• DC pediatrician, 73, charged with possessing child porn

    View more videos at: http://nbcwashington.com.

    By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

    A Washington, D.C., pediatrician widely respected for treating children in the city's poorest neighborhoods for decades was arrested Wednesday and charged with downloading child pornography, according to federal court documents.

    The man, Dr. Robert Paul Dickey, 73, was charged with two federal counts of receiving and possessing visual depictions of minors "engaging in sexually explicit conduct."

    The doctor was even allegedly viewing a child porn site on his desktop computer when police and FBI agents showed up to search his home, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Washington.

    The complaint, which NBC News isn't publishing because of its sexually explicit nature, said Dickey acknowledged "that he visits child pornography sites, downloads child pornography and stores it on an external hard drive."

    For at least 44 years, Dickey was considered a pillar of the community, treating children in Washington's poor neighborhoods south of the Anacostia River. As long ago as 1973, he was recognized in a profile in The Washington Post for serving "as an old-fashioned small town doctor" for hundreds of impoverished children a week.

    NBC Washington: D.C. pediatrician charged with possession of child pornography

    Dickey was busted through a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children based on information provided by Microsoft Corp., the complaint said. It said that on April 3, an Outlook user uploaded approximately 14 pictures of child pornography from an account with the username "Robert Dickey."


    Investigators traced the computer's IP address to Dickey's home in Southeast Washington, the complaint said. It said they found explicit images of prepubescent girls in sex acts with adults on the hard drive.

    Dickey's grandsons, one of them 9 years old and the other an infant less than a year old, live with him in the same house, the complaint said. Their whereabouts weren't made public Wednesday.

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  • California man busted in grocery bathroom with porn, cocaine and small child

    By Andrew Rafferty, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A very eventful trip to a Safeway grocery store ended with a California man's arrest after police say they found him in a bathroom with porn, drugs, and a child.

    Police in El Cerrito, Calif. were responding to a shoplifting report early Sunday morning when alerted that a man had been spotted in the women's bathroom with a small child, a pornographic magazine and the heavy smell of smoke.

    The 32-year-old El Sobrante, Calif. man was found by police in the men's bathroom, where he admitted to having been in the women's bathroom where he smoked a marijuana cigarette laced with cocaine, according to the incident report. Officers determined the man was under the influence of a controlled substance and arrested him.

    The Californian also admitted to stealing a bottle of soda from the Safeway.

    A young girl originally discovered the drug and porn-filled binge when she entered the women's bathroom. The girl told her mother, who alerted store employees.

    Police just happened to already be on scene after responding to a complaint about a woman who had stolen batteries from the grocery store

    The whereabouts of the child with him are unknown, according to NBCBayArea.com.

    Police arrested the unidentified man on suspicion of theft, drug possession, possessing of drug paraphernalia and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

  • Typo puts porn link into Chicago schools' email letter to parents

    By NBCChicago.com

    Oops. Chicago Public School administrators were apologizing Thursday after a typo in a email to parents sent families to an erotic website.


    The message was supposed to direct parents to the Illinois Board of Education website, at ISBE.net. Instead, an errant "L" in the Web address ushered visitors to a "private invite-only space for women over 18."

    CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said the error was unintentional.

    "As soon as it was brought to our attention we sent out a letter with a corrected link, and apologized for any inconvenience it may have cause," she said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

    The owner of the erotic site told the Sun-Times she did get some new sign-ups from the unexpected surge in traffic.

  • Air Force searches out porn, other 'offensive' material on its bases

    The U.S. Air Force has released a report revealing hundreds of instances of pornography on its bases. The investigation was spurred by a female sergeant who risked her career by stepping forward. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.

    By Michael Isikoff, National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News

    A worldwide inspection of U.S. Air Force facilities uncovered more than 631 pornographic movies, videos, DVDs, posters, magazines and other material that were either stored on computer servers or displayed in common areas at bases, according to a report released Friday. The hunt also found 31,585  other instances of "unprofessional" and "offensive" material -- including some that was racially insensitive, it said.

