Art!

The New York Daily News has this report on the artist, Michaelangelo, no not that one, the pedophile photographer who finds himself in U.S. District Court facing 15-30 years for child porn.  Yes, Judge the pictures of me sleeping with an 11 year old girl on my laptop are real, . . . yes, Judge, she's a minor, but I took the pics in Colombia, . . . and these images are ART.

Goodbye, Michaelangelo.

If you look at local news websites around the country which I do, you endlessly encounter reports of men being prosecuted on child porn charges.  Hell, occasionally there's an adult woman in the mix.

A couple of thoughts occur to me:  the wide-dispersion of computer technology in the late twentieth and first decade of the twenty-first century (is there a verb I can use here without using a pun?--oh, well) exposing a lot of pedophiles?  Secondly, trying to justify, rationalize, excuse child porn sure faces steep odds, at least in this country. 

These observations might sound incredibly obvious to you but for those of us who grew up in eras that preceded the personal computers, child porn existed--in fact, as an attorney who brought hundreds of actions arising out of the sexual abuse of children, some of this pre-digital garbage was discovered as part of the lawsuits.  I don't know the numbers, but according to Wikipedia, since 1997, the number of images on the internet has grown an estimated 1500%! Computers did not create child porn, but computers created the resource for law enforcement to identify and prosecute consumers of this material.

Years ago I brought a claim against a step-father on behalf of his newly adult child.  Of course, the defendnat denied abusing his step-daughter.  I set the defendant's discovery deposition; just, before the scheduled examination one of the defendant's ex-wives (for another amazing story of a disgusted wife click the link)delivered a manilla envelope with dozens of black and white images that appear to have been processed in a basement darkroom.  During the depositon, I pulled image after image out of this manilla envelope this defendant visibly wilted.  His attempted explanation, ART!  He compared the photos to the work Robert Mapplethorpe.

Um, I'm not an art critic, (well actually I am), but this was not the work of an artist.

Civil Rights Activist, Child Porn Hound

The Cape Cod Times is reporting on the case of John Perry Ryan a long time civil rights activist who collected and distributed tens of thousands of images of child pornography some of the children were as young as 2 years old.  I found the story interesting because there is a definite peek into the mindset of this child porn collector via Mary Ann Bragg's article:
"A former Cape Cod civil rights activist was sentenced yesterday to 7½ years in prison for what a Vermont federal district court judge called the most 'egregious' child pornography case he'd seen.  John Perry Ryan, 62, of Braintree, Vt., will report to federal prison authorities March 9 to serve his sentence. After serving his prison time, Ryan will be under supervised release for five years, said U.S. District Judge William Sessions in a Burlington courtroom.

Ryan lived in Provincetown and worked across the Cape in the 1980s and '90s on issues involving gay people, Native Americans, AIDS patients, blacks and community policing.  He pleaded guilty last summer, about two weeks before his trial date, to two counts of transporting child pornography. U.S. immigration authorities first learned of his Internet activity following a tip from Swiss officials that in 2006 Ryan was communicating with an individual in Switzerland. While the case involved the Swiss person was pending, the government learned Ryan had also allegedly sent child pornography to a person in Seattle.  The tens of thousands of images and videos on his computer included children as young as 2 and sadomasochistic acts involving children.

During the three hours of proceedings in the fifth-floor courtroom, Ryan sat attentively, with his fingers sometimes pressed against his lips. When he stood and spoke asking for leniency, he seemed invigorated as though debating an issue of public importance. He has a slight stoop and appeared to have difficulty hearing at times.  'I had all this time on my hands,' he said. 'I have an obsessive personality. I was sitting there pressing a button and things are going to the farthest corner of the earth.'

Dressed in a work shirt and casual pants, he left the courtroom with a solemn look on his face yesterday. He declined to comment.  In the hallway outside the courtroom, his partner, John Caruso, cried as a dozen friends gathered around. Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Fuller brushed quickly past and disappeared around a corner.

Michael Touchette, a forensic examiner of digital media testified yesterday there were about 24,000 pornography photographs on a computer taken from Ryan's home. About half had been looked at, Touchette said. Many were of children between the ages of 2 and 14 engaged in sexual acts, some with adults. Some photos showed sadomasochistic images of children, those who 'appeared to be distraught or in harm's way,' he said.  Ryan also had about 100 child pornography videos on his computer, Touchette said. He read through chats that Ryan had participated in, one of which referred to children as a profane type of 'meat,' he said. In one line of chat conversation, Ryan said he wanted to "snuff," or kill a child after sex. Another of Ryan's chat lines, Touchette said, was 'the younger the better.'

'It's not a standard child pornography case,' said Fuller in court. "'Sucker punch them in the mouth to make them submit.' Who writes that?' During the period covered by the charges, investigators matched Ryan's activity on the computer as a time when Caruso was scheduled to be at work, according to court records.

Ryan told the court yesterday he'd become involved in child pornography during an isolated period at home in Vermont. He said he was partly interested in researching adult taboos and other fantasies that adults kept secret until the advent of the Internet. Ryan said he was a computer novice, having first gotten a computer in 2002. He said he got obsessed with pressing 'the button' on his computer, and sometimes didn't realize the volume of photos he was downloading.  He started looking at child pornography when someone in an Internet chat room sent him a link, he said. Over time, Ryan said he began to dissociate himself from the content of the images and the chats he had. He characterized himself as a person who would never hurt a child.  As part of his sentencing — and upon his release from prison — Ryan will have to register as a sex offender in any state where he resides or is active, Sessions said.

Seven people who are friends of Ryan's spoke to Sessions asking for leniency.  Ryan has been confined to his home with an electronic bracelet since his arraignment in 2007. His supporters had hoped for a similar set-up for his sentence. 'I traveled from Cape Cod to try and prevent what I perceive is a real tragedy, sending John to prison,' said Bourne attorney Lee Berger, who met Ryan during a civil rights issue with the Wampanoag tribe in Mashpee"
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This case supports one of the points I made previously about Child Porn arising as "content" in response to the development of internet technologies; and, the story is proof of the ensnaring aspect of the same technology. 

