Source: http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2008/03/06/news/322675.txt
Waterbury man part of secretive network of pedophiles worldwide
BY BEN CONERY | REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY -- In a secretive Internet community of pedophiles, a 46-year-old city antique dealer took on the identity of "Pickleman" and once raved that a girl in an image he had seen was "to die for in those pigtails," according to court documents.
John Mosman, of 553 N. Walnut St., is among 22 people charged worldwide in what authorities have described as a sophisticated global network that swapped child pornography and even commissioned the creation of it.
Mosman was one of 14 Americans charged with being part of the network, which authorities say traded more than 400,000 pictures and 1,000 video files depicting children, some as young as 5, engaging in sexual activity. The investigation began in Australia before expanding to the U.S., England, Canada, and Germany.
Federal agents arrested Mosman last week, according to his wife's uncle, Leonard Coviello, who lives next door to the Mosmans.
"He was a nice guy, he never bothered nobody, and he'd help you out if he could," Coviello said. "What the hell was he doing with children?"
Coviello said Mosman and his wife, Cynthia, a secretary in the city's Corporation Counsel office, have been married for 11 years and have no children. He said the couple has eight cats and two dogs.
Mosman spends his weekends buying and selling antiques at tag sales and flea markets, according to Coviello. Mosman also sold antiques on eBay; his username was Pickleman.
"He was always on the computer, I know that," Coviello said. "I don't know what he was doing."
Coviello said Mosman's schedule allowed him to visit and care for his ailing father-in-law, Coviello's brother, more than five times each day. "He was really good to his father-in-law," Coviello said.
Mosman didn't say much, but had been quick to anger if he thought he was being talked down to, Coviello said. His arrest on child pornography charges shocked family members.
"It was a surprise for his wife," Coviello said. "She didn't know nothing. She went through hell."
Last Friday, federal agents searched a building at 137 Walnut St. that Mosman rents to store antiques. Waterbury police were unaware if federal agents seized anything and have not received any information that any of the child pornography traded by the ring was produced in Waterbury. A message left with the FBI was not returned.
Mosman is charged with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, advertisement of child pornography, transportation of child pornography, receipt of child pornography and obstruction of justice. He isn't charged with producing child pornography.
The case is being prosecuted in federal court in Pensacola, Fla., because that is where the FBI investigation was based.
According to an FBI affidavit, the Queensland Police Service in Brisbane, Australia, first learned of the network in June 2006 from a network member who faced charges in a separate child pornography case. The information provided by the member allowed law enforcement to infiltrate the network.
The FBI estimates there are 45 members of the network, which is difficult to enter.
To become a member, according to the affidavit, a person must have been invited by an existing member and already trade child pornography. They also must have passed a timed, written test assessing their knowledge of child pornography (questions included naming particular child pornography series and describing the contents of those series).
The test also was meant to expose law enforcement officials trying to infiltrate the network, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit states members are never to reveal their true identities to each other; that way if one member is arrested he wouldn't be able to provide law enforcement with the identities of any other members.
The network also took technologically advanced steps to avoid law enforcement detection.
The group communicated in Internet sites known as newsgroups, which are similar to message boards. They used encryption software that made the messages inaccessible without a password.
The actual pornography was traded in separate newsgroups and was encrypted similarly to the messages.
From time to time, the network would change newsgroup sites for both messages and pornography exchanges. The affidavit stated that the group would change the encryption codes and passwords to hide its tracks.
Each time they would change newsgroup sites, members would change their nicknames, often using a common theme, such as cars or food, according to the affidavit. Along with "Pickleman," Mosman also used "Ozzy" and "The Galloping Gourmet" as nicknames.
The network had contacts in the child pornography industry, which resulted in child pornography being produced specifically for the group, according to the indictment. The group paid child pornography producers using e-gold, a Web site that allows users to transfer gold ownership. The owners of that company previously have been indicted in federal court for allowing its users to buy child pornography and carry out other scams.
Court documents in the child pornography case gives a glimpse into the enthusiasm of the network's members, one of whom called them, "the greatest group of pedos ever to gather in one place."
"I'm honored just to be part of it,'' 47-year-old James Freeman, of Florida, wrote to other members, according to the indictment.
Freeman, Mosman and the others now face up to life in prison if convicted. |
