72 charged of child sexual abuse
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China.org.cn, August 4, 2011
US Federal law enforcement officials have charged a total of 72 individuals for their participation in an international criminal network dedicated to child sexual abuse.
US Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano made the announcement on Wednesday.
Fifty-two of the charged defendants have already been arrested in the United States and abroad, the US Department of Justice announced.
So far, 13 of those 52 people have pleaded guilty and will serve terms ranging from 20 to 30 years in prison, the Cnet News said.
The prosecutions, the largest to date in the U.S. of individuals who participated in online child pornography, were results of the Operation Delego, an investigation launched in December 2009, Xinhua reported.
The operation targeted the 72 charged defendants and more than 500 additional individuals around the world for their participation in 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, according to Xinhua.
"The members of this criminal network shared a demented dream to create the preeminent online community for the promotion of child sexual exploitation but for the children they victimized, this was nothing short of a nightmare," said Holder.
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