E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSView more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.
Five solid tips from people who told authorities that distinctive tattoos helped them recognize a woman seen in photos released Thursday as part of a child molestation investigation led to an arrest in an 11-year-old case involving "widely circulated" child pornography images.
Letha Mae Montemayor, 52, was taken into custody Thursday night outside an apartment complex in North Hills in the San Fernando Valley.
Authorities said they believe the woman is the individual -- identified as "Jane Doe" in a criminal complaint filed Monday -- who appears with an unidentified male in a series of photographs released Thursday afternoon as investigators hunted for leads in the child pornography case.
"Just after ICE’s nationwide plea for public assistance, five separate community tips led to the arrest of Jane Doe," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director John Morton. "This arrest would not have happened without the public’s help, and it demonstrates how much individual citizens can do to help law enforcement attack crime."
Also on NBCLosAngeles.com: Second suspect arrested in child porn case, ICE says
An appearance in federal court for Montemayor, charged with one count of making child pornography, was scheduled for Monday.
A neighbor of Montemayor's who did not want to be identified said the suspect was a "hoarder" who "did not take care of her body well" and was "rude to all the children."
About 10 hours before her arrest, Morton and other law enforcement agents conducted a news conference regarding "Operation Sunflower," a recently concluded child sex crimes investigation that led to more than 240 arrests. During the news conference, authorities released images of a man and tattooed woman wanted in connection with a child molestation case authorities said occurred about 11 years ago, possibly in Los Angeles.
"The (tipsters) said they recognized the face, the tattoos," said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Claude Arnold.
"They were very confident that it was she. We expect that it would be more difficult because they were older images, but we were optimistic because they were good images."
ice.gov
These images released by federal authorities as part of a child porn investigation led to the arrest of a woman in Los Angeles.
The woman's tattoos -- a sleeping cat, butterfly and other designs -- are visible in the photographs released Thursday.
123 child victims of Internet sex abuse identified, US officials say
But other clues in the background of the images, discovered by Chicago Homeland Security agents in 2007 and passed along to LA agents, prompted investigators to focus on locations in the San Fernando Valley. Forensics analysis of the images, conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, revealed details in the pictures, such as close-ups of the tattoos, a calendar from a store and a phonebook.
The criminal complaint alleges that "Jane Doe," now identified as Montemayor, was involved in the production of child pornography images that were "widely circulated" online. The images depict the sexual molestation of a girl, who appears to be about age 13, according to ICE.
Authorities have not identified the victim or male subject.
"We still want the public’s help in identifying John Doe and the victim in the disturbing series of images that continue to be circulated on the Internet," said U.S. Attorney André Birotte.
Call 866-347-2423 or visit this tips form to provide information. Click here to view the ICE wanted poster.
Leave a Comment:
Let us hope that some lawyer does not get her off on a technicality and that she spends the rest of her days in this world in prison and then burns in hell.
Lets hope. Life or death, nothing less.
I just hope she burns real quick.
She needs to be in JAIL for life.
Tattoos are good for something then.
I hope she spends the rest of her disgusting life in a cage, along with all the other perverts.
Hey, I'm down for a lynching as much as the rest of you rubes, but do you think we can have a trial and a conviction first before you get your filet knives, pitch-forks and torches ready?
It's like prison rules here on "the Vine", even the worst douche-bag can get all high and mighty over a "alleged" kiddy-porner! Let's at least "pretend" to go through the motions, shall we?
Lord, what are you doing on here? People who want to use logic are supposed to be on the technology sites.
Authorities...PLEASE go by the book! Don't screw this up...there are at least 10 lawyers out there trying to find a loophole for their 15 minutes of fame.
Now...as for the jail time...make it LONG and HARD. No TV, no computers, no phone calls, no exercise rooms only book available...the bible. Lots of hard work, laundry, MOPPING floors, doing dishes by hand, cleaning ovens, ranges, refrigerators. Why are we taxpayers paying people to do this when criminals can be doing them?
That is a meth-POS if ever I saw one. You just know at the bottom of this is dope, further exploitation beyond the single charge, and a whole lot of other ugliness. WTF peeps, 2013 isn't kicking off so good with this news (albeit carry over from the past decade) and another Aurora shooting.
PS-
There is a special place in hell for the producers and consumers of child porn. It's unfathomable how a grown a$$ man could get off on this and a grown @$$ woman participate in the exploiting of kids, no matter how messed up they are.
Trash.
