child pornography

Michael James Pratt, a fugitive charged with multiple counts, including sex trafficking and child pornography, has been arrested in Spain, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced. Pratt, originally from Christchurch, New Zealand,  had been a fugitive since 2019, having allegedly fled the country amid a civil trial in San Diego. The 40-year-old is charged in a 19-count […]

An assistant district attorney in Oklahoma was arrested on Monday for possession of child pornography, authorities say. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) said in a Nov. 28 statement that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) forwarded 14 cybertips in early September that helped investigators to identify 53-year-old Kevin Etherington of […]

CHICAGO—A federal judge Wednesday sentenced Jerry Harris, a former star of the Netflix documentary series “Cheer,” to 12 years in prison for coercing teenage boys to send him obscene photos and videos of themselves and soliciting sex from minors at cheerleading competitions. U.S. District Judge Manish Shah also ordered that the sentence be followed by […]

Federal authorities are pushing back against R. Kelly’s claims that his placement on suicide watch is a form of punishment. Kelly was placed on suicide watch after he was convicted and given a 30-year sentence last Wednesday for using his fame to lure and sexually abuse young women. The attorney’s office at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center […]

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is seeking tougher punishment for child sex offenders, but his efforts have come to a standstill. On Tuesday, a top Democrat blocked Hawley’s bill that mandated a five-year minimum sentence for possession of child pornography.

Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced on April 6 that he will send illegal immigrants to Washington via charter buses.

A man convicted of child pornography distribution is grateful that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson gave him a sentence lower than that recommended by prosecutors and sentencing guidelines. Wesley Hawkins said he was displeased when Jackson sentenced him in 2013 but later reconsidered his view. “I wasn’t very happy that she gave me three months, though, after […]

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—A federal jury in Arkansas has begun deliberations in the trial of former reality TV star Josh Duggar, who is accused of receiving and possessing child pornography. The jury deliberated for about five hours Wednesday, a week after the trial began in northwest Arkansas. Deliberations will resume Thursday morning. Duggar, 33, faces up to […]

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—Opening statements were scheduled to begin Wednesday in the federal trial for former reality TV star Josh Duggar, who faces child pornography charges. Duggar, who appeared in TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” was charged in April with two counts of downloading and possessing child pornography. A jury was seated in the case Tuesday, which […]

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—Attorneys for former reality TV star Josh Duggar have filed motions seeking to dismiss child pornography charges against him. The motions ask for the dismissal of the two charges and to suppress evidence in the case, including all statements Duggar made to investigators, the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The documents, filed Friday, allege prosecutors […]

BERLIN—German prosecutors announced Monday they have busted one of the world’s biggest international darknet platforms for child pornography, used by more than 400,000 registered members. Frankfurt prosecutors said in a statement together with the Federal Criminal Police Office that in mid-April three German suspects, said to be the administrators of the “Boystown” platform, were arrested […]

A judge in Wisconsin has been charged on multiple counts of possessing child pornography, court documents show. Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Brett Blomme was arrested Tuesday on charges of allegedly uploading images and videos containing child pornography in October and November through the messaging app “Kik” at least 27 times, the State Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in […]

Sixteen people across five states have been charged with more than 700 child exploitation offences after a two-year investigation involving Australian authorities and U.S. Homeland Security Investigators. Starting in 2018, issues were regularly referred to Australian authorities by U.S. officials investigating an online website where users paid to access child abuse material.   Australian investigators […]

A boy who has been missing for two and half years has been found alive in a closet of a child pornography suspect in west Germany.

Robert Thomas Darenberg, 34, of Jacksonville, was sentenced on Oct. 21 to forty-eight months in federal prison for possession of child pornography. The Court ordered that Darenberg pay $15,000 in restitution, serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison
term, and register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

Police in Georgia dismantled a child-trafficking ring that exploited girls as young as 8 to produce pornographic material, in what authorities said on Sept. 19 was the largest operation of its kind in the country.

A woman who paid the bond for popular music personage R.Kelly, who was arrested on 10 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse will not be getting her money back, at least temporarily, ruled a Cook County judge on Tuesday.