Innocent Images Takes Down Major Child Porn Ring

March 23, 2008 · Filed Under Crime

This is a few weeks old, but definitely still noteworthy. Hooray for the FBI having an entire program dedicated to catching child pornography and exploitation and an even bigger hooray for arrests and these sites being shut down!

Innocent Images, a program run by the FBI to combat online child pornography and child exploitation has recently busted a major child porn ring.

With messages that read “Mala is to die for in those pigtails.”, “I have a few 5yo [year old] Taras that you do not have.” and “Just dropping in for a hot minute … to help out the dry spell, and to give everyone something to do for an afternoon.” this ring doesn’t seem too different than the others circulating the internet, however, this ring had many features that Innocent Images had not come across before.

This ring was one of the largest and most sophisticated rings that the FBI has ever come across, using maximum security methods to make them increasingly hard to catch. The ring worked more like a business, with several different people spanning over different countries performing specific jobs within the community. The ring had traded, trafficked and posted over 400,000 images and videos and incorporated several operation security measures.

Since discovered, over 20 victims of child exploitation have been rescued and 22 men have been arrested in the United States, Germany, Australia and the U.K. while more rescues and arrests are being pursued.

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16 Year Old Kid Sentenced to Life in Prison, Justice?

February 23, 2008 · Filed Under Crime

This is an extremely old story, but since the case leaves very little to happen in a teenager’s case and I was instantly appalled at the state of “justice” that was served, I still believe it is newsworthy.

Antonio Nunez of Santa Ana, California was arrested when he was just 14 years old on April 25, 2001. The reason for Nunez’s arrest was for kidnapping a Santa Ana businessman and shooting at police with an AK-47–No one was hurt. On June 14, 2003, a [then] 16 year old Nunez was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. In addition to a sentence that outright states that this teenage boy will be in prison for the rest of his life, he was also sentenced to four additional life terms and 121 years on top of that for being found guilty in six counts of attempted murder of a police officer, assault, evading, street terrorism and committing crimes for the benefit of a street.

While these crimes are indeed very harsh crimes, they are also adult crimes. They are crimes that are typically committed by adults and when we see teenagers involved in such violence, isn’t there a thought that goes through a judge’s head that says “Hey, wait a minute here, this kid must be troubled; he obviously needs help?”

The justice in this case is served when someone feels and knows that something is not right with a child who is committing such harsh crimes and reaches out and protects them and makes sure that they receive the help that they (obviously) so desperately need. No teenage boy belongs in a prison full of adults, full of people who are in most cases, more dangerous than him. Sure, you could say that a 14 year old child should know better, but that is not a case of personal judgment at that age, it is a case of parenting, or obviously lack thereof. In a case where absolutely no one was killed, or even injured, what warrants a 16 year old to receive two life sentences in prison plus 121 years with absolutely no chance of parole in the rest of his incredibly long life?

I believe that the reason Nunez received such a sentence is because the person in which he was shooting at was a police officer and I believe that is the only reason. When someone is given a badge, they automatically move up in status and become superior than any other every day person Nunez could have been targeting at the time; but because it was a police officer, he received double life sentences with 121 years added on top of it and that is not justice.

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