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International porn case leads to Georgia
allen griggs
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International porn case leads to Georgia
Violent images: A girl who is believed to be the victim in a digital video series is being protected by authorities.
By Mark Davis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/18/08
Federal officials Tuesday announced the arrest of a 38-year-old LaFayette man on charges of manufacturing child pornography and uploading it on the Internet -- the so-called "Tara" series, an escalating record of violence allegedly recorded in hotels, cars and the man's home.
James Bartholomew "Bart" Huskey appeared in federal court in Atlanta on a criminal complaint that he created child pornography and shared it on the Internet with an international, secretive group. The investigation, officials said, began two years ago in Australia and wound up in North Georgia's Walker County, not far from the Tennessee line. LaFayette is the county seat.
When federal and local police arrested him Monday night at his home, officials said, Huskey confessed to it all -- the alleged assaults, the threats, the online videos showing a child at the mercy of someone much larger than she.
Huskey, who stands about 6 feet 1 and weighs roughly 250 pounds, said little as he sat before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield. He wore a blue T-shirt atop a baggy pair of gym shorts. His hair hung in his face. Huskey's ears reddened when Scofield asked him if he understood the charges against him.
The abuse began, said David Nahmias, U.S. attorney for Northern District of Georgia, when the child was 5. She's 9 now.
"It became a worldwide manhunt" for the man in the videos, he said.
According to affidavits from the FBI, federal officials began their search in June 2006. Investigators in Brisbane, Australia, told them their probe into a shadowy group of porn aficionados indicated that the leader might live in the United States.
The group, officials learned, used sophisticated, encrypted communications to dodge police. Those ruses failed, according to documents, when police arrested a porn suspect in an unrelated case.
The defendant told federal agents about the "Tara" series, the purported name of the girl in the videos. Agents began watching the assaults on "Tara."
The man's face was pixelated, meaning computerized graphics scrambled his features. But the rest of the images were brutally clear. A November installment showed the man holding a large knife against the girl.
"They [online recordings] got progressively more disturbing over time," Nahmias said.
One recording, taken in a car, prompted agents to show the images of the interior to an unidentified representative of a car dealership, who said the interior looked like one in a 2003-2005 Pontiac Aztek.
They also checked mass-produced art they saw in a video shot in a hotel room. Their queries led them to a hotel in Carrollton, west of Atlanta. The recording, they noted, bore a date: July 21, 2007.
Agents visited the hotel and asked about who registered on July 21. One of the guests, according to records: Huskey.
Agents also learned that Sherri Ann Huskey, whose relationship to Huskey the documents do not explain, shared an address with the suspect. She also had a 2005 Pontiac Aztek.
When agents knocked on his door Monday night, Nahmias said, Huskey didn't struggle, didn't protest. He will remain in federal custody at least until Monday, when officials will present a motion for detention.
The girl, Nahmias said, is in custody, and has identified her assailant.
Federal officials say they aren't through investigating what happened to "Tara."
Violent images: A girl who is believed to be the victim in a digital video series is being protected by authorities.
By Mark Davis
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/18/08
Federal officials Tuesday announced the arrest of a 38-year-old LaFayette man on charges of manufacturing child pornography and uploading it on the Internet -- the so-called "Tara" series, an escalating record of violence allegedly recorded in hotels, cars and the man's home.
James Bartholomew "Bart" Huskey appeared in federal court in Atlanta on a criminal complaint that he created child pornography and shared it on the Internet with an international, secretive group. The investigation, officials said, began two years ago in Australia and wound up in North Georgia's Walker County, not far from the Tennessee line. LaFayette is the county seat.
When federal and local police arrested him Monday night at his home, officials said, Huskey confessed to it all -- the alleged assaults, the threats, the online videos showing a child at the mercy of someone much larger than she.
Huskey, who stands about 6 feet 1 and weighs roughly 250 pounds, said little as he sat before U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Clayton Scofield. He wore a blue T-shirt atop a baggy pair of gym shorts. His hair hung in his face. Huskey's ears reddened when Scofield asked him if he understood the charges against him.
The abuse began, said David Nahmias, U.S. attorney for Northern District of Georgia, when the child was 5. She's 9 now.
"It became a worldwide manhunt" for the man in the videos, he said.
According to affidavits from the FBI, federal officials began their search in June 2006. Investigators in Brisbane, Australia, told them their probe into a shadowy group of porn aficionados indicated that the leader might live in the United States.
The group, officials learned, used sophisticated, encrypted communications to dodge police. Those ruses failed, according to documents, when police arrested a porn suspect in an unrelated case.
The defendant told federal agents about the "Tara" series, the purported name of the girl in the videos. Agents began watching the assaults on "Tara."
The man's face was pixelated, meaning computerized graphics scrambled his features. But the rest of the images were brutally clear. A November installment showed the man holding a large knife against the girl.
"They [online recordings] got progressively more disturbing over time," Nahmias said.
One recording, taken in a car, prompted agents to show the images of the interior to an unidentified representative of a car dealership, who said the interior looked like one in a 2003-2005 Pontiac Aztek.
They also checked mass-produced art they saw in a video shot in a hotel room. Their queries led them to a hotel in Carrollton, west of Atlanta. The recording, they noted, bore a date: July 21, 2007.
Agents visited the hotel and asked about who registered on July 21. One of the guests, according to records: Huskey.
Agents also learned that Sherri Ann Huskey, whose relationship to Huskey the documents do not explain, shared an address with the suspect. She also had a 2005 Pontiac Aztek.
When agents knocked on his door Monday night, Nahmias said, Huskey didn't struggle, didn't protest. He will remain in federal custody at least until Monday, when officials will present a motion for detention.
The girl, Nahmias said, is in custody, and has identified her assailant.
Federal officials say they aren't through investigating what happened to "Tara."