2 Florida Men Accused In Worldwide Kiddie-Porn Bust

WASHINGTON, DC — Two Florida men are among 337 people that have been arrested in what U.S. federal prosecutors described as the worldwide takedown of the largest darknet child pornography website. Users used bitcoin to pay for graphic pornography involving children.

“Through the sophisticated tracing of bitcoin transactions, IRS-CI special agents were able to determine the location of the darknet server, identify the administrator of the website and ultimately track down the website server’s physical location in South Korea,” said IRS-CI Chief Don Fort.

Thirty-eight-year-old Jack R. Dove III, of Lakeland was arrested for knowingly receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct while 39-year-old Michael Matthew White of Miami Beach was arrested for coercion and enticement.

The now shuttered website was called Welcome To Video and boasted more than one million downloads of child exploitation videos by users.

The Florida men are two of at least 36 people arrested in the United States, some of whom have already gone through the court system. Other defendants have been arrested in the United Kingdom, South Korea, Germany, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic, Canada, Ireland, Spain, Brazil and Australia, according to federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C.

Prosecutors said at least 23 children have been rescued in the United States, Spain and the United Kingdom. They were being "actively abused" by users of the site.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is reviewing more than 250,000 unique videos, 45 percent of which contain new images that had not been previously been known to exist, according to prosecutors.

The darknet is hosted within an encrypted network that can be accessed only through specialized anonymity-providing tools, including the Tor Browser.

Twenty-three-year-old Jong Woo Son of South Korea, who operated Welcome To Video, was also indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. His site was described as the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content.

Son was previously convicted in South Korea and is serving a sentence in that country, according to federal prosecutors.

In addition to Florida, arrests were made in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington State.

Prosecutors said two people committed suicide after law enforcement agencies executed search warrants.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu in Washington, D.C.; Chief Don Fort of IRS Criminal Investigation and Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations announced the operation.

"Children around the world are safer because of the actions taken by U.S. and foreign law enforcement to prosecute this case and recover funds for victims,” Liu said.