An Ontario man who federal immigration agents say had amassed one of the largest collections of child pornography was arrested Friday and released on bail later that day by a federal judge.
Michael Peterson, who was arrested with seven other people as part of a child porn sting, was suspected of possessing more than 500,000 pictures and 7,500 videos depicting child porn, according to federal agents.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials called it one of the largest collections of child pornography ever found.
ICE agents arrested Peterson, 58, about 6 a.m. at his Ontario home on suspicion of possessing, receiving and distributing child pornography.
"The images and videos contained children, between the approximate ages of 18 months to 17 years old, posing nude or engaged in explicit sexual acts with other children, with adults or with children and adults," according to a criminal complaint filed against Peterson.
The arrests include four other local men, from Upland, Rancho Cucamonga, Colton and Mentone.
The case stemmed from an undercover investigation by Delaware-based Homeland Security agents, who were focusing on a peer-to-peer file sharing network.
In May, undercover agents connected with Peterson using the name "mikeytoo" on a peer-to-peer file sharing. In one day, the agents downloaded 57 images and five videos depicting minors engaging in sexually explicit activities and nude photos directly from mikeytoo's network, according to the criminal complaint.
Agents tracked the Internet protocol address to Peterson's home and raided his residence in July, seizing nine external hard drives, three laptop computers, two computer towers, one flash drive, a video camera and other electronic items.
During the search of Peterson's home, agents saw two laptops on a table, one of which was actively downloading child pornography through the peer-to-peer network under the username "mikeytoo," according to the complaint.
"The open laptop was later found to contain 44 images containing child pornography, and the hard drive attached to the computer was later found to contain more than 7,000 movie files and more than 300,000 images files containing child pornography," according to the complaint.
ICE Homeland Security Investigators and field agents said they have never seen a collection as big as Peterson's.
"I was absolutely flabbergasted," said Debra Parker, assistant special agent in charge for ICE Homeland Security Investigation in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. "I just cannot imagine a half-million images."
But law enforcement officials were not the only ones surprised by Peterson's alleged actions.
His neighbors in the 3100 block of Centurion Place also were shocked to hear what he was accused of, especially because there are so many children living in the area.
"It's pretty disturbing he could live quietly in your midst," said Scott Marx, who lives nearby. "There are kids playing in this neighborhood."
A married couple living two doors away from Peterson and his male partner said the men kept to themselves and didn't talk to anyone. They found out about the child pornography charges on Friday.
"This is so scary," said Israel Berber. "We have a 2-year old and a 7-year old and kids are always out here playing."
"They just don't look like the type to do something," Berber's wife, Hilda Garcia, said about Peterson and his partner. "It's a pretty safe neighborhood."
The male partner was not included in the arrests Friday.
Peterson, a pipefitter, was taken into custody after months of forensic analysis on the seized property.
"Before we can bring a case we have to establish the fact that they are in possession of and involved in illegal activity," said Virginia Kice, an ICE spokeswoman.
Establishing that a suspect is for a fact involved in illegal activity can be a timely process.
"It can take a significant period of time," Kice said.
Also arrested in the ring were David Christopher Jelaca, 37, a registered nurse from La Quinta; Alexander Scott Branson, 25, of Upland; Ronald Sousa, 67, of Cathedral City; Bolivar Arnoldo Guillen, 59, of Rancho Cucamonga; Ronald R. Jaenson, 66, of Colton; John Anthony Serrano, 37, of Barstow; and Anthony Starkweather, 20, of Mentone.
The eight defendants arrested Friday made their initial court appearances in the afternoon in United States District Court in Riverside. As of 8 p.m., four of them had seen the judge and were granted release with bail.
Federal prosecutors and defense lawyer Alan Eisner argued before Judge David T. Bristow for more than hour late Friday about whether Peterson should be detained or eligible for release in lieu of bail.
While Assistant United States Attorney Ami Sheth argued that the sheer volume of images made Peterson a danger to the community, Eisner said his client had no criminal history, no prior offenses, no passport and had been in a 20-year relationship with a life partner.
Peterson didn't commit any hands-on offenses, and there was no evidence of him luring victims or chatting online using sexual terms, his defense lawyer said. The defendant also didn't flee while he was out of custody during the five months between the agents' search in July and his court appearance Friday.
Bristow determined the defense had met the burden in arguing for release and ordered Peterson to home detention, with intense supervision, electronic monitoring and a number of other conditions.
Bail was set at $250,000 bail, and the judge said "significant resources" had been made available for Peterson's bail.
"This is a difficult case," Bristow said. "And it's difficult precisely because of the volume of images."
In a different case, the FBI arrested a ninth man this week on suspicion of possessing and distributing child porn. Enrique Garcia, 26, of Hemet, appeared in federal court in Riverside on Thursday and is free after posting bail. Garcia is scheduled to be arraigned in Los Angeles on Monday.
The cases are part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood, which targets people who exploit children through the Internet.
"Every time these illegal images are produced, transmitted or viewed, a child is victimized," Parker said. "We owe it to the young victims in these cases to pursue the offenders aggressively, since many of the children who are sexually exploited by those who produce child pornography will bear the emotional scars for rest of their lives.
Friday, December 2, 2011
ICE busts child porn ring
10:32 PM
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