Feds Break Up Child-Pornography Ring

By TED BRIDIS
.c The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (March 18) - The FBI said Monday it had shut down an Internet-based child-pornography ring with criminal charges against 86 people in 26 states. Those sought or already arrested included two Catholic priests, six other clergy members, a school bus driver and at least one police officer.

The FBI said it expected to arrest at least 50 others by week's end in the sweep, called ''Operation Candyman.'' The effort targeted members of three Internet discussion groups on Yahoo! Inc.'s Web site, including one called ''Candyman.''

''I'd like to see one sweep a day,'' said Bruce J. Gebhardt, FBI executive assistant director for criminal investigations and cyber-crime. ''We want to keep the pressure up on all these people.''

All three Internet groups have been shut down. Investigators declined to identify the other two groups by name, saying it might interfere with efforts to trace suspects through their e-mail addresses. They said 7,000 people worldwide registered e-mail addresses with the Candyman group, and authorities were able to trace 1,400 people in the United States through those addresses.

''A new marketplace for child pornography has opened in the dark corners of cyberspace,'' Attorney General John Ashcroft said. ''There will be no free rides on the Internet for those who traffic in child pornography.''

Gebhardt said Yahoo executives cooperated with FBI requests for information about the subscribers to the discussions groups. But Gebhardt declined to say whether he believed Yahoo should have monitored its discussion groups to prevent ones from operating as open exchanges for child pornography.

Organizers of the Candyman group described it online as ''for people who love kids. You can post any type of messages you like, too, or any type of pics and vids you like, too. P.S. If we all work together we will have the best group on the Net.''

Mike Heimbach, head of the FBI's child crime unit, described the images exchanged on the Candyman group as ''very explicit'' and ''hard-core.''

FBI officials in Washington declined to identify by name any of those arrested, except to list the occupations of some they described as ''significant perpetrators'' because they held jobs where they might spend time with children.

FBI officials in Washington said those people included a Catholic priest in the St. Louis area; a school bus driver in Albany, N.Y.; a preschool teacher's aide in Las Vegas; a child photographer and an unspecified clergy member in Philadelphia; and a police officer in Pittsburgh.

Good, and if found guilty I hope they fry..
I dont beleive these people can be helped. They are a proplem untill the day they die.

And yes I believe the church has hurt itself by hiding these people way back when they knew this first  started going on.< YEARS AGO >  From what I've read If a clergyman did this the church would cover it up and simply move the guy to a new area.. I believe this is [b]slowly[/b] changing..
It Might be slow but at least its a step in the right direction..

Cluster