    The  search and report come on the heels of allegations that sexual misconduct is rampant within the Air Force and mounting complaints from Congress and women's groups that the service has tolerated a "culture"  of disrespect for women. Other branches of the U.S. military have been the subject of similar complaints.  

    Maj. Joel Harper, an Air Force spokesman,  confirmed that criminal investigations have been launched into some of those responsible for the material and said that some personnel may be subject to possible court martials. All the pornography and offensive material has been either removed or destroyed, Harper said.

    The purpose of the inspection was "to send a message that this type of stuff is not acceptable in this day and age," Harper said. "Some of this was clearly inappropriate."

    Mattel

    The 'offensive' material seized at Air Force bases around the world ran the gamut from hard-core pornography to a 'Ken' doll clad only in swimming trunks.

    An especially high number of improper materials were found at the Air Education and Training Command in Texas, which includes Lackland Air Force Base, the report said.  More than 30 instructors there are already under investigation for sexual misconduct—including allegedly sexually assaulting trainees --  and the issue will be a subject of a hearing before the House Armed Services Committee next week. Among the material found at the command on common computer drives, according to the report, were 144 pornographic posters and graphics -- including some "glorifying suicide" and "racial" in nature -- and 13 videos at showing "sexual images" as well as "killings and torture." Another video removed from the command was entitled "Achmed the Dead Terrorist."

    Material found and removed at other bases included Maxim magazines "with scantily clad women in provocative poses"  and photos of a "clothed lady performing oral sex" and a "female in tank top with beer bottle between breasts," it said. Other less explicit material, deemed less serious but still inappropriate,  included a shirtless photo of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and a “Ken' Doll dressed only in swim trunks."

    The worldwide inspection of all Air Force bases was ordered last month by Gen. Mark Welsh, the service’s Chief of Staff, who directed commanders to “document and remove as contraband” any material they deemed “unprofessional or inappropriate” – defined as “detrimental  to a professional working environment” as well as “lewd, obscene or pornographic images or publications.” Harper said it was up to individual commanders to determine what constituted “inappropriate” materials.

    Welsh acted after Jennifer Smith, a technical sergeant at Shaw Air Force Base, filed an administrative complaint alleging "systemic and intentional sexual discrimination" against women in the Air Force. Smith, a 17 year veteran of the Air Force, told NBC News that she found highly offensive and "disgusting" pornography stored on computer servers and in songbooks at the base -- as well as some that she said were stored in classified vaults.  

    "I have served just as long and just as hard as any male has and for them to put that type of pornography out there was degrading," she said.  

    As the numbers  of women serving in the military has increased over the years, it has led to mounting complaints of rapes, sexual assaults and other misconduct. The Pentagon estimated that there had been as many as 19,000 sexual assaults against members of the military in 2011, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vowed  vigorous action to attack the problem. 

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  • Major porn producer sues to block Los Angeles condom law

    A major adult filmmaker sued to block a new Los Angeles County law requiring porn actors to wear condoms, calling it a threat to free expression.

    Vivid Entertainment contends that Measure B, passed by county voters last fall, violates the First Amendment right to free speech and expression and is unnecessary because the adult industry already has safeguards, such as regular blood testing of actors, to prevent the spread of AIDS and other venereal diseases.

    The suit, filed Thursday in federal court, also contends that the law is vague, burdensome and ineffective and is pre-empted by California laws and regulations. It asks the court to block the measure's enforcement and to rule it unconstitutional.

    County counsel declined comment Friday, saying they had just begun a review of the case.

    The measure requires adult film producers to apply for a permit from the county Department of Public Health to shoot sex scenes. Permit fees will finance periodic inspections of film sets to enforce compliance.

    However, public health authorities have not announced specific enforcement measures for the law.

    The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which sponsored the initiative, said the measure will help safeguard the public, as well as porn workers, from sexually transmitted infections.