This "perp" describes something I believe to be the case for many users of the internet, including me, the internet is addictive.  The anonymity allows you to explore aspects of your character which can get pretty ugly and in Mr. Ryan's case, illegal.  The other aspect of this story that is interesting for me is that Mr. Ryan appears to have been a gay man in a loving relationship with a committed partner.  People involved in child porn can not be characterized by class, politics, education, sexual orientation, or occupation.

Look at Kiddie Porn, Jeff Anderson Will Sue You!

The great Jeff Anderson, clergy sex abuse attorney par excellence is threatening to use a new federal statute--Masha's law, to go after you if you are looking at child porn according to a report at the Pioneer Press website.  This is an excerpt from the report by Emily Gurnon:

"A St. Paul attorney has vowed to track down and expose people who so much as open a computer file with child pornography as part of a new initiative designed to stop the sexual exploitation of children at its source. Jeff Anderson said he filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court this morning against former St. Paul schoolteacher and foster parent Gregg Alan Larsen and 100 as-yet-unnamed child pornography downloaders. Larsen, 49, of Minneapolis was indicted May 19 and charged with production, distribution and possession of child porn.

'If you choose to download images of child pornography, we will find you, we will track you and we will expose you,' Anderson said.

[Anderson] said his office is working with police, specifically the Minnesota Internet Crimes Against Children task force, to trail the digital footprints of downloaded material — whether it is viewed on a computer or a phone. He promised to send out press releases as the names of offenders who view and trade images are revealed and add their names to the lawsuit."
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People curious about this evil garbage need to know that the digital fingerprint of this stuff can not be scrubbed from their hard drives.  Worse, once seen it can not be unseen.  As I said I bumped into some of these images as part of child sex abuse civil prosecutions in police files.  Child porn is sick, disturbing, and soul destroying.  Never forget the face of Sean O'Toole, an attorney, who killed himself when Sean came to recognize who he became and what he contributed to when he downloaded kiddie porn.

Even Elderly Men Collect Child Porn, Commit Rape

My pal Chris and I went out to catch the Crazy Heart film, the other day and he commented on the Child Porn post, wondering what prompted it.  I told him that at this point I am feel a little like a stone skipping from one local website to another and sometimes as I bounce from place to place I'm struck by the patterns in local prosecutions.  It was the frequency with which you see prosecutions of all sorts of folks that is striking to me.

On February 6th, Savannahnow.com had this article about the 80 year old man, sentenced for having more than 15,000 child porn images on his computer: 

"An 80-year-old Savannah man has been sentenced to serve two years in prison for his conviction on a charge of sexual exploitation of children.  David J. Hesrick was sentenced to 10 years total Thursday after Chatham County Superior Court Judge John E. Morse Jr. convicted him during a bench trial.  In addition to the sexual exploitation count, Morse also convicted the defendant on two counts of making false statements to police.  Evidence presented by Assistant District Attorney Emily Thomas showed police were called to Hesrick's southside home after he and his roommate quarreled, office spokeswoman Alicia Johnson said.  Officers found the flap was over the roommate's discovery of pornographic images of children on Hesrick's computer.  Investigators found at least 15,000 images and 12 videos containing pornographic images of children, Johnson said.."
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One of the first adult survivors of child sex abuse I represented was a woman named, "Star" who had been raped and sexually abused by her father who at the time of his civil prosecution was quite aged.  "Star" was agitated that this man was not behind bars because despite his age she assured me he was still an active perpetrator. 

Whenever "Star" learned of her father's whereabouts she would printout flyers with his picture, drive to this region of OurState and paper cars in shopping center parking lots.   She would give the local law enforcement copies of the flyers.  Sure enough, this aged perpetrator would abuse again, and eventually he was taken into custody and convicted of molesting a child. 

While I don't necessarily equate consumers of child porn with perpetrators of child sex abuse, elderly criminals of all sort continue to commit habitual crimes.  Experience tells me not to be surprised that the elderly abusers continue their lifelong habits of sexually exploiting children when they think they can get away with it; so many trusting parents are surprised to the detriment of their children.

Oh, the picture is of Giovanni Cocozza, a 77 year old serial rapist.

Octogenarian Former-Mayor Gets 2 Years for Child Porn!

The Anchorage Daily News reports on the octogenarian ex-mayor sentenced to prison for child porn.  This is story is baffling, the story:

"An 81-year-old Hydaburg (picture of community, above) man was sentenced Monday to two years in federal prison for possessing child porn.  Robert Armour Sanderson, a former mayor of the Southeast town, was caught after he ordered two videos from an undercover postal inspector during a sting operation, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A later search of Sanderson's home found 170 images of child pornography in his bedroom, the U.S. Attorney's office says. Sanderson, who had no criminal history prior to his arrest, was indicted in October. He pled guilty in April. His federal public defender says he is a community leader and has served as a guide and historian to the area for writers and anthropologists.

Hydaburg is on the southwest corner of Prince of Wales Island."
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Why?  Absolutely pathetic.  I wish there was greater detail about Mr. Sanderson, I'd like to hear his explanation for Mr. Sanderson's interest and behavior.  Child pornography as I've said repeatedly on Bad Lawyer, is not a victimiless crime. 

Speaking of the baffling nature of this awful crime, Canoe (the best source for Canadian News) reports on the London, Ontario cop charged with child porn on his lap top computer. 

Child Porn Claims Maine's Top Prosecutor

James Cameron (pic) was formerly the top prosecutor in Maine's Attorney General's Office, now he's a felon convicted of federal child pornography laws.  This account is courtesy of Trevor Maxwell at the  Portland Press-Herald:

"Three years ago, James M. Cameron held a position of power and trust as the top drug prosecutor for the Maine Attorney General's Office.

His stunning fall from that post began in December 2007, when state and federal agents showed up at his Hallowell home with search warrants for the four computers inside. The fall ended Monday, when a federal judge convicted Cameron on 13 of 15 counts of sending, receiving and possessing child pornography over the Internet.

Cameron, 48, showed no emotion as Judge John Woodcock Jr. read the verdicts that capped the six-day bench trial. The former assistant attorney general was immediately handcuffed and put in federal custody after the ruling. The former state prosecutor, who opted not to testify in his own defense, faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year. The Maine State Police Computer Crimes Unit began investigating Cameron in 2007, after Yahoo reported finding child pornography in the photos of an account holder later identified as Cameron's wife. The Yahoo reports were made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria, Va., an organization that works with local, state and federal investigators.