OK! I applaud the arrest of this "woman" but now I have a question. If they can arrest this woman for a crime that happened 11 years ago involving child molestation, why then? In florida, in the case of the boys home that they are finding all those unmarked graves, when the molested inmates recently tried to sue the state, the state said the statute of limitations had run out so they dismissed the case?
It seems the state likes to pick and choose when to use the statute for their own well being. Dont get me wrong, I do want this woman prosecuted and jailed, I would just also like the state to be held accountable when they break the same laws or otherwise enable someone else to break them!
They say that they're still looking for the dude but then they blur his face. Seems to me if they truly wanted to find him, they would actually show his face. Maybe we could help.
Uuugly b*tch!
Just taking note that when a gun is used to kill someone people are saying get rid of guns, but the same rule does not apply when people are creating, selling and viewing child porn you don't hear ANYONE saying lets get rid of porn! I'm not for getting rid of either if you didn't catch that part but I usually see these lopsided views as strange! I hope she pays dearly and the child is safe!
In one case your dealing with the statute of limitations for child sex abuse (a felony crime) and the other your dealing with the statute of limitations on bringing a civil suit angainst a party. Obviously the felony crime has a much longer statute of limitations.
Child porn is already illegal so no need to ban it. Are you really suggesting there is some logical connection between porn created by and featuring concenting adults and child porn? So I don't see where the views are in any way lop sided.
Porn doesn't kill. Guns do.
What do you want to bet this woman already reads the bible? How is that going to help her? Is there anything in the bible that prohibits pornography? Is 'thou shalt not abuse children' one of the commandments?
Let's get real here! There are plenty of evil, twisted bible-thumpers in every town in America. What she needs is a psychiatrist, not a bible.
Reading the bible might just make her worse.
onlyyoucanchangethelaws, one probable reason why Montemayor was still prosecuted is because the article implies that the porn was being distributed across state lines. The Florida boy's home crimes probably never went over state lines, though I too still think prosecutions should have been pursued.
@kaybeetoys
I agree most of the fk up creepo's in this country are Bible thumpers. The last thing this country needs are these wack jobs.
@Morpheus: I totally agree with you that drug addiction is at the root of this horrible crime, particularly for this vile woman. It is very unusual for a woman to be involved with the sexual abuse of a child. She was most likely doing it as a way to fund her addiction. That being said, there is no excuse for her actions. There are millions of drug addicts, both men and women, who wouldn't consider harming a child in this way.
@Kaybeetoys and grey32: Why does every blog have to turn into a Bible bashing event? They always deteriorate into a religious debate even if it has nothing to do with the topic.
Shayla, my comment was in response to Coco who believes that all this woman needs is a bible to turn her into a good person.
History shows it just doesn't work that way. In fact, it's all too often the religious nuts who do these evil things.
Did someone hit her in the face with a shovel?
I hope so. If they haven't somebody should.
Hitting her in the face with a shovel could only improve her looks. I would personally like to use a pick ax on her face first.
There is a lesson here if you are going to ever become a criminal never get tattooed....
Most criminals are stupid, thank goodness!
The better lesson is not to become a criminal in the first place.
What the hell is wrong with these people!
Those who feed off the innocence children in a society for their own self gratification, lusts and profit are the worst of humanities offspring in the gene pool of defective souls. Contributing to a plague of suffering, devastated lives, suicides, costs to taxpayers, ruined lives as well as broken relationships, and cycle of corruption upon any society in which they are allowed to exist.
The sooner they are caught and banished to little cells to rot away quietly,consumed by their own lusts without contaminating the world further, the more children will be spared and have a better chance at a normal childhood. If childrens families will do the right thing in providing loving support and healthy role models.
As responsible adults, we all must be on constant watch for any who might harm our most vulnerable little ones.For such predators hide in plain sight, including positions of highest trust, closest confidentiality and loving relationships least expected to harbor danger. Which is why so often people are shocked to learn of broken trust, their children fallen victims and how deep and far this filth has spread.
It knows no bounds, limits itself to no country, no race, sex nor peoples.Given an inch it will take a mile.Shatters its victims lives, objectifies as well dehumanizes them and strips all humanity, empathy, compassion and sensitivity from those engaging in it. Chained to a habit which is next to impossible to ever break.
Educating our children in ways to protect themselves can make an important difference. However, it must be reinforced throughout childhood.Since it still does not stop them from being victims, because the very young just don't have the capacity to understand.