    Adult film actors rallied to oppose the law before its November passage.


    "The idea of allowing a government employee to come and examine our genitalia while we're on set is atrocious," sex film star Amber Lynn told the Los Angeles Daily News at the time.

    Industry critics also said that fans don't want to see actors using condoms. They contend that if the law is enforced, the 200 or so companies that now produce adult films in Los Angeles, primarily in the San Fernando Valley, will simply move elsewhere, taking with them as many as 10,000 jobs.

    "Overturning this law is something I feel very passionate about. I believe the industry's current testing system works well," Steven Hirsch, Vivid's founder and co-chairman, said in a statement. "Since 2004 over 300,000 explicit scenes have been filmed with zero HIV transmission. The new law makes no sense and it imposes a government licensing regime on making films that are protected by the Constitution."

    The law also will have "have vast unintended consequences which may undermine industry efforts to protect the health of our actors and actresses," Hirsch said.

    Califa Productions, which produces adult films for Vivid, and actors who uses the stage names Kayden Kross and Logan Pierce, joined the suit, which names the county, its district attorney and public health director.

    The Associated Press

  • Dad busted for fake porn profile of kid's principal

    Maricopa County Sheriff's Office

    Robert Dale Esparza Jr.

    By Helen A.S. Popkin

    When he finally confessed to creating a fake porn profile for his son's assistant principal, Robert Dale Esparza Jr. of Gilbert, Arizona, "sort of laughed," said Dennis Ogorchock, a detective with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Computer Crimes Unit. But soon, Esparza may be laughing from a jail cell.

    Last year, Esparza created the profile of Frank Hendricsen, assistant principal of Gateway Pointe Elementary School, where his son attended, using the faculty member's full name and photos as a revenge prank, the detective told msnbc.com in a phone interview.  

    Esparza, 34, believed his son's story — that Hendricsen confiscated the boy's iPod and wouldn't give it back, so the father lashed out on the Internet. Sure, he was angry when he first built the profile, but Ogorchock says Esparza "thought (the porn profile) was going to be funny and everyone would get a kick out of it."

    When first confronted by the officer, Esparza even tried to claim his son made the porn profile. Given the sophisticated sexual content however — 13-year-old kids don't talk about "swingers" — not to mention the complete lack of grammatical errors, the detective wasn't buying it.

    Now, a year after the May 2011 investigation into the fake porn profile and a recent week-long trial, a jury convicted Esparza of computer fraud and identity theft, two felonies for which he may face jail time when he's sentenced June 5. (Msnbc.com has been unable to reach Esparza or Hendricsen for comment.)

    "The victim is pretty shaken up about the whole ordeal," Ogorchock said. "His reputation, everything he had worked for his whole career was on the line." The detective said Hendricsen learned about the fake profile on porn website xHamster from a prospective employer who Googled Hendricsen's name after a job interview for a principal position at another school. That's when Hendricsen contacted the sheriff's department.

    The profile Esparza posted on xHamster — a video-sharing and online community porn hub — included Hendricsen's full name, photos of both the assistant principal and his wife scraped, or copied, from the Gateway Pointe Elementary School website, and described the couple as "swingers" looking to play.

    For further humiliation, Esparza included four photos of male genitals (scraped from Craiglist personal ads, but identified as Hendricsen's), and more than a dozen "favorited" videos on the porn hub, all deliberately chosen by Esparza for their naughty school girl themes. 

    And to ensure the incriminating content would be among the first results for anyone who Googled Hendricsen's name, Esparza accessed the profile at least 25 times, Ogorchock said, communicating with other xHamster members and using the profile in the casual encounters section of Craigslist.

    The reputation bomb worked so well, the detective quickly tracked down Esparza via the IP address provided by the happy-to-help xHamster webmasters, who also removed the fake profile after Hendricsen contacted the site.