Investigators ultimately tied 17 user profiles on Yahoo – many of which had sexually explicit names – to three Internet Protocol addresses assigned to computers at the Cameron household. Prosecutors used data from the computers, including log-in names and times, to determine that it was Cameron alone who was responsible for the illegal activity. Besides images of child pornography uploaded to Yahoo file servers, investigators found explicit images, e-mails, chats and other evidence on the four computers seized from Cameron's home. Cameron engaged in some of the illegal activity from his home computers on days when he was working, prosecutors said. His former secretary testified that Cameron was often away from his office, and those unexplained absences prompted a running joke at the Attorney General's Office, in which someone would ask: 'Where in the world is Jim Cameron?'

Assistant U.S. Attorney Donald Clark referred to that joke several times during his closing argument Monday.  'Where in the world is Jim Cameron? We know the answer. He was at home, on his computer, trading child pornography,'  Clark said.  Clark said Cameron had advanced computer knowledge, and he stored pornographic materials in photo folders on Yahoo so that he could then delete the files from his home computers using a software program called 'Wash n' Go.'

But Cameron was apparently unaware that traces of the child pornography, including images and chats on the now-defunct service 'Google Hello,' remained on the hard drives of the computers and were found by investigators, Clark said.

In his closing argument, defense attorney Michael A. Cunniff said the government failed to prove that it was Cameron who sent, received or possessed any illegal photographs or videos. Cunniff said if Cameron inadvertently received illegal images, he deleted them because he was not looking for child pornography. Erotic chat and fantasies are not crimes and are protected by the right to free speech, Cunniff said.

'If a person wants to collect child pornography, they save it, they don't destroy it,' Cunniff said. He also said the investigation of Cameron was flawed from the start because agents believed him to be guilty and they did not pursue any other possibilities, such as the theory that someone pirated the open wireless signal at Cameron's home. Cunniff noted that one state police detective used the phrase 'stringing evidence around Jim Cameron's neck.'

'No meaningful search for exculpatory evidence was made,' Cunniff told Judge Woodcock.

Cameron was indicted by a federal grand jury in February 2009. He waived his right to a jury, putting his fate solely in the hands of Woodcock, the chief federal judge for the District of Maine.

The trial proceeded slowly as government lawyers and Cunniff argued over rules, procedural matters and the admissibility of almost every piece of evidence.  'The persistence and vigor that I displayed were manifestations of my respect for the law, not disrespect for the court,' Cunniff told Woodcock at the outset of his closing argument. Cunniff had lodged repeated objections based on his argument that Yahoo does not have the right to browse through images posted by users in password-protected folders. Woodcock said the images qualify as business records and Yahoo has the right to inspect them.

Cameron is now divorced from his wife, but they have been working together to raise their 15-year-old autistic son, Cunniff said. Cameron had been free on $75,000 bail before Monday's verdicts.

Woodcock found Cameron guilty on eight counts of sending, four counts of receiving and one count of possessing child pornography. The judge found Cameron not guilty on two counts of sending child pornography."
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I've been following this story for awhile, now, and I'm not quite sure I understand Cunniff's argument about "business records," nonetheless it is clear that Cunniff aggressively defended Cameron.  I am curious as to how an appeal is going to play out.  If I understand the story, the child porn was in an account belonging, at least in name, to the wife.  Obviously the Judge believed that the federal prosecutors proved that Cameron set up the Yahoo account in her name for his purposes. Still, you have to wonder if a reviewing appellate court will say this factor creates a basis for "reasonable doubt."

Once again, do you need an object lesson in the power of this awful stuff--child pornography?

If I showed You the Evidence, I'd Be Guilty of Distributing Child Porn

The Rapid City Journal has this remarkable report relating to a prosecutor's refusal to turn over images to the defense counsel in a child porn case because as this post header says, the Prosecutor claims it would be an illegal distribution of child pornography.:

"Releasing evidence to a defendant's attorney would make her guilty of distributing child pornography, prosecutor Laura Roetzel said Wednesday.

Pennington County's chief deputy state's attorney has refused to hand over copies of photo evidence in the case against John Rolfe to his attorney.  Rolfe, 59, is accused of three counts of first-degree rape and 12 counts of the manufacture, distribution and possession of child pornography. He is being held in the Pennington County Jail on $1 million bond.

Both state and federal statutes prevent her from releasing the information, Roetzel said. 'I would be guilty of disseminating child pornography,' Roetzel said.

Rolfe's attorney is free to examine the evidence in the Pennington County State's Attorney's Office, which is a common practice in these cases, Roetzel said.

During Wednesday's hearing, Roetzel announced that she plans to ask the court to permanently suspend Rolfe's telephone privileges. Roetzel said later that Rolfe is making harassing telephone calls to people who are peripherally involved in the case.  Roetzel and Rolfe's attorney will present their arguments at a motions hearing at 9:15 a.m. on Nov. 1."
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Seems to me that an argument exists that the defendant has a de facto deprivation of due process claim.  For one thing, without knowing more about the specific facts of this case, we can point to at least one situation over the last year where a defendant, facing 20-years, was able to prove that the alleged "child" in alleged child pornography video was an adult.   One could conceive of the situation where absence some prolonged access to such material would deprive the defense counsel of the ability in a similar fashion to explore this defense.  Furthermore, there is the question of chain of custody, possession of the "evidence" might permit testing or other forms of examination to establish manipulation of the images, or a source or custody other than the defendant.

I know that I previously related the case involving my client, a 17-year old male high school special ed student and star athlete, who was sexually exploited by his female substitute teacher.  In fact my client fathered a child with this educator; although his lawsuit brought after his 21st birthday was tossed by the civil courts because of the restrictive OurState statute of limitations

Unfortunately, the parents of my client turned over numerous photographs on CD-ROM constituting evidence of the crimes against their son.  These were rank sex images of this teacher having sex with my client and other teenage boys.  In turn I provided these images to the prosecutor who convened a Grand Jury.  Who got indicted?  My clients.  Yes, my clients: the parents, (as an aside I should have realized that my career was swirling down the drain),--why?  The prosecutor accused my clients of possession of child pornography!  The charges were subsequently dismissed, but not before these poor folks were humiliated in the press, had to hire a criminal defense counsel and all the other horrors you might imagine. 

