of the online conversations, Deal attempted to entice and persuade the "child" to engage in sex with him, and he also stated that he wished to take pornographic pictures of the "child." Deal arranged to meet the "child" at a restaurant near J. Turner Butler Boulevard in Jacksonville for the purpose of engaging in sex. As Deal approached the meeting place in his vehicle, he was arrested by investigators with the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit of the State of Florida Attorney General’s Office and Jacksonville Sheriff's Officers. A search of Deal's vehicle revealed that he had brought five condoms, two pairs of thong underwear, and a digital camera in a backpack for use during the planned meeting with the "child." Deal faces up to life in federal prison for the attempted enticement charge and up to 30 years in prison for the attempted production charge. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 18, 2010. Deal has been in custody since his arrest in September 2008.

8) William Joseph McCarthy, 57, Jacksonville Beach, Florida pleaded guilty to receiving child pornography over the Internet on March 11, 2010. According to court documents, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a search for individuals who were trading images of child pornography using a particular internet file sharing program. They traced a file of child pornography available for downloading or “sharing” to a particular Internet Protocol (IP) address that was registered to McCarthy at his Jacksonville Beach home. On February 4, 2009, law enforcement agents executed a federal search warrant at McCarthy’s residence and seized several computer systems from McCarthy’s residence that McCarthy had built to enhance the computers’ memory and capacity. McCarthy’s computers contained approximately 60,875 images and 649 videos depicting child pornography. McCarthy faces at least five years and up to 20 years in federal prison. He will be required to register as a sex offender, and as part of his plea agreement, will be required to forfeit his interest in his Jacksonville Beach home where he downloaded and collected the child pornography from the internet. His sentencing is currently scheduled for August 11, 2010.

9) Lucas Michael Chansler, 26, St. John’s County, Florida, was charged by a federal grand jury with four counts of making extortionate communications over the Internet, nine counts of producing child pornography, one count of receiving child pornography, and one count of possessing child pornography, on April 15, 2010. For each of the extortion counts, Chansler faces up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. For each of the production counts, Chansler faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. For the receipt count, he faces at least five years and up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. On the possession count, Chansler faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Chansler's trial is scheduled for September 7, 2010.

10) Robert Allan Cowan, 48, Jacksonville, Florida was charged by a federal grand jury on December 9, 2009, with two counts of producing child pornography, three counts of receiving child pornography, and two counts of possessing child pornography. For each of the production counts, Cowan faces at least 15 years and up to 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. For each of the receipt counts, he faces at least five years and up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. On each of the possession counts, Cowan faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Until his arrest in August 2009, Cowan was a middle school guidance counselor with the Duval County Public School system. Cowan's trial is scheduled for August 2, 2010.

These cases were investigated by the following agencies: The Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the United States Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Marshals Service, the Florida Attorney General’s Child Predator CyberCrime Unit and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, the Kissimmee Police Department, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. They were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney’s D. Rodney Brown, Karen L. Gable, Roger B. Handberg, Amanda Kaiser, and Carlos A. Perez.

An indictment or criminal complaint is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.