By Steve Neavling

One of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives was captured in Spain last week after being charged with sex crimes in connection with pornography websites. 

Michael Pratt, 40, was placed on the list in early September after authorities say he was involved in sex trafficking and producing child pornography. The charges stem from his work on two porn sites GirlsDoPorn and GirlsDoToys. 

Spanish police arrested Pratt after he checked into a hotel in Madrid using one of his known false identities. 

The FBI was offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. 

He and others are accusing of running a conspiracy to recruit young adult women and minors to participate in sex acts “by force, fraud and coercion” between 2012 and 2019, according to the FBI. 

“The capture of Michael Pratt is an example of how the FBI will pursue justice beyond U.S. borders—you can run but you can’t hide,” Special Agent in Charge Stacey Moy of the FBI San Diego Field Office said in a statement. “Thank you to our determined FBI San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force and to our federal and international partners for their commitment to making sure that Michael Pratt is brought to justice.” 

By Steve Neavling

A former supervisory Border Patrol agent was sentenced to 15 years in prison on a child pornography charge. 

Jason Christopher Davis, of Las Cruses, pleaded guilty in October to producing a pornographic video of a 5-year-old child and uploading the video to his laptop.

Investigators found digital media with child pornography at his home, and he was arrested in May. 

He was a supervisory Border Patrol agent at the time. 

The case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide effort to combat sexual exploitation and abuse. 

The case was investigated by the Las Cruces Office of Homeland Security Investigations, the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Las Cruces Police Department. The Office of Professional Responsibility of Customs and Border Protection, the Border Patrol’s Management Inquiry Team, the FBI, and the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office assisted. 

By Steve Neavling

The FBI arrested a police officer in Texas on charges of distributing child pornography. 

Denton Police Officer David Schoolcraft was ordered to remain in custody during his initial court hearing Thursday.

According to U.S. attorneys, Schoolcraft knowingly received or distributed child pornography through any means of interstate or foreign commerce, mail or shipment, or through a computerin late December. 

He faces up to 20 years in prison. 

Schoolcraft, a 15-year veteran of the department, was placed on leave after he was arrested. 

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The FBI is warning Zoom users that hackers are hijacking virtual meetings with videos depicting child sexual abuse.

On Wednesday, the bureau said it has received nearly 200 reports of explicit pornography involving children being displayed on the screens of Zoom users.

“The FBI considers this activity to be a violent crime, as every time child sexual abuse material is viewed, the depicted child is re-victimized,” the FBI said in a news release. “Furthermore, anyone who inadvertently sees child sexual abuse material depicted during a virtual event is potentially a victim as well.”

The bureau is seeking the public’s help in identifying so-called “Zoom bombers.” The FBI is encouraging Zoom users to contact the bureau if they are subjected to any of these explicit videos.

To help safeguard against hackers, the bureau recommends requiring a meeting password and controlling who is allowed to view the broadcast.

To makes a report, call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or file an anonymous complaint online at tips.fbi.gov.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

A supervisory intelligence analyst (SIA) for the FBI has been fired while an internal watchdog was investigating allegations that he had possessed and viewed child pornography, the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced Monday.

The OIG forensically examined the SIA’s personal and FBI-issued devices after he had revealed during “routine FBI security inquiry” that he had viewed and downloaded child pornography from the internet several years ago. During the examination, investigators discovered pornographic images, which were sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a routine step to determine whether photographs are child pornography.

No evidence of child pornography was found, but based on the analyst’s comments during the security review, the OIG concluded that the SIA had knowingly possessed child pornography.

The FBI fired the analyst while the investigation was ongoing.

The Justice Department declined to prosecute the analyst.

By Steve Neavling

ticklethewire.com

The FBI arrested a 34-year-old TSA agent accused of downloading child pornography for years.

Curtis Fleming, who worked at Orlando International Airport, told authorities he had looked at child pornography since he was 14 years old, WFTV-9 reports.

The FBI said it tracked down Fleming from a file-sharing site and then traced the IP address to the home of his parents.

Fleming told agents he tried to curb his behavior but couldn’t, according to authorities.

One of the videos downloaded by Fleming allegedly depicted children as young as 3 years old getting raped.

Fleming faces up to 15 to 30 years behind bars.

Best Buy, via Wikipedia

By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com

The FBI has paid Best Buy’s Geek Squad employees to act as informants for a decade, much longer than previously reported.

Records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act by the Electronic Frontier Foundation reveal that the FBI has been working with Geek Squad employees since at least 2008. 

The FBI declined to say whether it has similar relationship with other electronics repair companies.

The records raise serious questions about whether the relationship between the bureau and Geek Squad employees violate the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures.

At issue is whether the FBI’s payments to the employees for turning over child pornography prompted Geek Squad workers to search computers beyond what was required to make repairs.

The bureau paid at least “eight FBI informants at Geek Squad City” between $500 and $1,000 each for helping disclose child pornography.

Best Buy, via Wikipedia

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

A judge dismissed child pornography charges against a California doctor whose computer was searched following a repair by Best Buy’s Geek Squad because the FBI agent made “several false or misleading statements or omissions . . . with reckless disregard for the truth” in a search warrant affidavit, The Washington Post reports. 

The pornography case was triggered by the Geek Squad’s discovery of a photo of a naked girl, believed to be 9 years old. She was not involved in a sex act, and her genitals were not shown.

Technicians tipped off the FBI.

But U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said the FBI misrepresented the case in obtaining a search warrant for the home and computers of oncologist Mark Rettenmaier. Agents found hundreds of pornographic photos on his iPhone.

Carney concluded the search was illegal because FBI agents received the warrant by inaccurately saying “the image was child pornography.” The judge said the photo was “one image of child erotica” and that it “is simply not sufficient to search Dr. Rettenmaier’s entire home, the place where the protective court of the Fourth Amendment is most powerful.”