It sounds to me like the same sort of thinking (?) is going on here. 

Maryland State Trooper Facing Child Porn Charges

Crime reporter Peter Hermann of the Baltimore Sun reports that this guy (pic, left), Maryland State Trooper, Bruce Tucker is charged by prosecutors with possessing thousands of pornographic images of children:

"A Maryland State Trooper faces felony charges of possessing child pornography after more than 3,000 images were found on his computer, a Baltimore County Police spokesman said.  Investigators say Bruce Allen Tucker, 47, of Esplanade Court in Owings Mills, had received and exchanged images of child pornography, including male and female children performing sex acts, posing nude and performing oral sex. He was arrested July 16 and released after posting $50,000 bail.

State Police spokeswoman Elena Russo said Tucker has been suspended without pay.  According to the statement of charges, the investigation began in March. All the exchanges occurred while Tucker was off-duty, said Lt. Robert McCullough, a Baltimore County Police spokesman.

Here are more details from county police, who did not mention in a release that Tucker was a state trooper:

Baltimore County Police arrested Bruce Allen Tucker, 47, of Esplanade Court in Baltimore County. On July 16, he was arrested and charged with numerous child pornography charges to include possession of child pornography, possession of child pornography with the intent to distribute, and the distribution and possession of obscene matter.   Police investigation revealed that Tucker received and exchanged numerous images of child pornography over a period of several months. he images depicted pubescent male and female children nude performing sex acts, posing nude in a state of arousal, performing oral sex, and posing nude.

Tucker used the screen names Poledeepin@aol.com and LONGPOLEIN@aol.com. [charming]

Bruce Allen Tucker was released after posting bail in the amount of $50,000.
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If you get a strange email, beware, Trooper Tucker is on the loose. 

I now only feel obligated to send along the accounts of these child porn arrests if there is something particularly unusual in  the story.  The purpose of continuing to pass along these stories it to marshal the evidence for the proposition that the compulsion to look at child pronograpy, knows no boundary.

Be disgusted.

Child Porn

Child Pornography, that is the depiction of children in sexually graphic photographs or video--is the subject of endless reports of arrests and prosecutions at local news websites around the country and here in OurCity in OurState.   In fact the sheer numbers of reports of persons of all sorts of backgrounds (see pic), including instances of law enforcement officials, ensnared in possession ofchild pornography arrests (usually for computer images of child sex)  is astounding. 

Recently the New York Times ran an interesting piece about a young adult who was the subject of the so-called "Misty" series of child pornographic images.  "Misty" in actuality, Amy, has been seeking "restitution" from the collectors of her pornographic images who are arrested and prosecuted.  The print article on the case indicated that Amy's perpetrator was an Uncle who is now incarcerated.  Amy obtained  $3.4 million dollar civil verdict which is largely uncollected (boy, do I know thst feeling.) 

When images from the video, and photographs that the Uncle published on the internet turn up on the computers of men who are prosecuted for collecting child porn, Amy receives a notice pursuant to a federal law.  An attorney is aggressively pursuing restitution form these men.  The link at the Times' website also links to opinion pieces of leading experts on constitutional and criminal law discussing the implications of the novel approach of Amy's attorney. 

In my career I've had the awful experience of seeing small amounts of this stomach turning stuff.  From time to time chld pornography would rear up in civil cases I prosecuted.  I don't recall a single prosecution for it until recent years.  In fact as I've talked about child pornography on Bad Lawyer in the past,--it is my feeling that the crime and the ability to prosecute it as a crime, is in large part a creature of the internet.  While the crime existed in an underground way pre-internet, and believe me it existed--the chain of custody problems, and the ability to "data map" it's possession is a direct development of computer technology.  Further law enforcement was enabled to set up stings of persons with a proclivity for child pornography or the exploitation of children was enabled by the internet. 
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One of the stories that I realize, I omitted from telling, but from time to time I am reminded by friends who knew about the events at the time and who ask me to relate the story on the blawg, concerns the period following my acquittal on the felonious assault charges brought by the corrupt former Sheriff and his pal the OurCounty prosecutor after a courthouse scuffle.  

Within days of the acquittal I began receing emails from "a child" seeking to "talk to me" according to the subject line that would show up in my email box.  I would delete these emails with out reading them, but they continued.  Eventually I opened one and it was a sexually provocative email from a purported "13 year old," girl.  I responded with a curt answer that I was calling the police, printing out the email, and giving it to the local police--and that I was to receive nothing further from the sender.  I called the local police, I printed out the email and I delivered it to the police station.

 Do I think I was receiving an email from a "13 year old girl?"  Not a chance.  Some idiot with the Sheriff was trying to see if I could be set up, I have no doubt in my mind on this count.  Amazingly I don't receive sexually provocative emails from 13 year olds anymore.

Former Fed Law Clerk and Peeping Tom Off to Jail

Daniel Eisman, a lawyer and former law clerk to a federal judge was sentenced to 5 years in prison for voyeurism and child porn.  This striking account is from reporter Lisa Demer at the Anchorage Daily News which provided the account of Rachel Yould's fraud conviction and sentencing last year.  Here's Ms. Demer's account of Eismans's sentencing:

"Daniel Eisman, a former law clerk to a federal judge in Anchorage, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison after pleading guilty to indecent viewing and child pornography charges. At the sentencing hearing before state Superior Court Judge Gregory Miller, one victim testified by phone and another attended in person, telling the judge about the pain and sense of betrayal inflicted by Eisman. The indecency charge relates to secret cameras he placed around his home and in a cabin.

In all, prosecutor Roman Kalytiak identified six victims by their initials. Victims told the judge at least a dozen people can be seen on the videos in various states of undress or even using the bathroom.  'The people in these videos are not strangers,' Kalytiak said. 'These are people who were friends of the defendant's.' Some were co-workers.

Eisman clerked for U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess (a 2005 Bush appointee,) as did the victim who stumbled across the videos last May on a hard drive connected to his home computer. She had permission to use the computer and was apparently looking for winter carnival pictures from Fur Rondy, Kalytiak said.   She found Eisman's secret instead.
The co-worker was a frequent babysitter for Eisman and his wife. She attended the birth of their child. She spent holidays with Eisman, his wife and his parents. He was one of her best friends, she said in telephone testimony.  The woman was babysitting for Eisman's family on May 5, 2010, when she came across a file with her name on it.