Research has shown in multiple studies validating the efficiency of such education offered to children of different ages.Both before and after education programs designed to increase the awareness of stranger danger. The younger the children, the higher likelihood they were to fall victim to "pretend" predators partaking in the study.
Parents participating in these studies, watched their children play, while chatting with another person. Then a strangers approached each boy or girl, and tried to see if they could talk the child away from the group of children and play area. One after another, parents were shocked to see their child easily led away by the hand, because they had taught their child to not leave with strangers. The little ones simply can't comprehend the danger they face,because of their innate trust, until about age of eight or nine. More so if uniforms are involved, like police, fireman or badges are displayed. So practice drills can help children better then just talking about it, so they have physically, and visually created ideas, not just audio ones.
Those who make and sell kiddie porn are only half the problem. The other half is the buyer.
There must be a lot of sick people out there buying that crap who don't care at all what happens to those kids. That's nothing short of evil.
What many people fail to grasp is that it's most often family members or trusted family friends who are exploiting these kids...NOT STRANGERS.
One day the civilized world will wake up and take into account what the so called "uncivilized" world does and impliment very strong rules and penalties on this kind of behavior and some others like mass murder etc.
This is a clear example that 12 year old kids need to be packing automatic weapons. I can hear it now, "You can get your twisted sexual gratification after you pry this M11 9mm machine pistol from my cold dead hands!"
Not sure if you're trying to be funny here, but THAT is an idiotic idea...yeah let's arm 12 year olds, heck, let's arm them as soon as they can hold one up. That'll make us all safer...just like in Iraq, kids running around with their AK's. Because they are responsible enough to know when and who to shoot.
What? Aki, you don't think 12 year olds can handle automatic weapons? We're not talking about some muslim kids here, Aki. We're talking about good old red, white, and blue American kids. You need to surrender your NRA card, Aki.
I still am not sure why ICE was involved in this, but who cares?
240 (+1) dirtbags arrested? What great news!!!!!!!!!!!
If this is part of the same case I was reading about, ICE and Homeland Security, along with numerous overseas agencies were involved in identifying the child victims and the adults who they could seek to identify in the making of the child pornography. I think ICE was involved because some of those bringing children in were not legally supposed to be in the countries where the various pieces of the garbage were produced. It is a huge case, spanning several countries and quite a few years. I'm just glad they are identifying as many of the perpetrators as possible. They all deserve to rot in hell.
Montana,
I also read up on it, and found there were actually 4 people they are trying to identify. The also got another guy they had pictures of also!!
ice.gov/news/releases/1301/130104tucson.htm
Lawyers do not defend the persons actions, they defend the citizens rights under the loophold known as THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES !
Could somebody get this woman a proper fitting set of teeth?
Why bother?
I'd knock out what is left of them if I see her.
Yeah, why bother? She doesn't deserve any.
It was a rhetorical question everybody, just a commentary on the stupidity of not having a proper fitting set of teeth.
Do agree with all of you though. I bet that's some meth head teeth right there.
Lock em up and throw away the key. This is the worst kind of human being, no longer worthy of living free in society.
It's all disgusting, unnatural sexual perversion. What has this worl come to? Next thing you know it will be commonplace for dudes making out in public and boning each other in the a$$. Gross.
She looks like an old transient chick.
No class here. Just another slutty tattooed skank! Just take her out back and shoot her!
She's nasty and probably a prostitute, I hope she is locked up for a long time.
The reporter's name is Lolita, how bizarre is that?
She should be investigated.
Lolita is a regular on the news out here in LA.
It is ironic.
POS deserves to be branded. Ugly old broad anyway. Brand her face so other women know what she did. They will take care of her.
This is a good case for publishing pictures of perps' faces and other identifying characteristics.
Why was the man's face blacked out? How can he be identified if you can't see him?
The article doesn't make clear whether the photo we're looking at is related to the crime or is a photo taken of the woman at a different time. If it's the latter, then NBC doesn't want to show him because it could be considered defamatory, since some readers might interpret the photo to be of another perp when there's no assurance that he is.
It would have been a simple matter to put a very clear, brief, descriptive caption under the photo.
ice.gov/predator/suspect-alerts.htm
Ron, if they're afraid it could be considered defamatory, crop him out.
Rachel, isn't that functionally the same as what they've done?
stupid people are a blessing to law enforcement, hope she sies in prison
I hope she dies in prison too, but only after years of being raped, sodomized, and otherwise brutalized. Then send her on back to Hell.
