January 14, 2003

Yesterday's arrest of The Who rock star Peter Townshend in London for the "production of indecent images of children" was the result of intelligence passed on by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service to Great Britain's National Crime Squad. The arrest was part of the largest global action ever undertaken against child pornographers, with over 4,000 search warrants served in countries around the world.

The massive global effort stems from the investigation of Landslide Productions in Ft. Worth, Texas, that began in 1999. That investigation, named "Operation Avalanche," was initiated by U. S. Postal Inspectors and conducted in partnership with the Dallas Police Department; it dismantled a multimillion-dollar child pornography enterprise. Landslide customers from around the world subscribed to child pornography Web sites through a Ft. Worth Post Office box address, or via the Internet. Landslide owners Thomas and Janice Reedy are now serving federal sentences of life in prison and 14 years in prison, respectively.

As a result of intelligence obtained through the investigation, hundreds of searches and arrests occurred in the United States during Operation Avalanche, which was publicly announced in August 2001. Since then, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service has been sharing foreign subscriber information with other countries. Internationally, searches and arrests have taken place in Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and Switzerland.

Media reports have incorrectly attributed this investigation to the FBI.

| Inspection Service Home Page |