'On that date, I learned that Dan had been videotaping me, recording me in the most vulnerable moments every chance he got,' she said.

Eisman, who is 36, admitted setting up cameras in his guest bathroom, guest bedroom and other rooms in his home and in a family cabin in an effort to secretly peep on men and women. The cameras were hidden in a lamp, picture frame and carbon monoxide detector, among other places.

The coworker said the videos showed her undressing in various rooms over an eight-month period. At least once, Eisman encouraged her to take a shower in the guest bathroom.

She said she suspected he had been making his secret videos of his friends' private moments for at least five years. He had amassed an enormous collection, she said. She said she was particularly concerned by the hundreds of downloaded child pornography images found on the computer. They were mixed with photos of his own baby boy so that he could look at his son, then child porn, one image after another.  'I fear that if left unchecked these boundaries may have become blurred in his real life as well,' she said. 'I am deeply concerned for the safety of his now 1-year-old boy.'

She turned the hard drive over to Anchorage police, who obtained a search warrant for it, Kalytiak said.  The coworker testified that she's been devastated since finding the videos last May, not only because of the loss of her own privacy, but because of the hurt everyone suffered, including Eisman's wife -- her friend.

'It's a horrible thing to have to turn your former best friend into the police,' she told the judge. But it was the right thing to do, she said.

A second victim also testified, a man who said he too was a co-worker and friend of Eisman.  'I want to speak for the untold victims who are not here, because they are pillars of our community and their reputation is so easily destroyed by something of this nature,' the second victim told the judge.

Eisman used many ruses to entice women into his home, the man told the judge. He hosted parties. He used his own child to lure baby sitters to his cameras. He arranged his videos by name and labeled some as 'good.'

None of the videos were ever posted on the Internet, his defense lawyer, Andrew Lambert, told the judge. The defense and prosecution worked out a plea deal that is severe, but fair, he said, urging the judge to accept it.   When it came to Eisman's turn, he admitted that 'what I did was simply wrong.'  He said he's already getting help from a psychologist.

'As for the victims, it's more than a bit ironic because we were truly friends before I betrayed their trust,"'Eisman said in court. 'No words will give you back what I took. You have every right to be angry, every right to want to lash out, every right to hate me[. . . ]  What I did didn't stem from malice. It stemmed from curiosity, addiction, and a failure of my moral compass. But ultimately the fault is my own.'

Eisman said he was grateful that his wife had supported him throughout the ordeal, though the marriage is now ending. Maybe his victims will take solace in what he's losing: 'A job, a career, my wife, my law license and my reputation.'  The worst of it will be the lost years with his son, he said, breaking into tears as he talked about the 'messy meal times, play times in the park and a dozen other firsts."'

In pronouncing the sentence, Judge Miller paraphrased a psychologist in town who says it takes 20 years to build up a reputation and 20 minutes to tear it down.

'And you have succeeded like no one I've ever seen before in doing that,' Miller told Eisman.

In addition to the prison time, Eisman must register for 15 years as a sex offender and will be on probation for five years.  Eisman walked out of the courtroom, his hands behind his back his shackles, to begin his prison sentence."
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Mr. Eisman worked for U.S. District Judge who was a former U.S. Attorney (Hon. Timothy M. Burgess)--of course, Eisman has no explanation for his acts. Those acts are inexplicable as are most bad acts by those of us who know better.

Even Prosecutors and Pastors Get Caught with Child Porn

The St. Louis Post Dispatch has the report of the prosecutor and former municipal court judge caught downloading and viewing child pornography.  "Curiosity," is what George Richard "Dick" Fox termed his actions costing him a 2 year prison term.  Attorney Fox does not see what "harm" his activities caused. 

At the same website, there's the account of the former Pastor, Andrew Spalleck, (pic) who's off to the penitentiary for sharing child porn.

Bad Lawyer  has repeatedly explored this subject and the types of people caught up in prosecutions for engaging in production, possession, and dissemination of this material.  This is a victim-full crime.  A crime that can't be committed unless children are exploited.  But, something a good friend of mine said many years ago that I know to be true--when you "get away" with this crime you really never get away.  You take on darkness from the crime, it is with you at a seed level.  In my years of civil prosecution of child sex abuse, I came across some of this stuff in police files that became part of evidence in cases, and from witnesses and victims of child sex abuse.  This is terrible soul-killing stuff.

That any one's child, anywhere,  is exploited to produce this material should outrage all of us.

Affirmative Defense to Prosecution for Child Porn Discovered. . .

Carlos Simon-Timmerman a NYC pizza deliver guy traveled to Puerto Rico with an adult video in his baggage that resulted in a prosecution in Puerto Rico for possession of child porn according to the New York Post.  The Post article reports:

[In Mr. Simon-Timmerman's luggage customs discovered a] DVD called 'Little Lupe the Innocent' in his bags as he passed through San Juan Airport security on his way back to the city.  The agents said the actress in the video, porn star Lupe Fuentes (pic, uh the cleanest one I could locate via Google images), appeared to be underage. Mr. Simon-Timmerman was cuffed and taken into custody.  But Simon-Timmerman was sprung earlier this month after Fuentes flew to Puerto Rico and proved in court that she was 19 at the time the film was made.  'I'm thankful to her,' his mom, Eff Simon, told The Post yesterday. 'It was a big relief.'

Simon said her son had been visiting his sister last year in Venezuela when he bought the DVD in a flea market, believing it was nothing more than legal smut.  When Simon-Timmerman arrived in San Juan last Aug. 11, customs agents found porn videos, including: 'Little Lupe the Innocent -- Do Not Be Fooled By Her Baby Face.'"
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Nice.

Over the Top Lawyer Advertising

The terrific "tabloid" Law Blawg, Above the Law caught my attention (and apparently, the attention of the Texas Bar), with its story about this Lindeman, Alvarado & Frye criminal defense firm that focuses on soliciting child sex rapists, child porn collectors and other miscreants for its client base.  It ran a series of ads that I discussed with disgust previously--the ads featured images that bordered on child porn and violent porn.  You see a lot of funny, awkward, offensive, and annoying lawyer ads, but you rarely see advertisements from Lawyers that are calculated to appeal to predators, but somehow this firm managed it.  For more (including the "screen shots" from the original ads):

http://abovethelaw.com/2009/12/texas_criminal_defense_firm_ca.php

CVS Drugstore Manager Indicted on Child Porn Charges

A Phoenix CVS Pharmacy manager has been indicted on child porn charges according to AZCentral.com after images saved under his named at the photo kiosk were detected by a co-worker:

"A Phoenix man was indicted this week on 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor stemming from his arrest after child pornography images were found at the Fountain Hills pharmacy where he worked.

