#PedoGate: Child Pornography Ring Taken Down In Detroit

||| FBI/Trafficking And Exploitation Task Force |||

An insidious child pornography ring with international reach was taken down in Detroit and six men have been sentenced, according to federal authorities. The ring was so vast it encompassed over 100 victims in multiple counties. U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said the men operated the pornography ring together from 2013 to April 2017 when they were caught by the FBI and the Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes task force.

The men lured juvenile girls to two unmonitored video chat websites where they were sexually exploited. "These predators committed truly horrific crimes against innocent girls, and they deserve decades in prison. Shockingly, some of these defendants have young children themselves," Schneider said.

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Terry Kovac, 49, of Las Vegas, Nev., was sentenced to 37 years in custody followed by five years of supervised release. Felipe Dominguez-Meija, 31, of Springdale, Ark., was sentenced to 41 years in custody followed by five years of supervised release. Noel Eisley, 37, of Wappinger Falls, N.Y., was sentenced to 35 years in custody followed by 10 years of supervised release. Eric Robinson, 42, of Duluth, Minn, was sentenced to 34 years in custody followed by 10 years of supervised release.

Bret Massey, 47, of Portland, Maine, was sentenced to 32 years in custody followed by 10 years of supervised release. William Phillips, 39, of Highland Park, New York, was sentenced to 33 years in custody followed by five years of supervised release. Phillips sentence will run concurrent to a previous sentence he was handed stemming from a similar crime.

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Thanks to the excellent workers of Schneider's office, each man was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution to each victim that has been identified. Investigators found the men recruited juvenile girls by pretending to be teenage boys who wanted to chat. When victims would enter the chat rooms, the men gained the victims' trust and convinced them to perform sexual activities.

The men recorded tens of thousands of sexually explicit videos of the minors which they then shared online and amongst themselves. Of the more than 100 victims, the FBI has identified 48 from the U.S.

Related coverage: <a href="https://thegoldwater.com/news/17773-Facebook-Child-Porn-Ring-Suspect-Raped-3-Toddler-Age-Girls-in-Detroit">Facebook Child Porn Ring Suspect Raped 3 Toddler-Age Girls in Detroit</a>

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Source: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2018/07/18/child-pornography-ring/798598002/