A Fort Worth couple charged with distributing child pornography on the
Internet established an online defense fund when they learned of the
government's investigation and had planned to move to Mexico, a
government witness said Tuesday.
Thomas Reedy, 37, and Janice Reedy, 31, charged in an
87-count indictment, appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court on the
first day of a two-day detention hearing.
Robert Adams, a U.S. Postal Service inspector, testified he began
investigating the couple and its Internet-based business in May.
Landslide Inc., the Reedy's credit verification business, helped
three foreign Webmasters provide "hundreds of thousands of images" as
well as movies depicting children in violent sex acts, Mr. Adams said.
"I've seen some that were 4 years of age up to the early teens," he
said.
He said the Webmasters - two from Indonesia and one from Russia -
provided the lewd images of minors in a variety of sex acts.
"The operation itself was large. It was global in nature," said Mr.
Adams, the government's sole witness in a hearing that resumes Wednesday
before U.S. Magistrate Charles Bleil .
The indictment accuses the couple of assisting the Web operators in
providing pornography to Internet customers through a company they ran
from their home.
The Reedys are being held without bail. They were indicted last week
by a federal grand jury on charges of sexual exploitation of minors;
distribution of child pornography; exploitation of minors; and aiding
and abetting.
Under questioning by Asst. U.S. Attorney Terri Moore, Mr. Adams
testified the pair has connections in other countries and could be a
risk to flee.
Mr. Adams said the couple had put their 2.5-acre home near Lake Worth
up for sale.
He said the government seized the couple's computer and other items
from their home last September. Following the seizure, Mr. Reedy set up
a Web site soliciting funds from supporters.
But under cross-examination by defense attorneys Wes Ball and Michael
Heiskell, Mr. Adams testified the Reedys were not the Webmasters and had
not created the sexual images.
He also said Landslide provided credit card verification for sites
that did not involve child pornography.
Mr. Adams also conceded on cross-examination that the couple has no
criminal history, does not possess passports and has family ties in Fort
Worth.
Federal prosecutors want the couple held without bond. They contend
the couple's business took in nearly $1.1 million in profits between
October 1998 and September 1999.
Mr. Reedy is being held in the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth.
Mrs. Reedy was taken to Tarrant County jail.
If convicted, the Reedys are each facing 20 years in prison, federal
prosecutors said.
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