Michael Brown (mug shot), 49, was arrested in late June when another manager at the CVS Pharmacy discovered pornographic photographs of minor girls saved to the photo kiosk under Brown's name at the store. Brown also worked as a manager at the store. A search warrant was served to Brown's home and car, where hundreds of photographs and USB drives containing child pornography, child erotica and adult pornography were discovered, a court document said.

A prepared statement from Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said many of the photographs contain girls who appear to be under 13 years old.

'Children are so trusting and vulnerable and, unfortunately, these traits often make them easy to exploit,'  Romley said in the statement. 'This office takes crimes against children extremely seriously and we will continue to prosecute these cases vigorously.'

Each count of sexual exploitation of a minor is a class 2 felony, and considered a dangerous crime against children, according to the release."
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A little off-topic, here, but as you will recall, Romley is the former Maricopa County attorney and the current Maricopa County attorney having replaced Andrew Thomas who was Sheriff Joe Arpaio.  It's refreshing to see actual crimes being prosecuted in Maricopa County as opposed to local enforcement of federal immigration laws by show sweeps of Hispanic citizens, children, and undocumented residents.

Child Abuse, No Excuse

The IndyStar.com has this report of the step-father charged with two felony counts of shooting his 10 year old step son with a paintball gun and kicking the child with steel toed boots. 

Often I report that I have tremendous pain and depression over some of the dark stories that I encounter at the local news websites that I review for stories on Bad Lawyer--this is bad, evil in fact, but not so nauseating that I can't talk about this story.  Unfortunately most of the stories that I shy away from profoundly hurt me and I wish I had not seen them--purely evil.  Like I've said about child porn, God forbid you've seen it--because once seen, you can't un-see it.  Darkness.  Black holes of pain and suffering.

The story of Step "father" at the IndyStar reminds me of something I saw as a long time ago.  Many years ago when I was briefly single, I had an apartment with a third story bedroom window that looked out on a short perpendicular cul de sac separating two rows of houses, that the local police had trouble patrolling thereby creating a weird pocket of drug houses and routine criminal activity in an otherwise nice suburb.  One 4th of July weekend I watched this toothless moron attired in a muscle shirt and smokeless tobacco baseball cap tossing fireworks down from a second floor balcony onto what turned out to be his step-children.  The children fled in tears, screaming--while he cackled.  I called the police--I had to be emphatic with the dispatcher that I was watching an assault and battery upon children by an adult.  The police did respond and did arrest the drunk "step father" who apparently been out on parole for less than a week.

In my career, I represented adult and child survivors of child sex abuse as well as physical abuse.  During that representation I had more than one client kill herself.  The civil law was a very poor mechanism for dealing with these crimes against children.  I was honored to have worked with some of the nationally-famous advocates; and I briefly served as a director on the OurTown Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence for which I am eternally grateful for the training and education.  In litigation I've taken many, many depositions of psychologists, psychiatrists and other mental health care providers.  This education, you would think would help me square away my feelings, but it has not.  I used to be outraged, now I am I am more horrified.

Why are children abused by adults?   We know some of the answers.  Adults abused as children learn abuse, and when they grow up those adults abuse children.  Alcohol and drugs erase even minimal inhibitions.  If co-custodial adults and neighbors tolerate or ignore child abuse we enable it.  Then again there is evidence in today's news that we enable child abuse as a matter of foreign policy, check the photo on the front page of this AM's NYT, of two Somali children armed with assault weapons courtesy of US foreign aid.

Injuries from child abuse to children are terrible.  If the injuries were, only, physical!  Can you think of any more damaging way to abandon a child than to physically or sexually abuse a child?  I can't.  I amd my siblings know, personally. 

That we can do something about it and we don't--is there any defense to that?

Uniquely Alaskan Justice in Child Porn Case?

The Anchorage Daily News had this remarkable account of the re-sentencing of former Anchorage police officer and child molester, Sammy Cohen:

Former Anchorage police officer Sammy Cohen (pic) will not serve any more jail time on his conviction for sexually abusing and exploiting his daughter.  State Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton on Thursday sentenced Cohen to 12 years in jail with eight suspended.

But Cohen will not return to jail because of the length of time he's already been incarcerated. Cohen's sentencing came five years after his arrest by police detectives on charges of sexually abusing his daughter and possessing child pornography. He was not convicted of touching his daughter sexually but rather of taking nude photographs of her, including some in which he made her pose.

Last October, a jury found Cohen, 56, guilty of abusing and exploiting his daughter a decade ago. She was 14 years old at the time. The jury based its findings mainly on topless and nude photos Cohen took of the girl that were obtained by police officers. The police began investigating Cohen after a federal agency alerted them that he had purchased child porn on the Internet.  Cohen has maintained his innocence on all the charges. He plans to appeal, his attorney John Cashion said Thursday.

Several young women, including his now-adult daughter who lives out of state, testified against Cohen during last fall's three-week trial. The other women said Cohen bought them gifts, gave them back rubs and did huge favors for them when they were underage or close to it; Cohen was not charged with abusing or exploiting them.

The jury acquitted him of several sex abuse charges -- one involving touching and groping his daughter. A juror explained later that the jurors felt comfortable convicting him on the evidence they saw in photographs, but not on counts for which they had to rely solely on the daughter's word about what happened.

The daughter and other family members did not attend Wednesday's sentencing hearing and the daughter did not file a victim statement. The affected family members 'want to put this behind them and want to have nothing to do with him anymore,' said state prosecutor John Skidmore.   Two off-duty police officers testified in Cohen's support, praising his strong work ethic and loyalty as a family friend. Also in the courtroom were other former co-workers: police detectives who investigated Cohen.

'They became intimate with the details of the case and wanted to see a full measure of justice done,' said police Lt. Dave Parker.

