Dozens charged in child porn case in NYC area
Rabbi, Boy Scout leader among those busted
A slice of the New York City area mainstream — a police officer, a fire department paramedic, a rabbi, a nurse, a Boy Scout leader — used the Internet to anonymously collect and trade child pornography, federal officials said Wednesday.
The six were among at least 70 men and one woman charged in a five-week operation by the Homeland Security Investigations arm of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Federal officials, who planned to announce the arrests a news conference later Wednesday, call it one of the largest local roundups ever of people who collect images of children having sex — and a stark reminder that they come from all segments of society.
Consuming child porn “is not something that is just done by unemployed drifters who live in their parent’s basement,” said James Hayes, of ICE’s New York office. “If this operation does anything, it puts the lie to the belief that the people who do this are not productive members of society.”