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Garwood, Jersey City Men Charged In Takedown Of Global Child Porn Network

A South Korean man was indicted by a Washington, D.C. grand jury for running a child pornography site described as the largest of its kind and used by people across the globe, including at least two men from New Jersey, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey said Wednesday. 

A massive online child pornography site had users around the world, including in New Jersey, authorities said

A massive online child pornography site had users around the world, including in New Jersey, authorities said

 Photo Credit: File
Paul Milo
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Jong Woo Son, 23, is already imprisoned in South Korea for operating Welcome To Video, which was used by people in several U.S. states as well as Ireland, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and other countries. The site hosted at least 250,000 images and videos, according to authorities. 

Among the numerous Americans charged in the sweep is Andrew C. Chu, 28, of Garwood, who was arrested and charged with receipt of child pornography. Those charges remain pending. 

Also charged was Nader Hamdi Ahmed, 29 of Jersey City, who was charged with sexual exploitation or other abuse of children. He pleaded guilty to an information charging him with one count of distribution of child pornography and was sentenced Oct. 1 to 78 months in prison. 

“Darknet sites that profit from the sexual exploitation of children are among the most vile and reprehensible forms of criminal behavior,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This Administration will not allow child predators to use lawless online spaces as a shield. Today’s announcement demonstrates that the Department of Justice remains firmly committed to working closely with our partners in South Korea and around the world to rescue child victims and bring to justice the perpetrators of these abhorrent crimes.”

Authorities say the site utilized the virtual currency bitcoin to conceal the location of the site's server in South Korea. 

“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. “This large-scale criminal enterprise that endangered the safety of children around the world is no more. Regardless of the illicit scheme, and whether the proceeds are virtual or tangible, we will continue to work with our federal and international partners to track down these disgusting organizations and bring them to justice.”

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