    The Internet trail led to a computer which belonged to Esparza's employer — Safeguard, a locally owned, home-security company (where, the Arizona Republic reports, Esparza no longer works). Ogorchock connected Esparza to Hendricsen via the police report the angry father filed against the assistant principal for allegedly taking his son's iPod, an accusation that was never proven.

    That led to a warrant and search on Esparza's work laptop, which revealed visits to xHamster, Craigslist, the school website where he scraped the photos, and the Google Gmail account he created using Hendricsen's name. Despite the evidence and the confession, Esparza turned down probation and went to trial, which Ogorchock thinks Esparza did, hoping the jury would be sympathetic to him. Now he'll be lucky if he avoids jail time.

    Even as bemused as Ogorchock is by this convoluted tale of iPod-inspired anger, he gets that in the end, it's no laughing matter.

    "People who think these kinds of pranks are funny don't really understand how the Internet works," he said. "In this case, who knows what's been done with the information (on the fake profile) before it was taken down, who's seen it and how many copies are out there? Once something's posted on the Internet, it's out there forever."

    Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet privacy. Tell her to get a real job on  Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.

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  • Porn actress pleads guilty in slaying of tattoo parlor owner after sex party

    By msnbc.com staff and news services

    Amanda Logue and her boyfriend, Jason Andrews, are charged in the death Dennis

    NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. – A porn actress accused with her lover of killing a tattoo parlor owner after a sex party pleaded guilty on Monday to a reduced charge that will get her 40 years in prison.


    The Tampa Bay Times reports that Amanda Logue, 30, entered the plea in Pasco County. Logue, who performed in adult films under the name Sunny Dae, was originally charged with first-degree murder but was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in a plea deal, according to the newspaper.

    Dennis “Scooter” Abrahamsen of Tampa was found stabbed and bludgeoned to death on a massage table in his New Port Richey home in May 2010. Court records show that Logue had been paid to attend a sex party Abrahamsen hosted at his home the night before he was killed.

    Florida investigators say Logue and her boyfriend, Jason Andrews, traded dozens of text messages in May about their plans to kill the man before he was bludgeoned him to death with a sledgehammer.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

    Authorities said that while Logue was inside "servicing" the 41-year-old Abrahamsen, Andrews waited outside, waiting for word to attack, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

    "I'm so glad you're really commited (sic) to this take. Keep eyes for a knife, etc for me!" Andrews said in a text message to Logue, according to records obtained by the Tampa Bay Times.

    Logue texted back, saying she wanted to have sex with Andrews "after we kill" Abrahamsen, the Times reported.

    "Just get him on his face either bash or tell me to get in and where to go," Andrews texted, according to the Tampa Bay Tribune.

    Andrews, 28, pleaded guilty to a first-degree murder in January and agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Times reported.

    Logue is being held at the Pasco County Jail.

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  • Analyst: Teacher fired over porn acting has case for reinstatement

    Legal experts say she may have a case. KNBC's Gordon Tokumatsu reports.

    By Stephanie Miranda and Gordon Tokumatsu, NBCLosAngeles.com

    An Oxnard teacher fired for being in a pornographic video before she was hired is fighting back.

    Stacie Halas, 32, had taught science at Richard B Haydock Intermediate School since 2009, and prior to her employment she appeared in adult movies.

    School board trustees decided on Wednesday to fire Halas. She had been on paid administrative leave since her porn acting surfaced last month. Halas has 30 days to appeal the decision by requesting a hearing with an administrative law judge.

    See video, read the original report at NBCLosAngeles.com

    "She does have an argument," said Royal Oakes, NBC4 legal analyst.

    Oakes said Halas’ case is unusual, but her attorney, who did not return calls made by NBC4 news on Monday, may be building the case based on precedence outside the state.

    "The idea that the school should be policing your past is something that makes a lot of people uncomfortable," Oakes said.

    Sean Loftis is a substitute teacher in Miami Beach who starred in gay porn and, like Halas, he was fired based on the school’s code of ethics. After months of public discussion, the school board has cleared him to pursue his teaching certificate again.

