Why did Biden leave these websites up?
Justice Dept. shuts down dark web child abuse sites that had 120,000 members and millions of files
Arrest the members and prosecute them. Post the names of the members so that patriotic pro-child activists can have a word with these members out in the woods in the dark and silent.
When FBI agents arrived outside William Spearman's home in the quiet suburb of Madison, Alabama, in November 2022, they were prepared for danger.
Their search warrant was so important to the bureau that it was approved by the FBI director himself. When the agents breached Spearman's door with tactical explosives, Spearman fought back, tussling with the agents as three of his handguns remained barely out of reach. The FBI managed to handcuff and arrest Spearman, a high-value arrest, in what a top Justice Department official called "one of the most successful" prosecutions of its kind.
Spearman went by the nickname "Boss" and was labeled by the Justice Department as "one of the most significant" purveyors of child sex abuse material in the world. His arrest in 2022, his guilty plea a year later and his eventual life sentence were part of an unprecedented takedown of a prodigious child abuse network.
Spearman is one of at least 18 people convicted so far of leading and utilizing the dark web to share hundreds of thousands of unlawful sexually exploitative images of children. The Justice Department calls the investigation and prosecutions Operation Grayskull; it helped secure those arrests and shutter four heavily trafficked dark web sites where violent and horrific images of child sexual abuse were traded and housed.
The Operation Grayskull investigation launched in 2020, when law enforcement agents noticed a spike in traffic to a dark web site suspected of hosting child abuse material. The dark web child abuse sites eventually attracted more than 120,000 members, millions of files and at least 100,000 visits in a single day, according to an FBI official who spoke with CBS News.
"Even for prosecutors, it is difficult to understand how pervasive this is," said Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department Criminal Division.
"Because it happens on the dark web, people aren't aware of it. It's extremely troubling," he told CBS News.
...
Selwyn Rosenstein was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2022, for operating a dark website for unlawful exploitative images. Prosecutors said the platform "was not simply a website; it was a large, active community of pedophiles and (abuse material) enthusiasts. And it existed in part because of the Defendant's criminal acts."
Rosenstein possessed such a large quantity of abusive images, he needed to store some on a server he used to run his business, according to the Justice Department.
Speaking from a second floor conference room at Justice Department headquarters in Washington last week, Galeotti told CBS News the members of these dark web child abuse sites often "earn" membership by paying a fee, "helping moderate the site" or contributing child abuse images or material.
Another unrelated (?) horror in Alabama: police discover a hidden bunker where children were held captive and r*ped and sold by the night.
In a rural stretch of Bibb County in central Alabama, past pine forests and gravel roads, deputies uncovered what a sheriff called the most disturbing child abuse case he's seen in his 33 years of working in law enforcement.
Inside a concrete bunker near a home, at least 10 children were harmed as part of what the Bibb County Sheriff's Office described as a criminal operation involving sex trafficking, torture and the theft of innocence.
Most of the victims were between 3 and 10 years old; one was 15, officials said.
"I know God's forgiveness is boundless, but if there was a limit to it, I think we've reached it," Sheriff Jody Wade said, describing the acts as beyond comprehension and the kind that fracture faith in human nature.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Sheriff Wade said seven people, including family members and parents, were charged in connection with the trafficking operation in Brent, Ala., a city of 2,600 people about an hour south of Birmingham, where children were harmed in the bunker's underground structure.
The charges include human trafficking, rape, sodomy and sexual torture, Sheriff Wade said. Two women and five men were charged.
"I'm afraid there's going to be more victims and many more suspects," he said.
A photo released by the sheriff's office shows the inside of the bunker: a stained mattress in a corner, a black metal folding chair beside it, a dirty white pedestal fan, and a single lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.
The sheriff said that the victims did not live in the bunker, which was built as a storm shelter, but that it was where the adults held them and allowed others to abuse them.
The victims were restrained to a chair and bed, Sheriff Wade said, adding that those children who were old enough to fight back were given something to make them a "little bit more drowsy and a little bit more compliant."
Sheriff Wade said that the suspects charged people to visit the bunker and abuse the children. The operation sometimes brought in $1,000 a night.
Why are their names being hidden?
NEWARK, N.J. -- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations Newark, alongside partners from Enforcement and Removal Operations, Newark arrested four illegally present child predators over the course of as many days in connection with an ongoing effort targeting illegal aliens with histories of child exploitation, titled "Operation Apex Predator."
Personnel with ICE HSI and ERO Newark arrested Gerson Jose Saenz Umana, a 27-year-old El Salvadorian national, and Javier Garcia Nicolasa, a 42-year-old Mexican national, on July 21.
Garcia Nicolasa was convicted on Dec. 1, 2023, of endangering sexual conduct with a child by caretaker. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
He entered the U.S. on an unknown date and through and unknown location.
Umana is a registered sex offender with a sealed criminal history that involves the exploitation of a child.
He was first encountered near Falfurrias, Texas, in November 2012, as an unaccompanied alien child.
Just days prior, on July 17, HSI and ERO Newark personnel made two other arrests of child predators living in New Jersey.
Juan Villatoro Valle, from El Salvador, and Reyes Peralta-Salazar, from Mexico, both illegally present in the United States.
Villatoro Valle, age 45, was convicted on Aug. 2, 2019, of sexual assault involving a victim under the age of 13, aggravated criminal sexual assault, and endangering with sexual conduct. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Villatoro Valle entered the U.S. without inspection sometime before 2000. He was granted Temporary Protected Status in 2006, but his application for permanent residency was denied in 2009.
Reyes Peralta-Salazar, age 38, was arrested on Sept. 14, 2023, for criminal sexual conduct and endangering -- sexual conduct with child. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail.
Peralta-Salazar entered the U.S. without inspection at an unknown date.
All individuals were required to register as sex offenders in the state of New Jersey. All are being held in ICE custody pending either a hearing before an immigration judge or deportation.
Democrats continue bothering DHS and ICE officials, demanding entry so that they can help Democrat voters, also known as pedophiles, escape the consequences of the law.
Congressional Democrats are demanding a tour of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Baltimore as part of the party's push to conduct oversight over the Trump administration's immigration policies.
The Maryland delegation, including Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), as well as Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-MD), Johnny Olzewski Jr. (D-MD), Sarah Elfreth (D-MD), and Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) were denied a tour of the George H. Fallon federal building on Monday.
Their visit comes after allegations that detainees were experiencing inhumane conditions. ICE has denied these claims.
Mfume said during a press conference following the visit that the lawmakers were able to enter the building, but a director denied them a tour.
"We were not allowed entry, so we had to stand outside, bang on the door, and ultimately sit in front of the door," Mfume said. "Finally, a director came out and explained to us that she had been given direction not to allow anyone, member of the House, Senate, or anyone into the facility."