MISSOULA – The United States Attorney's Office for the District of Montana announces today the conclusion of an international operation that convicted twenty-one defendants of child pornography related crimes. These defendants were involved in the sexual exploitation of children via two international online bulletin boards where members advertised, distributed, viewed and received images depicting child pornography.
Operation Kingdom Conqueror was initiated in 2011. FBI agents and officers from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICACTF) received a tip regarding a potential child pornography suspect. In early 2012, the FBI obtained a search warrant for the residence of Paul Wencewicz in Polson, Montana. During their search, the agents discovered that Wencewicz was operating an online bulletin board where members advertised and traded sexually explicit images of young girls. The bulletin board was named Kingdom of Future Dreams (KOFD), and was created by Wencewicz in 2009. Between November 2009 and March 2012, Wencewicz and other members of the bulletin board sexually exploited hundreds of girls, both domestically and internationally, by trading images and videos of them.
Through their investigation, agents discovered that the KOFD bulletin board was housed on a server in the Isle of Jersey, one of the Channel Islands of the United Kingdom. Through cooperation with local police, state and federal agents were able to track down members of the bulletin board who resided in the United States and to obtain search warrants for their residences. Searches were conducted by federal officers in New Jersey, Maryland, Missouri, Indiana, Virginia, Washington, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Arizona, Texas, and California. The KOFD conspiracy identified thirteen defendants in the United States in addition to Wencewicz of Polson. Through their investigation of the KOFD defendants, agents learned that eight of the fourteen defendants were also members of a second child exploitation bulletin board called the Dark Moon, which involved a highly complex encryption scheme. Agents gained access to the board in April of 2013 and were able to identify additional members.
As a result of this investigation and prosecution, the following individuals have been convicted of Conspiracy to Advertise Child Pornography and sentenced as follows:
- Paul Wencewicz, age 49, Polson, Montana
Sentence – 220 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Scott Long, age 55, Portland, Oregon
Sentence – 200 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Steve Humiston, age 58, Tacoma, Washington
Sentence – 210 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $5,000 fine, $29,859 restitution
- Phillip Morris, age 43, Jeffersonville, Indiana
Sentence – 216 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Tony Bronson, age 55, Gary Indiana
Sentence – 224 months BOP, 10 years Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Jeffrey Woolley, age 55, Nicholasville, Kentucky
Sentence – 180 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Charles Crosby, age 45, Trenton, New Jersey
Sentence – 210 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- John Johnson, age 59, Locust Grove, Virginia
Sentence – 180 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Joseph Purificato, age 25, Mount Vernon, Missouri
Sentence – 180 months BOP, 10 years Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Ian Nosek, age 44, Charlottesville, Virginia
Sentence – 216 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Robert Krise, age 67, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Sentence – 180 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- John Merchberger, III, age 48, Dayton, Maine
Sentence – 220 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $5,000 fine
- Daniel Brown, age 27, Taylors, South Carolina
Sentence – 180 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release
- Marc Edoria age 24, Sacramento, California
Sentence – 180 months BOP, 10 years Supervised Release
- Tony Gustafson age 49, Hastings, Nebraska
Sentence – 200 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release
- Ryan Hatfield age 26, Mount Washington, Kentucky
Sentence – 180 months BOP, 10 years Supervised Release
- David Woods age 37, Corfu, New York
Sentence – 180 months BOP, 15 years Supervised Release
- Shawnston Beaudoin age 31, Kennesaw, Georgia
Sentence – 210 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release
The following defendants were convicted at trial of participating in a Child Exploitation Enterprise and Conspiracy to Advertise Child Pornography and were sentenced as follows:
- Joshua Petersen, age 45, Prescott, Arizona
Sentence – 220 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Steven Grovo, age 35, Shirley, Massachusetts
Sentence – 220 months BOP, Lifetime Supervised Release, $29,859 restitution
- Defendant Richard Pitts, age 28, from Cathedral City, California pled guilty to Conspiracy to Distribute Child Pornography and was sentenced to 84 months in the Bureau of Prisons and 15 years of supervised release.
The final defendant sentenced today as part of the operation in Missoula is Shawnston Beaudoin, 31, of Kennesaw, Georgia. Beaudoin pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge on September 30, 2015. If called upon to prove its case at trial, the United States was prepared to demonstrate that Beaudoin became an active member of Dark Moon in October of 2012. He remained an advanced member of the board until April of 2013. During that time he posted to the advanced member section of the board. His posts included URL hyperlinks and preview images of child pornography. He also requested child pornography from other members, and responded to and commented on other members’ postings. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen presided over the sentencing.
“The predators on these illicit websites glorified the sexual assault of little girls and encouraged each other to share images of this terrible abuse," said Assistant Attorney General Caldwell. "For the victim children, this trauma lasts the rest of their lives. Thanks to the great partnership among federal, state and local law enforcement, these criminals will be punished for their vile crimes and prevented from harming other children."
“This collaboration of federal and state law enforcement agencies demonstrates the power of the ICACTF and the concerted strength we can bring to bear against these types of child predators when we combine forces,” said Michael Cotter, U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana. “These operations succeeded in bringing to justice a group of dangerous and sadistic individuals, some of whom had committed prior sex offenses against children. As a result of the operations, one threat against Montana’s children—and children everywhere—has been dismantled. We will continue this successful collaboration and our efforts to protect our children and our communities into the future.”
Other federal agency Task Force partners expressed a similar commitment. “The FBI is dedicated to protecting the most innocent amongst us,” said Eric Barnhart, Special Agent in Charge. “We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners at home and abroad to identify, locate, and arrest individuals who prey on children and then attempt to hide their illegal activities behind a veil of technology.”
“Our special agents with Homeland Security Investigations have investigated child sexual exploitation cases for many years,” added David A. Thompson, special agent in charge of HSI Denver, which oversees Montana. “However, in collaborated efforts with other law enforcement agencies like this investigation we sometimes uncover networks and are ultimately able to apprehend many predators in our communities, and rescue many traumatized child victims. We appreciate the opportunity to continue such investigations to protect the most innocent and vulnerable members of our society.”
State law enforcement agencies were similarly committed to the successful conclusion of the operations. “Bringing closure to this massive investigation sends a message to the cyber child pornography criminals,” said Bryan Lockerby of the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. “There is no place to hide and no place where we can’t get you.”
Prosecutors for the United States are Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson along with Maureen C. Cain with the U.S. Department of Justice, Child Exploitation & Obscenity Section. The investigation is a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Department of Justice - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Montana Department of Criminal Investigations, the Helena Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
The Judgments in this case are the product of diligent work by the very dedicated and skilled professionals who were involved in Operation Kingdom Conqueror and Operation Moon Runner. Protection of the public is one of our primary missions in these cases. Children within the United States as well as around the world are safer because these boards have been taken down. As long as children continue to be sexually exploited through the use of the Internet and these bulletin boards, this office will remain committed to that mission,” concluded United States Attorney Cotter.