    Oaks said Loftis’ case will likely be cited as Halas works to defend her name and teaching record in Oxnard.

    "It can have a lot of heft if you have a very similar case in Florida where a teacher won and here there’s no real California law on the issue," Oaks said.

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  • New Jersey child porn sweep brings 27 arrests, authorities say

    By Brian Thompson, NBCNewYork.com

    More than two dozen people, including a township official, were arrested in a sweeping child porn investigation in New Jersey, officials said Tuesday.


    The 27 arrested include a public works director in Morristown. Most of the suspects were charged with possession of child pornography; two were charged with distribution.

    See the original story at NBCNewYork.com

    "These people who create the demand for these images allow this industry to exist," State Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa said.

    Officials say one of the men arrested lived in a home connected to a child-care facility.      

    Authorities say the investigation began in January. The first suspect was arrested March 1. Authorities say the 23-year-old man lived next to a child daycare center.

    Another suspect allegedly took pornographic photos while sexually assaulting a child, officials said. Yet another was downloading pornographic images when detectives got a search warrant.

    Detectives say they traced digital fingerprints from the images as they passed through cyberspace.

    The arrests took place in 20 New Jersey towns. It wasn't known if any of the suspects had lawyers.

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  • Indiana ISP owner charged with 'sextortion' of minors; hundreds of victims might have been targeted

    U.S. Justice Dept.

    Richard Leon Finkbiner

    By M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

    The owner of an Internet service provider in Indiana has been charged with blackmailing children into performing sexually explicit acts over webcams, authorities said Monday.

    Richard Leon Finkbiner, age 39, of Brazil, Ind., about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, was charged in a federal complaint last week with sexual exploitation of children. The allegations involve two 14-year-old boys, but the FBI said in court documents that it found thousands of sexually explicit images and videos on Finkbiner's computer that suggest "several hundred" other victims.

    Authorities said the "sextortion" scheme worked this way:

    Using the pseudonym "Josh Swaim," Finkbiner would befriend young boys on social media and capture sexually explicit video of them they had uploaded on what they thought was an anonymous video chat site, the complaint alleges.

    He would then tell them that if they didn't record more sexually explicit videos, he would release the clips online or send them to their friends, it says. 

    M. Alex Johnson

    M. Alex Johnson is a reporter for msnbc.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

    In both cases the government revealed Monday, the IP address of the computer being used was tracked back to Clay County Internet in Brazil. Indiana business records list it as an Internet service provider of which Finkbiner is owner and president.

    In the criminal complaint, Finkbiner is quoted as telling one victim that he was a hacker who knew how to remain anonymous, but the FBI makes it clear that he didn't, really.

    "Analysis of FINKBINER's computer and other digital media uncovered thousands of video files depicting hundreds of individuals on various states of undress or engaged in sexually explicit conduct," the FBI said in court documents. "Many, if not most, of these individuals appear to be between the ages of 14-16 years of age," it said.


    U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett told reporters that Finkbiner would threaten to "make these images available to people close to [the victims], which was designed to frighten them." 

    At various times, Hogsett alleged, Finkbiner threatened to out the children to their parents, friends, coaches or even pastors. The complaint adds that he also threatened to post some of the images to gay pornographic websites. 

    "Only I have this link," he allegedly wrote to one victim, asking: "You want to play this game or you want to be a gay porn star?"

    To another, he allegedly acknowledged, "yes it is illegal im ok with that," warning: "if u don't play I promise ill f*** ur life over...I won't get caught im a hacker I covered my tracks."

    The level of terror the alleged threats caused is chillingly revealed in the transcript of an email message one of the boys sent to Finkbiner's Hotmail address: 

    "All I ask you for is to delete it please im onlyh 14 please just to this to somebody else not me please."

    Finkbiner was held pending a probable cause hearing Wednesday in Terre Haute. If convicted, he could face 30 years in federal prison.

