Federal Investigators informed on Tuesday that 14 men have been charged with operating one of the largest child pornography networks known.
According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the accused operated a subscription-based website that reportedly had more than 27,000 members. It operated between June 2012 and 2013.
"These alleged perpetrators preyed upon the most innocent and most vulnerable members of our society with no regard for the immediate and lasting harm they caused the victims and their families," U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said, according to Bloomberg.
Authorities said that Jonathan Johnson of Abita Springs, LA, was accused of being the mastermind of the racket. Johnson allegedly created fake female profiles on facebook to lure teenage boys into posting sexually explicit images and videos of themselves that were later shared on underground websites, reported Seattle Pi.
The other accused also followed the same modus operandi and the images were posted without the teenagers knowing. Authorities said that they found nearly 2,000 videos showing young boys aged between 3 and 17, in compromising positions, USA Today reported. Nearly 220 victims are from the U.S. while children have been tracked in Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada and New Zealand.
Speaking during the announcement on Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deputy Director Daniel Ragsdale said, "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," USA Today reported.
It further reported that court documents show the website also had tutorials to train members in ways to convince young boys to perform sexual acts before the camera.
Bloomberg said that Jonathan Johnson was arrested in June 2013 and charges came in a court information document that can be filed only when a plea deal has been negotiated. The federal court in New Orleans is expected to hear the plea argument on March 27 it said adding that the accused faces anywhere between 20 years to life in prison.
