Feds Charge 52 in Internet Child Porn Case

Federal prosecutors Tuesday announced that 52 people had been charged in a nationwide probe of child pornography being trafficked on the Internet.

The operation announced in Los Angeles was aimed at suspects using peer-to-peer networks to swap images and videos over a limitless geographic area.

The U.S. attorney’s office said in a written statement that while it is relatively easy for offenders to join such networks, it is just as easy for law enforcement to tap in and monitor their activities.

“As criminals exploit technology to commit their crimes Â… law enforcement will quickly react to develop equally sophisticated means to track down their wrongdoing,” Thomas O’Brien, the U.S. attorney for Los Angeles, told a news conference.

The suspects charged in Southern California included Eric David Lacey, a North Dakota fugitive who had been featured on television’s “America’s Most Wanted” and had rented a room above a daycare center in Hollywood.

Another suspect, Gary Cochran, 50, Huntington Beach, was charged with both possessing pornographic images and uploading pictures of children he himself had taken.