Arizona Man Sentenced to Seven Years in Prison for Participating in International Child Pornography Ring

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WASHINGTON—An Arizona man was sentencedtoday in Los Angeles to seven years in prison and 15 years of supervisedrelease for conspiracy to distribute child pornography, announced AssistantAttorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney AndréBirotte Jr. of the Central District of California, and Assistant Director in ChargeSteve Martinez of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Joseph Hines of Tempe, Arizona, wassentenced by U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips. In December 2010, Hines,24, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to solicit child pornography.
Today’s sentencing is the result of aninternational investigation into the “Lost Boy” online bulletin board. The LostBoy bulletin board, according to court documents and proceedings, was dedicatedto men who have a sexual interest in young boys and was established to providea forum to trade child pornography.
Federal authorities, working inconjunction with a coalition of international law enforcement agencies, shutdown the Lost Boy bulletin board approximately three years ago. As a result ofthe investigation, 16 named defendants were charged in the United States andarrested for their roles in the bulletin board. To date, 15 defendants,including Hines, have pleaded guilty or have been convicted at trial and onedefendant died in custody. Approximately six more men have been charged withchild molestation as a result of the investigation. The investigation also ledto the identification of 27 domestic victims of child abuse, some of whom wereportrayed in images posted to the Lost Boy bulletin board.
According to court documents andproceedings, law enforcement authorities discovered the Lost Boy bulletin boardafter receiving information from Eurojust, the judicial cooperation arm of theEuropean Union. Eurojust provided U.S. law enforcement with leads obtained fromNorwegian and Italian authorities indicating that a North Hollywood, Californiaman was communicating with an Italian national about child pornography and howto engage in child sex tourism in Romania. Acting on the information fromEurope, the FBI executed search warrants that led to the discovery of the LostBoy network. Further investigation revealed that Lost Boy had 35 members, 16 ofwhom were U.S. nationals. Other members of the network were located incountries around the world, including Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany,New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
According to court documents, Lost Boyhad a thorough vetting process for new members, who were required to post childpornography to join the organization. Once accepted, members were required tocontinue posting child pornography to remain in good standing and to avoidremoval from the board. According to court documents, Lost Boy members advisedeach other on techniques to evade detection by law enforcement, which includedusing screen names to mask identities and encrypting computer data.
International law enforcement effortsinvolving European law enforcement, the Brazilian Federal Police and otheragencies have identified child molestation suspects in South America, Europe,and New Zealand. Three suspects in Romania, one in France, and another inBrazil have been charged, and offenders have been convicted in Norway and theUnited Kingdom. Law enforcement efforts have also identified dozens of childvictims located in Norway, Romania, Brazil, and other nations.
The investigation into the Lost Boybulletin board was led by the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, inconjunction with the Los Angeles-based Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE)Team. The High Technology Investigative Unit of the Child Exploitation and ObscenitySection (CEOS) in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, along withEurojust, have provided invaluable assistance during the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted byAssistant U.S. Attorneys Joey L. Blanch and Yvonne Garcia of the CentralDistrict of California and CEOS Trial Attorney Andrew McCormack.