One of the Largest Child Porn Rings in U.S. History Has Been Shut Down

Fourteen men were charged with operating a child porn website with over 27,000 subscribers, the Department of Homeland Security announced today.

Fourteen men were charged with operating a child porn website with over 27,000 subscribers, the Department of Homeland Security announced today.

Over 250 children, mostly boys aged 13-15 (though there were some who were under the age of three), were victims of the ring, which was shut down in June 2013 when its alleged leaders were arrested.

"Never before in the history of this agency have we identified and located this many minor victims in the course of a single child exploitation investigation," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale.

The site was in operation for only a year. Victims came from 39 states and six countries, and most were tricked into sharing sexually explicit images. Men would pose as girls and connect with the boys on social media sites, then coerce them to perform sexual acts on their webcams. The site had tips on how to do this and upload the images without being caught by law enforcement. Ragsdale encouraged parents to educate their children to prevent this from happening again.

It was only after someone sent something to a child via snail mail that the ring was discovered; the website escaped detection by operating on Tor.

Jonathan Johnson, 27, is accused of being the leader of the ring. He's been in jail since his arrest last June and faces 20 years to life in prison. One of the 14 men arrested has already been sentenced to two 30 year terms, to be served concurrently. Another was a prominent immigration reform activist who was on the cover of Time in 2012 . Hundreds of the site's subscribers are being investigated as well, so more arrests are probably still to come.