@ bram: Why do you hate the Constitution?
Bram
You must be blind. I'm sorry for you.
If you had eyes you would realize rape is not in her future.
RonB - Don't be bringing up the Constitution about this POS. If it was your child she was making pornography with, the Constitution would be the last thing on your mind.
Lisa, I do believe that is why we don't generally have victims or their families act as judge, jury and executioner. Are you saying we've been doing it wrong all along? Who knew?
Scum!
Why the hell would you not show the face of the "unidentified man" in the photos? Do you want to find this piece of sh*t, or not? SHOW HIS FU**ING FACE, if you want help finding him! Morons!
for real!
His face was already blacked out from the original porn producer when it was originally made.
The guys face is blacked out because they were in the pictures that they have from the investigation. It was posted all over facebook.
ice.gov/news/releases/1301/130104tucson.htm
Demons are among us.
HOW IS GUN CONTROL GOING TO HELP THESE KIDS?
It is speculated that many of these missing children have been
sold on the human sex slave market that exist world wide.
Losing children is not something unique to New York City or the
District of
Columbia. The State of Illinois has managed to lose track of a number of
children in its care.[12]
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has also
managed to
lose track of the availability of its own foster homes, its system having been
described by the Chicago Tribune as: "a ludicrous tracking system
that
amounts to three-by-five file cards kept in piles by placement workers."[13]
The ubiquitous three-by-five index card would appear to be something
of an
industry fixture.
After a young boy was raped in a Massachusetts foster home, it
came to light
that Department of Social Services caseworkers and supervisors had apparently
managed to overlook a pattern of nine foster children having run away from the
home.
When asked how they could have overlooked such a pattern, DSS
Commissioner
Linda Carlisle said that with the Department's outdated computer system, there
is no way to check how many children have run away from any given home, adding:
"We have 3-by-5 index cards, manual records."[14]
But both the computer and the index cards were more than
sufficient for
department spokesperson Lorraine Carli just a few years earlier. After a
scathing legislative report revealing serious deficiencies in foster care
tracking was released, Carli said the agency had a good tracking system and
reviewed each placement every six months.
"We found that not to be the case," said Gloria Fox, a member
of the House
subcommittee on foster care, which released the report.
"Clearly, they're working on that," Fox said, but
"some people haven't seen
their social worker in years."[15]
Among the conclusions reached in the 306-page report:
court backlogs leave children's lives dangling from childhood to
adolescence; children shift from home to home in a pattern of "foster care
drift."
increasing numbers of children were entering foster care, DSS had
no reliable means for tracking the location of children in its care.
had, on several occasions, failed to qualify for federal
funding because it had not been in compliance with federal regulations.
shortage of foster homes in the state had resulted in many
children being placed in "marginal homes" only slightly better than
those from
which they were removed.
parents did not receive vital information about the children they
accepted, often resulting in less than adequate care.
minority children were entering the foster care system than ever
before, but because the system had few minority homes for them, they were being
placed outside their ethnic or racial groups.
"I feel we have condemned children to limbo," said
Representative Marie
Parente, one of four former foster children on the seven-member subcommittee.
"They are suffering silently."
Gerald W. Robinson, then the newly appointed Commissioner of the
Department,
took issue with several of the report's criticisms. He maintained that DSS did
have a reliable tracking system for its children, noting that confidentiality
requirements prevented the agency from furnishing the legislators with specific
information about children in its care.
He described the state's foster care system as
"excellent" and "one of the
best in the country," and said that though "all the problems the
report points
out have some validity, it just doesn't focus on the positive part of the
system."[16]
1911 – Government in Turkey disarmed its citizens, between
1915 – 1917 murdered 1.5 million Armenians.
1929 – Government in Russia disarmed its citizens, between 1929 – 1953 murdered
20 million Russians.
1935 – Government in China disarmed its citizens, between 1948 – 1952 murdered
20 million Chinese.
1938 – Government in Germany disarmed its citizens, between 1939 – 1945
murdered 16 million Jews, Hungarian Gypsies, Mentally disabled; physically
disabled…
1956 – Government in Cambodia disarmed its citizens, between 1975 – 1977
murdered 1 million educated people, identified as those wearing glasses.
1964 – Government in Guatemala disarmed its citizens, between 1964 – 1981 and
murdered 100,000 Mayan Indians.
1970 – Government in Uganda disarmed its citizens, between 1971 – 1979 and
murdered 300,000 Christians.