[Prosecutor] Skidmore argued in favor of a 20-year sentence with seven years suspended. He said the crime deserved a longer sentence than the norm given Cohen's role as a police officer.  Skidmore noted the high recidivism rate of sexual offenders who target children. Also, until Cohen admits his crime, his chances for rehabilitation are diminished, Skidmore said.

[Mr.] Cashion, Cohen's attorney, favored a sentence of two years in prison and three years of probation, saying that case law did not justify a longer sentence. He said that Cohen respects the judicial process and will follow his probation.

After a recess, Judge Wolverton imposed Cohen's 12-year sentence, with eight years suspended.  Wolverton told the courtroom that he specifically did not intend for Cohen to return to jail.  The judge said that while Cohen has a history of  'concerning behavior,' he believed that Cohen had  'very good prospects' as a probationer.
Cohen will not go to prison because he has already spent more than two-thirds of the four-year, unsuspended prison sentence in jail -- 1,024 days to be exact.  In Alaska, felons with good behavior do not need to serve the final third of their sentence, though they must return to jail to serve the remainder if they violate their probation.  Cohen spent a portion of that time in isolation due to his status as a former police officer and he was assaulted three times, once during transport, Cashion told the judge.

Cohen was an 11-year veteran of the Anchorage Police Department and was teaching at the police academy when he was arrested in 2005. He also served in the military for 23 years.  Cohen is now registered by the state as a sexual offender. Among the 18 conditions of his release, he must not contact the victim, he cannot have unsupervised contact with females under age 16 or have an e-mail account without his parole officer's permission, he cannot go to parks and playgrounds that minors use, and he and his property can be searched without a warrant for pornography, female minors or firearms.
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Wow!  Talk about getting a break, this guy was taking pornographic pictures of his daughter and her young friends.  Cohen was touching these children and they touched him.  Cohen spent less than 3 years incarcerated. 

Something about this story sounds Alaskan-specific.  That this guy did these acts and other officers were comfortable sitting in court in support, pretty amazing.

Arizona Pediatrician Arrested for Child Porn Scandal--He Fled

AZCentral.com is reporting that the Sun City Pediatrician, Dr. Emilio Luna arrested last week on child porn charges has made the proverbial "run for the border."  Luna who was released on bond with electronic monitoring.  There was substantial evidence that Luna had a pre-planned escape (multiple fake passports, lots of cash, etc.), so it was pretty amazing that he was able to get bond.  Luna left his electronic monitoring bracelet in his car and ran. 

Dr. Luna, who is Hispanic, may have engaged in reverse immigration.  At the link is my earlier post on Luna's arrest.

Stoopid, Stoopid, Stoopid

Newsradio KFAB 1110 out of Lincoln, Nebraska has one of the all time too-stoopid-to-live criminal stories (via the invaluable Fark):

Officer Katie Flood said the man was arrested after his 17-year-old former girlfriend called police to report a disturbance. Flood said the man allegedly threatened to distribute a video of him and the girl having consensual sex, if she didn't pay back money he claimed she owed him.  A search warrant executed at the man's home led to the discovery of the video. Since the video contained images of the 17-year-old, the man was charged for manufacturing child porn.
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I'm pretty sure we are not talking "child porn," but a damn good extortion/blackmail charge sounds like it might stick.   You don't have to read Bad Lawyer for long to get the idea that I love these Karmic justice moments. 

Fickle Finger of Fate--Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason

Actually it was "the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate" an award (pic) given by Rowan and Martin on the 60's television show Laugh-In.  According to TV Acres.com: 

"Flying Fickle Finger of Fate Award - Called the Rigid Digit, the Winged Weenie, Wonderful Wiggler, Friendly Phlange, and the Nifty Knuckle, this weekly satirical award was presented by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin on the weekly comedy variety series ROWAN & MARTIN'S LAUGH-IN/NBC/1968-73 for the dumbest/craziest news item of the week. Gold/Silver in color, the award was a "hand" mounted on a trophy base. Its index finger adorned with two small wings rotated in a 'Whoopee!' circular motion. Recipients of this 'uncoveted' award included then Los Angeles Chief of Police, Ed Davis who suggested that 'gallows' be put in all airports for the hijackers so they could be hung on the spot; the City of Cleveland for their Cuyahoga River (It caught fire due to its high pollution levels); and a Wonderful Wiggler went to William F. Buckley for his philosophy 'Never clarify tomorrow, what you can obscure today.' Top awards went to the Pentagon. They won five times."

As readers of the Bad Lawyer blawg, one of the themes of this journal is the fickle nature of justice, and as I read accounts of "justice," more often injustice I am struck by the sheer randomness of crime and punishment.  You would think a 55 year old, 28 year veteran lawyer would be cynical enough to let it all roll off his back, but you must bear in mind that I am a Bad Lawyer.  I still struggle to find some sort of narrative to make sense of it all. 

This morning my pal, rightwing Chuck the retired tax-denier, sent me a link to the Cleveland Plain Dealer article about the county prosecutor, Bill Mason.  This crime fighter, according to accounts from local attorneys told his high school classmates he planned to be President of the United States by age 50, apparently it's not working out.  Mason enjoyed a run of luck, though, succeeding the legendary late-Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who vaulted from the county prosecutor's position to Congress succeeding longtime civil rights pioneer Lousi Stokes, brother of Carl Stokes, the first Black Mayor of a major American city which Cleveland was in the 1960s.  All of this is by way of digression,--but it does indicate that there was a path available to Mason if he was good prosecutor.  But our man Mason fell in with a bad crowd, a county bribery and corruption scandal involving his closest political allies is dragging the blue-eyed wanna-be-president-of-the-united-states down.

I don't know Mason, personally, but a Judge I know related to me how he, the Judge,  had won the endorsement of his political party for higher office and was ORDERED by Mason, and his corrupt political cronies to stand down from the office the Judge aspired to, in favor of someone clearly less qualified but someone more politically important to Mason, et al.   Mason threatened the Judge with the promise that his political life would be turned into a living hell if he did not comply.  The Judge refused to stand down, and the position was snatched from him anyway. 

