The names of hundreds of people believed to have purchased child pornography have been handed over to a congressional subcommittee investigating the growth of online child pornography. Forty-six state attorneys general have received the referrals for possible prosecution from the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The panel is examining how to stop online sexual exploitation of children and may file bills to aid prosecutors.
Information provided late last month 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. At age 13, Berry started a pornographic webcam site featuring images of himself. Congressional staff members said that an article written in the New York Times in December led to the continuing hearings. During the opening day of hearings, Berry described his ventures into online pornography and his decision to turn against the business.
The subcommittee provided the attorneys general with records involving residents of their states, along with a cover letter signed by Rep. Edward Whitfield, (R-Ky.) who heads the subcommittee. In the letter, the representatives invited prosecutors to “further investigate and analyze the information set forth in these documents.” The only states that did not receive the documents were Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Rhode Island.
Whitfield told the Times that prosecutors from more than a dozen state attorneys’ general offices have already contacted the subcommittee with intentions to pursue the case.
The Times also reports that Berry has been cooperating with the Justice Department in the investigation of adults who helped market, promote, and support his webcam business since last July. Berry criticized federal prosecutors for failing to pursue the 1500 members of the adult sites he ran; department officials said they were conducting an active investigation of the allegations.
As part of his testimony, Berry provided the subcommittee with 1,071 credit card transactions for one of his websites, although subcommittee staffers stated there were fewer subscribers in the records than transactions, due to membership renewals and names of people who attempted to sign up multiple times with various credit cards.
A Michigan man has been arrested in conjunction with the case, and three men who were involved in the business with Berry have been charged by federal prosecutors.