2013 – Government in the United States disarms its citizens, between 2013 –
2020 murdered .Men, “Women” and “Children”!?
How will this come to pass in America? By your own hands, these are Warnings from
the past.
History is repeating
itself in America as in described countries stated above. First came,
registration, confiscation then mass murder of the people by those that
demanded gun confiscation.
How did these other countries do it? They made it patriotic
to turn in your guns and turn in your neighbors that did not. Snitches because
it was patriotic to the state to turn your parents, neighbors and friends to
the OFFICIALS WITH THE GUNS!
Cali and New York are on a roll with nutjobs.
Am I the only one concerned by the fact that it is the customs and immigration people now enforcing kiddie porn laws?
The investigation is international so customs and immigration is involved. (It may be that some children are being trafficked abroad or vice versa.) I like it... it's more potential charges that can be filed against those taking advantage of children... since the punishment for strictly child abuse/pornography is no where near high enough, in my opinion. If they're moving children across international borders we will see some REAL consequences for a change.
They were looking for a US citizen. Previously their--according to them--"#1 Suspect" was a Florida woman. Florida is part of the US. She was born in the US. They arrested her when they finally found her.
Simply put, if they are focusing on stuff like this they are not doing their jobs. Their job is to keep illegal people and items out of the country, not focus on crimes committed by US citizens that have nothing to do with immigration or customs.
This is nothing more than grandstanding that really highlights they are not enforcing our border laws.
holly888 I wish real consequences for a change existed. Child trafficking over international boundaries, even both into and out of the U.S., has existed for decades. The media has traditionally played it down, and any of the public that was aware of it buried their heads in the sand.
In fact, it is the web that is changing and causing some real consequences, as the stories can no longer be avoided.
My thanks to all who worked on "Operation Sunflower," and related investigations.
Our tax monies were well used, and I wish the best for all of you in your future endeavors.
In the 90s my girlfriend had abad habit of opening every Email she got. Computer virus issues were a constant. One morning while checking her Yahoo Email she start screaming as if afraid. I ran to check and she told me she got a Yahoo email not addressed to her. It was a Yahoo between 2 guys with the same last (fake?) name. Her web address was not attached, but an internet quirk caused her to get a copy.
She told me a link to a child porn site was in the email. I was not convinced as that's a very dangerous way to transfer a felony link. I laughed and said it was a poen site with 18-20 year old babyface gals dressed to look very young. When I looked at her, she has a very pale complexion and tears were running. She whispered the homepage a BABIES on it. She ;left and I opened the link. I almost vomited.
Within minutes I was at the local police station showing she had NO COMMUNICATION with the perverts involved. The officer laughed as I did and talked about legal young looking gals. He said if it WAS child porn, a Tarrant County assistant D.A worked with the FBI on that type crime. I was standing to leave and got eye to eye with the cop and told him little kids missing baby teeth was hard to fake. As I passed the door to leave, I told him to keep a trashcan handy as the homepage is the most vile, perverted, and vicious thing he could ever imagine. I was almost to the door at the end of the hall when I heard him yell.
A little over 2 years later, it was announced the world's biggest child porn ring had just been busted. Doctors, attorneys, military officers, teachers, elected officials, etc. were busted worldwide. I believe over 400 folks in 27 countries were jailed. I heard one report that mad me smile - the porn ring was based out of a YAHOO chat room. I hope the women as well as the men were tortured and gang raped before they were killed vis prison justice.
I'd give a couple months of pay to be locked in the same room for 20 minutes with the perverts that sent that original Email. They would live, but totally dependent on care. With every loint turned backwards, they couldn't even have a bowel movement without someone to clean them.
Perverts ROT IN HELL. Bless the innocent children.
Death,give this Pig the death penalty.Of course we can't do that,but I'd see to it the rest of her natural life is Livin Hell...
these "people" are fricken animals! sad for the kiddos, how did they get caught up with the pervs I wonder???
She looks like Hell already
That photo looks like tubifex worms, especially from the North Carolina sewer.
I wonder if we'll ever evolve beyond caveman mentality. I am NOT making any excuses for this woman, but I'd bet she was sexually abused from early childhood. She looks to be beat up and used up, and likely doesn't know any better. However, she should still be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I agree that she has probably had a rough life, but I don't know if it's likely she didn't know any better.
This one obviously guilty, but I am going to need 100+ word articles one the rest before I past judgement on them.