Congress Identifies Pornography Purchasers
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/14/us/14porn.html
By KURT EICHENWALD
Published: July 14, 2006
A Congressional subcommittee investigating the growth of online child pornography has referred the names of hundreds of people who purchased illegal images to state prosecutors around the country, according to government officials.
The referrals for possible prosecution were made late last month to attorneys general in 46 states by the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The information provided to prosecutors included names, credit card information and identifying details of the computers used to purchase monthly memberships at an illegal child pornography site.
The records were turned over to the committee by Justin Berry, a 19-year-old California man who, beginning at age 13, ran a pornographic Web site featuring images of himself streamed onto the Internet through inexpensive Webcams. Mr. Berry was the committee’s major witness in its opening day of hearings, during which he described his descent into Webcam pornography and his decision to turn against that business.
The subcommittee provided the attorneys general with records involving residents of their states, along with a cover letter signed by Representative Edward Whitfield, the Kentucky Republican who heads the subcommittee, and Representative Bart Stupak, the Michigan Democrat who is the ranking minority member. In the letter, the representatives invited prosecutors to “further investigate and analyze the information set forth in these documents.” The documents were not sent to Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Rhode Island because no residents of those four states were named in the records.
Prosecutors from more than a dozen state attorneys general offices have already contacted the subcommittee, saying that they intend to pursue the cases, Mr. Whitfield said in an interview yesterday.
Mr. Berry was the subject of an article in The New York Times last December, which Congressional staff members said led to the continuing hearings.
Since last July, Mr. Berry has been cooperating with the Justice Department in an investigation of adults who helped market, promote and support his Webcam business. In his Congressional testimony, he criticized federal prosecutors for failing to pursue the 1,500 people who subscribed to the multiple sites he ran. Department officials responded that they were conducting an active investigation of Mr. Berry’s allegations.
As part of his testimony, Mr. Berry provided the subcommittee with 1,071 credit card transactions for one of his Web sites, called mexicofriends.com. Subcommittee staffers said that there were fewer subscribers in the records than transactions, because the documents included renewals and names of people who tried to sign up several times with different credit cards.
Stephen Ryan, a partner with Manatt, Phelps & Phillips who represents Mr. Berry, said “we are thrilled” by the subcommittee’s decision to make the referrals.
Three men who were involved in the business with Mr. Berry have been charged by federal prosecutors in the case. State prosecutors in Michigan have also arrested another man, Ken Gourlay, for what prosecutors said was his role in working on some sites as well as for molesting Mr. Berry. In his testimony before the subcommittee, Mr. Berry identified Mr. Gourlay as someone who had sexually abused him in the past.
A hearing for Mr. Gourlay is scheduled for today in Detroit.
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Originally Posted by Lee
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