A Ukrainian man who federal prosecutors said may be the most significant distributor of child pornography ever prosecuted in the United States was charged in New Jersey on Monday with operating a network of websites. Maksyum Shynkarenko, a 33-year old from Kharkov, Ukraine, founded and operated a Ukraine-based child pornography website that had customers around the world and has resulted in 560 convictions throughout the U.S. alone, the U.S. attorney’s office for New Jersey said.
A 32-count indictment released Monday against Shynkarenko says he traded in tens of thousands of hardcore pornographic images and videos that depict children ranging from infants to toddlers and teenagers being graphically sexually assaulted or abused, in most cases by adults. In some cases, the videos were submitted by customers, later prosecuted, who had filmed themselves actively molesting children, according Pal Fishman, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
Prosecutors say Shunkarenko and two co-conspirators from the Ukraine and one from Russia advertised and operated numerous child porn websites and sold access to them to clients worldwide, including customers in New Jersey. They allegedly concealed the charges with safe business names, such as “AD Soft,” which served as fronts to conceal them from credit card companies. The site warned users that it was “considered illegal in all countries,” advising users to say that someone had stolen their credit card information and used it, if ever questioned by the police.
The case is being brought in New Jersey because agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s homeland Security investigations division first located the site “Illegal.CP” in October 2005 during an investigation of an individual from Long Branch. The agents signed up for the site undercover, purchasing a 20-day subscription for $79.99.
In addition to the convictions of the 560 American consumers from 47 states, people have been convicted in other countries, federal authorities said. Canada is the only other country prosecutors would name. Federal authorities say those convicted included teachers, clergy, law enforcement, lawyers, doctors, coaches and others who came in regular contact with minors. Although a Ukrainian interpreter was sworn in to assist him, Shynkarenko answered a judge’s questions in heavily accented English and affirmed that he understood his rights and the charges against him. He’s scheduled for arraignment on Wednesday.
He could face up to 20 years to life in prison if convicted on all counts.
I found this article interesting because someone who wasn’t from the US was arrested for a crime that was committed in a different country. I also found it interesting that sites like these disguise their names, and tell their customers that what they are doing is illegal, and should lie about joining the website if they are questioned by the police.
thoughts?
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/06/11/feds-in-n-j-charge-man-with-running-child-porn-website/
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