Mason also has been known to do the bidding of the corrupt former Sheriff.  There are well-documented instances where Mason prosecuted fabricated felonious accusations against lawyers involved in security scuffles identical to the ones discussed here, where ill-trained security officers of the corrupt Sheriff claim non-existent injuries after pounding the snot and pepper spraying  a lawyer. The lawyer who objected to the rude treatment of citizens entering and exiting the Justice Center where Mason and the disgraced sheriff have/had their offices.  

Mason was also behind the indictment of a Cleveland-area mother and father of the "special education" student-football captain who was raped by a local female teacher--the parents obtained and turned over evidence including digital photos taken by the kids who were having sex with the teacher.  The parents' crime? They were indicted for posession of child porn while the charges were ultimately dismissed the parent-victims ended up paying attorney fees and were required to enter a diversionary program!  What outcome did the school teacher, "star" of the child porn images get?  Count 'em, three days in jail.  Good job, Prosecutor Mason! 

Mason is one of those lawmen like Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Mason runs an operation more notable for its public relations claims than for actual achievement unless you count his striking blindness or indifference to the pay-for-play operation run by his foolish friends who are all headed to federal lock-up.  One of the mysteries of the scandals in Cleveland was how Mason seemed to have a teflon like quality as all around him, others were being indicted, charged, targeted in lengthy federal charges as the subject of the bribery schemes.  Part of what was going on was a changeover in journalism in Cleveland.  The Plain Dealer transformed itself into a serious muckracking enterprise with a laser-like focus on the things that matter, or should matter to the citizens of northeastern Ohio. 

Mason and a drinking buddy were recently pulled over for drunk driving.  The cops cut these guys a major break, a break they would not cut you or me.  Mason's buddy, a Cleveland-area politician was intoxicated and driving.  Mason, the passenger, was given a free pass.

Mason appears to be in the media cross-hairs, and in large part it's largely because of thieving lawyers.  The Plain Dealer piece by Mark Puente relates how Mason apparently has a pattern of willful ignorance where it comes to corruption.  Not only does Mason not see, hear, smell or speak it when it involves County Commissioners, political bosses, County Recorders, of his own political-persuasion--it doesn't occur to Mr. Mason to prosecute a former associate, the lawyer-pal who steals $300,000, from a client--while a laundry list of relative petty thefts by other lawyers land those lawyers in prison.  Some pay, some pay all, some pay nothing. 
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My friend Gayle after reading this blawg suggested that I read, Heinrich Von Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas.  The 1811 novella was an apt recommendation.  Kohlhaas is an upright citizen, a successful horse dealer by trade, and someone who readily embraces the law.  One day Kohlhaas is in transit with two beautiful black horses he intends to sell in Dresden.  He is waylaid at a minor aristocrat's property by a demand for a toll and a permit that had not been required of him previously.  What ensues is a legal nightmare. The denial of any justice including "a justice center scuffle" fataling injuring Frau Kohlhaas ultimately drives Kohlhaas to armed insurrection. 

My mocking tone about fickle finger of fate, is to highlight the argument that the reason for law is the need for certainty, or, at least predictablity in human affairs.  We all need to know what the rules are, we all need to know and agree what our rights are, and we all need to agree what the consequences, leavened with mercy--should be.  When public officials like Bill Mason use their very powerful offices to favor friends, and enable injustice--they degrade respect for the law, for justice.  ENOUGH!

Oh,  it does seem that the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate has finally found a worthy honoree.

Pediatric Dentist Gets 6 Years for Child Porn, Nice!

A St Charles, Mo. Pediatric Dentist, Dr. Anthony Rizzuti, has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for child pornography according to  the Stltoday.com (St. Louis Post Dispatch website.)  Obviously, this story is shades of  Delaware pediatrician Earl B. Bradley that I and about every other news and blawger reported on late last year.  This is from Robert Patrick:s story:

"A pediatric dentist from St. Charles caught in an Internet sex sting in 2008 was sentenced Thursday to six years in federal prison on a child pornography possession charge. Dr. Anthony R. Rizzuti was arrested in June 2008 by Maryland Heights police after driving there from his home to meet, and have sex with, what he thought was a 14-year-old girl, prosecutors say. The girl, 'Hannah' was really a Maryland Heights police officer. In an ensuing investigation, police uncovered child pornography on Rizzuti's computer.

The 2008 arrest followed the third time that Rizzuti corresponded with an undercover police officer online, according to court documents and testimony.  In March 2005, Rizzuti had similar conversations with a Dublin, Ohio, police officer pretending to be a 14-year-old girl. Rizzuti bought the girl a plane ticket to San Francisco so they could meet there and have sex, prosecutors say.  It was not clear what happened to the 2005 investigation and another investigation briefly mentioned Thursday.

Rizzuti's lawyers argued that he did not intend to have sex with either 'girl' and was engaging in fantasy online chats with people who could have been any age.  But Assistant U.S. Attorney Rob Livergood cited records of the Ohio chats in which the 'girl' mentioned her age five times. Rizzuti's psychologist, Luis Rosell, said Rizzuti was a low risk to commit other crimes, or have sexual contact with children. izzuti was sexually inexperienced, and his online chats were an outlet, part of his 'fantasy life,' Rosell said. But even there, Rosell said, Rizzuti met frustration.

'The adults don't talk sexual,' Rosell said, adding that only the 14- and 15-year-olds would engage in sexual conversations with Rizzuti.At least three of those 'teens,' of course, were police officers prowling for child predators.

Rizzuti pleaded guilty to the pornography charge in December. In addition to the six-year sentence, U.S. District Judge Rod Sippel placed Rizzuti on supervised release for life. He will also have to register as a sex offender. Rizzuti still faces a felony charge in St. Louis County of attempted enticement of a child in the Internet sting case."
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We kid ourselves when we think a professional certificate, white coat, or business card denotes something trustworthy especially when it relates to those we trust with our children.  As I have said, ad nauseum, pedophilia, sexual predators are not limited by wealth, education or social class.  I know this sound preachy, but it needs to be said, our job as parents is to be fully present with our children when they interact with adults. 

When I launched into that part of my law practice that was directed to tracking down these people I trusted that my awareness of the capacity for a black heart would instill in me a sense of who was lying when they denied doing these things to children.  How little I knew, how little I know!  The capacity for persons in these trust relationships to exploit and injure those in their care is startling.  It seems to me that there is no higher calling than to end the evil exploitation of children by adults.  This comes in many forms, in many places, none of it can be justified.