State Police seize 29 in distribution of child-rape video
Police charge another 7 with possession as sweep nets pediatric surgeon and high school coach (Remember, the Jewish Babylonian Talmud condones child sex. So the Orthodox Jews practicing this see nothing wrong with their behavior from a Jewish point of view.)
Friday, January 28, 2005
BY RICK HEPP
Star-Ledger Staff
State Police said yesterday they arrested 29 people across New Jersey for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped, including a pediatric neurosurgeon from Basking Ridge, a hockey coach from Morristown and a local Republican Party chairman from Sparta.
Another seven were arrested on charges of possessing the graphic footage on their computers, although additional charges could be filed based on a forensic examination of their hard drives, police said. Of those arrested, 10 were juveniles as young as 14 and one was a registered sex offender, police said.
"We will prosecute anyone who knowingly downloads from the Internet and circulates images of children who are being sexually exploited," Attorney General Peter Harvey said in an afternoon news conference announcing the charges. "We have to protect children from people who prey upon them."
Using newly designed technology that detects child pornography files shared over the Internet, investigators have found the video on more than 10,000 computers worldwide. Police said it is shared among child pornographers much the same way that teenagers swap music over the Internet.
Authorities arrested the man in the video, James Bidwell of Georgia, after he sent copies of the videotape he made to Canada and England. He is now serving 45 years in prison after pleading guilty in 2002 to sexual assault and child pornography charges. Yet police said the video continues to be passed over the Internet among pedophiles who find out about it and others through e-mail messages or chat room discussions with one another.
"We are aware of other similar videos on the Internet," State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes said. "Every time another person transmits these sickening images, the children depicted in them are victimized all over again."
Fuentes also said police are investigating whether one of the suspects arrested in the sting also stalked children at a school.
The investigation began after a special agent in the Wyoming Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force used the new "file sifting" software to track the video clip and found that 10,500 computers worldwide had downloaded it, including 6,500 in the United States and 42 in New Jersey.
The program works by tracking a unique signature code that is embedded in a digital image when it is created. Once a signature code is known, investigators can search the Internet and trace the image to every computer that sent or received it.
The agent contacted the State Police in October with the IP address of the 42 computers that downloaded the video. An IP address is the number assigned to every computer connected to the Web, and no two are alike. They can be traced back to the computer by the Internet service provider that gave it access.
Detectives in the State Police's child-protection and cyber-crime bureau and the New Jersey Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force then got court orders forcing the Internet service providers to turn over the names of customers whose computers were identified by the program.
Detectives then conducted a two-month investigation that included background checks and surveillance to identify the suspects and produce enough evidence to obtain search warrants, Fuentes said. Police executed those search warrants beginning Jan. 17.
After seizing the computers, police also found evidence that the suspects had downloaded other child pornography as well. In some cases, the suspects had unsuccessfully attempted to destroy the video and images using various software programs.
"Do not assume that you can sufficiently shred digital computer evidence," Fuentes warned potential child porn collectors. "Those pieces of evidence can be reassembled."
Police completed their roundup of the 36 suspects during early morning raids yesterday. In what has become a common theme with many of these high-profile stings, several of the suspects turned out to be the well-known, respected members of their communities:
Pediatric neurosurgeon Ross B. Finesmith, 43, of Basking Ridge is a clinical instructor in the Department of Neurology at New York University Medical Center. He also has been paid by the Florham Park, Madison and Union Township boards of education as a neurological consultant to evaluate students in the past few years. Attempts to reach him were unsuccessful.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Patti, 36, of Sparta, who is married with two daughters, ages 2 and 6 months, is well-known in Sussex County, where news of the arrest stunned acquaintances. Patti and his father, Frank, are partners in a Sparta law firm, and he also serves as the municipal chairman of the Sussex County Republican Committee.
"Jeff vehemently denies the charges and looks forward to his day in court, and expects to be exonerated," Frank Patti said. "Jeff is a straight shooter -- a good father, a good parent, a good husband. Jeff had no pornographic materials in his possession, and he did not distribute to anyone."
Andrew R. Friedman, 27, of Morristown has been an assistant hockey coach with the Kinnelon High School hockey team in Morris County for two years, said Kinnelon Superintendent James Opiekun. He also participates in the local youth hockey program.
Opiekun said after he learned about the charges yesterday he immediately suspended Friedman from the program and banned him from having contact with the team. Friedman, a graphic artist, does not teach at the high school.
Staff writers Matthew J. Dowling, Jim Lockwood and Bill Swayze contributed to this report. |
