Feds: Pueblo Man Part Of Group Dedicated To Child Sex Abuse
The U.S. Justice Dept. said hundreds of people have been linked to an international network dedicated to child sex abuse and distributing kiddie porn, including a Pueblo man. On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney General announced the unsealing of three federal indictments after a two-year investigation.
“Members traded graphic images and videos of adults molesting children 12 years old and under, often violently, and collectively created a massive private library of images of child sexual abuse,” said Attorney General Eric Holder at a news conference.
Seventy-two people have been charged so far. Pueblo resident Scott Lewandowski is one of 52 of those who have been arrested.
The Pueblo Target store confirmed that Lewandowski worked there as a security guard. Lewandowski owns a home in the 1000 block of Pinecrest Drive on Pueblo’s west side, and may also have lived at a mobile home park on Red Creek Springs Road. A manager told KRDO Newschannel 13 that a tenant by that name lived there two years ago.
Lewandowski has no prior criminal history in Colorado.
The Justice Department said an operation launched in 2009 to find the almost 600 members of Dreamboard, a private, members-only, online bulletin board that was created and operated to promote pedophilia and encourage the sexual abuse of very young children.
“Some of the children featured in these images and videos were just infants and in many cases, the children being victimized were in obvious and also intentional pain, even in distress and crying,” said Holder.
It’s estimated the Dreamboard network contained the equivalent of 16,000 DVDs of child porn.
“In order to become part of the Dreamboard community, prospective members were required to upload pornography portraying children under 12 years of age or younger,” said Holder. “Once given access, the participants had to continually upload images of child sexual abuse in order to maintain membership. The more content they provided, the more content they were allowed to access. Members who created and shared images and videos of themselves molesting children received elevated status and greater access.”
A man from Aurora, Jeffrey Rodriguez, was also arrested in the sting.
