Man Pleads Guilty to Running Child Sexual Abuse Website

MIAMI – An Alabama man pleaded guilty yesterday for his involvement with a website dedicated to the advertisement and distribution of images and videos depicting child sexual abuse.

According to court documents, William Michael Spearman, 57, of Madison, was the lead administrator of the website, which had been operating for many years. The website included a section devoted to the sexual abuse of infants and toddlers, a section devoted to images and videos depicting children being subjected to pain and torture, and a section devoted to avoiding detection by law enforcement. As the lead administrator, Spearman managed numerous other “staff” members, directed them how to help run the site, recommended other users for promotion, kept records of child pornography files advertised and distributed over the site, presided over staff meetings, praised and scolded users, and counseled users and other managers about the function and expectations of the website. Spearman also advertised and distributed images over the website.

Spearman pleaded guilty to engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 31, and faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The following defendants have also been convicted in the Southern District of Florida for their involvement with the same website:

U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, and Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey B. Veltri of the FBI Miami Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI’s Child Exploitation Operational Unit, West Palm Beach Resident Agency, and Miami Field Office investigated the cases. Substantial assistance for the case was provided by FBI Field Offices and Resident Agencies in: Huntsville, Alabama; Reno, Nevada; Clarksville, Tennessee; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Madison, Wisconsin. Substantial assistance was also provided by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the Northern District of Alabama, District of Nevada, Middle District of Tennessee, Eastern District of North Carolina, and Western District of Wisconsin.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Schiller and Trial Attorneys Kyle P. Reynolds and William G. Clayman of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) are prosecuting the case.

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 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.justice.gov/psc.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov under case number 22-cr-80173.

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