Couple found guilty
Child-porn case to be appealed

By Nancy Calaway Fort Worth Bureau of The Dallas Morning News  
Published December 2, 2000


A Fort Worth couple accused of promoting child pornography through their Internet site were found guilty Friday night.

Thomas and Janice Reedy had pleaded not guilty to 89 criminal counts related to conspiracy, possession and distribution of illegal images of minors during a trial that began Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

After almost eight hours of deliberation, jurors found Mr. Reedy, 37, guilty on all 89 counts; Mrs. Reedy, 32, was guilty on all counts, except for possession.

When the verdicts were read, Mrs. Reedy started crying and put her head in her hands. She reached across the table, and her husband took her hand.

Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date. Each count has a statutory punishment of up to 15 years in prison, except for possession, which carries a five-year maximum.

This was the largest child-pornography case that the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth has prosecuted. Assistant U.S. Attorney Terri Moore said the verdicts should serve as a warning.

"To other people who run sites like this, I hope that it will frighten them to know that we are smarter," she said.

"It is shocking the amount of pedophilia that is out there. I don't think one trial is going to stop it. To the community, I think this is a reassurance that we are prosecuting crimes of all types and on all levels."

Defense attorney Wes Ball said he plans to appeal.

"We are disappointed with the verdict," he said. "We didn't think the responsibility goes to this level when you're dealing with the Internet."

Mr. Ball said he plans to ask for a hearing to release Mr. Reedy, who was taken into custody because he was considered a potential flight risk. Mrs. Reedy remains free on bond and left the courthouse with family members, who declined to comment.

Defense attorneys had asserted that while the couple operated a for-profit adult verification system that prohibited minors from accessing sexually oriented sites, the Reedys were unaware that some of the links led to child pornography.

But prosecutors contended that the couple were aware of the site's content, offering subscribers the illegal images because they were more lucrative than legal adult pornography.

In her closing statement delivered before the jury was sent out about 11:30 a.m. Friday, Ms. Moore said the Reedys "were feeding pedophiles."

"This case is about people who steal the innocence of children - people who debase and degrade and feed off it," she said.

Mrs. Reedy testified in her defense Thursday. She denied any knowledge of child pornography linked to their company, Landslide Inc., during the two years she worked there, mostly keeping the company's financial records.

Ms. Moore called her a "baldfaced liar" during closing arguments, but Mrs. Reedy's lawyer commended her for taking the stand and admitting that she did not know about the illegal content.

"Yes, you could call her naïve. You could call her foolish. You could call her a lot of things," attorney Mike Heiskell told the nine-man, three-woman jury. "But please, just because ... [the prosecutors] call her a criminal, don't you call her a criminal."

Mr. Ball, the attorney for Mr. Reedy, asked the jurors not to base their decisions on the proliferation of graphic images prosecutors displayed.

He said many other people were at fault - including those providing the content, the Internet providers and the banks that approved the credit-card charges.

"This is a slippery slope, folks," he told the jury. "We have the wrong people here. You want to say ... [the others] are the people responsible, but you can't do that. But what you can do is say Thomas Reedy ... Janice Reedy ... and Landslide is not guilty because the government hasn't proved it."