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  • Porn industry to Rick Santorum: Butt out

    Nick Ut / AP file

    Hustler magazine magnate Larry Flynt says there's no evidence porn is harmful.

    By James Eng, NBC News

    The porn industry has an X-rated reaction to Rick Santorum’s vow to crack down on pornography if he’s elected president: Butt out.

    Two giants in the industry contacted by msnbc.com scoff at the Republican presidential candidate's claims that porn is causing “a pandemic of harm” in America and contributing to violence against women.

    Nonsense, says Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.  Absolutely no proof, says Steven Hirsch, founder and co-chairman of Los Angeles-based Vivid Entertainment, one of the largest makers of erotic movies.


    Flynt notes that a 1969 commission set up by President Lyndon Johnson spent millions of dollars studying the impact of porn and concluded there was no evidence such materials were harmful.

    “You have guys like Santorum come along and they bring out the bogeyman every chance they get,” Flynt said. "You will be hard-pressed to find anyone that can point out to you a study that shows harm is caused to anyone exposed to porn materials."

    “I find it ironic that Republicans (like Santorum) are out there wanting less government and government intruding into our lives, but when it comes to moral issues they want government to legislate morality," says Hirsch. "It doesn’t work. It will never work.”

    Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator who is trying to woo social conservatives, says on his presidential campaign website that if elected he will hire an attorney general who will “vigorously” enforce federal obscenity laws curtailing distribution of hardcore porn.

    He also says that studies have shown porn causes brain changes in adults and children, and that every family should be concerned about its harmful effects.

    Santorum says he would enforce US obscenity laws that Obama ignores

    The little-discussed position paper made the Internet rounds after The Daily Caller published a column this week calling attention to it.

    Though Santorum rattles off a list of social harms that he says is caused by porn, he doesn’t specifically call for a ban on all porn in his website statement. Instead, he says, he’s most concerned about exposure to “hardcore” porn.

    “While the Obama Department of Justice seems to favor pornographers over children and families, that will change under a Santorum Administration,” he writes.

    Hirsch says a crackdown by the attorney general won’t work.

    “We’ve seen that before. John Ashcroft was that guy. Edwin Meese was that guy. They can prosecute but ultimately it’s juries that decide what is and isn’t obscene,” Hirsch says. “Over last 20 years there have been very, very few obscenity convictions.”

    Hirsch suggests making a deal with Santorum: “We will stay out of his church, and he will stay out of our bedrooms."

    Santorum says he backs the efforts of the War on Illegal Pornography coalition, which is lobbying Congress, 2012 political candidates and the government to crack down on what it describes as "the growing amount of hardcore pornography available in America."

    Santorum isn’t the first presidential candidate to vow to target porn.

    Former GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann went further than Santorum. She signed a pledge vowing to support a constitutional amendment to ban all pornography and same-sex marriage. 

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  • Brooklyn teacher's aide arrested on sex abuse charges

    By Jonathan Dienst and Shimon Prokupecz, NBCNewYork.com

    A teacher's aide in Brooklyn who was arrested last month on charges of distributing child pornography has been arrested by the FBI again for allegedly sexually abusing children in the school where he worked, NBC New York has learned.

    Taleek Brooks was a teacher's aide at PS 243 in Crown Heights.

    After his first arrest, FBI officials said they searched Brooks' home. Officials said they discovered videos that allegedly showed him in the school molesting children.

    Last month, Brooks was arrested for allegedly possessing and distributing more than 1,000 images of child pornography. 

    Read original story on NBCNewYork.com

    Prosecutors did not immediately say how many children in the school may have been affected. The videos allegedly show children being spanked and having their private areas touched, officials said.

    A spokesman for U.S. attorney Loretta Lynch said Brooks is expected to be in Brooklyn federal court later Tuesday on the child abuse-related charges. 

    An attempt to reach Brooks' attorney for comment was not immediately successful.

    Investigators are looking to see if there are any additional victims.  Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 212-384-5000.

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