10 Kentuckians indicted in joint FBI child exploitation investigation
According to the Louisville division of the FBI, 205 people accused of child sexual abuse have been arrested in the past week. The operation involved all 55 FBI field offices and resulted in 10 federal indictments in the Eastern District of Kentucky alone.
'These depraved human beings, if convicted, will face the maximum penalty in prison, some life,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said. 'We will find you, we will arrest you, and we will charge you. If you are online targeting a child, you will not escape us. The FBI and the Department of Justice will come after you, and we'll prosecute you.'
Lawrenceburg man sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison for receiving child porn
Six were arrested in Kentucky, three were already in custody, and one case is still outstanding, the FBI said.
According to the Department of Justice, the following eight men in Kentucky were charged in connection with Operation Justice:
Jason Back, 42, of Salyersville, was charged with online enticement of a minor.
Jesus Chavez, 33, of Somerset, faces five counts of producing child pornography.
Jordan Cobb, 33, of Salyersville, was charged with online enticement of a minor and cyberstalking a minor.
Austin Hawk, 25, of Pittsburg, was charged with transporting a minor across state lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity.
Nathan Smith, 30, of Manchester, was charged with two counts of distribution of child pornography, one count of receiving child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography.
Michael Moon, 47, of Annville, was charged with one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Timothy Ray Dale, 63, of Paris, was charged with one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.
Finley Wooton, 32, of Hyden, was charged with the attempted production of child pornography.
One indictment is under seal.
LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS:
Olivia Olson, acting special agent in charge of the FBI Louisville Field Office, commended the joint task force for their dedication to working to find alleged perpetrators of child abuse.
'The subjects arrested in this operation included those in positions of public trust–law enforcement, members of the military and teachers. Others are your neighbors, proving criminal activity can be found even in the most familiar places. They're accused of various crimes including the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material, online enticement and transportation of minors, and child sex trafficking,' the FBI said.
The nationwide investigation remains ongoing. More information about Operation Justice can be found at the Department of Justice website.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 56 News.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
DOJ shuts down dark web child abuse sites that had 120,000 members
When FBI agents arrived outside William Spearman's home in the quiet suburb of Madison, Alabama, in November 2022, they were prepared for danger. Their search warrant was so important to the bureau that it was approved by the FBI director himself. When the agents breached Spearman's door with tactical explosives, Spearman fought back, tussling with the agents as three of his handguns remained barely out of reach. The FBI managed to handcuff and arrest Spearman, a high-value arrest, in what a top Justice Department official called "one of the most successful" prosecutions of its kind. Spearman went by the nickname "Boss" and was labeled by the Justice Department as "one of the most significant" purveyors of child sex abuse material in the world. His arrest in 2022, his guilty plea a year later and his eventual life sentence were part of an unprecedented takedown of a prodigious child abuse network. Spearman is one of at least 18 people convicted so far of leading and utilizing the dark web to share hundreds of thousands of unlawful sexually exploitative images of children. The Justice Department calls the investigation and prosecutions Operation Grayskull; it helped secure those arrests and shutter four heavily trafficked dark web sites where violent and horrific images of child sexual abuse were traded and housed. The Operation Grayskull investigation launched in 2020, when law enforcement agents noticed a spike in traffic to a dark web site suspected of hosting child abuse material. The dark web child abuse sites eventually attracted more than 120,000 members, millions of files and at least 100,000 visits in a single day, according to an FBI official who spoke with CBS News. "Even for prosecutors, it is difficult to understand how pervasive this is," said Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department Criminal Division. "Because it happens on the dark web, people aren't aware of it. It's extremely troubling," he told CBS News. Spearman's case has parallels to many of the others unearthed by Operation Grayskull. Spearman was accused of helping lead a dark web site with thousands of users and members. A sentencing memo submitted to the court said it was "no wonder" that he had tried to resist the FBI, rather than surrendering. "The devices at his desk contained massive quantities of evidence proving that he was the lead administrator of Website A," the memo said. "Unsurprisingly, the defendant's devices also contained an enormous collection of images and videos depicting the rape and abuse of children." Selwyn Rosenstein was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2022, for operating a dark website for unlawful exploitative images. Prosecutors said the platform "was not simply a website; it was a large, active community of pedophiles and (abuse material) enthusiasts. And it existed in part because of the Defendant's criminal acts." Rosenstein possessed such a large quantity of abusive images, he needed to store some on a server he used to run his business, according to the Justice Department. Speaking from a second floor conference room at Justice Department headquarters in Washington last week, Galeotti told CBS News the members of these dark web child abuse sites often "earn" membership by paying a fee, "helping moderate the site" or contributing child abuse images or material. Galeotti said, "We luckily have very sophisticated prosecutors and agents who work specifically on this kind of thing. These are people who have a more of a technical understanding." "The defendants in this case, as sadistic as they may be, are somewhat sophisticated," and make use of encryption, he added. Operation Grayskull also secured the conviction of Matthew Garrell of Raleigh, North Carolina, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating on a dark web site for abuse material. "Garrell engaged in an extremely complex and technologically sophisticated conspiracy that far exceeds the typical child-exploitation offenses," prosecutors said. They argued in a court filing that Garrell possessed a predator's "handbook," with "detailed instructions" for grooming children for future abuse. The takedown of dark web leaders and users also included the convictions of men from Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Michigan and Oklahoma. "They were part of an online community of hundreds of thousands of people, with leadership roles rules and a common dedicated purpose" said Chris Delzotto, an acting FBI deputy assistant director. Delzotto told CBS News, "Few people would have envisioned how (child abuse materials) would permeate the internet, the way it has today." The federal investigation which uncovered and shuttered the first dark web site, also led to the closure of three others. Abbigail Beccaccio, an FBI unit chief, told CBS News. "The leadership team that operated one of the sites also operated several of the others." The Justice Department is touting the shutdown of those sites as a victory to help deter future abuse or production of unlawful images. "This is one of the most successful of all time," Galeotti said. "We dismantled four websites that have not regenerated." "The Wizard of Oz" as you've never seen it before Tadej Pogačar wins his fourth Tour de France Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner inducted into Baseball Hall of Fame
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's ‘coverup' in the face of Epstein scoops is making his MAGA problems so much worse
The firestorm continued on the MAGA right this week as the political focus on the Epstein files just would not dissipate and Donald Trump dug himself deeper into a hole. With his administration scrambling to explain why it isn't releasing files from an investigation that its own members and supporters have said for years should be made public, the president spent the past two weeks reigniting old conflicts with foes ranging from Rosie O'Donnell to Barack Obama. On Wednesday, those efforts escalated to the point where the U.S. director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, declared from behind the White House briefing room podium that former President Obama had attempted a 'coup' on American soil. But Trump and his closest advisers are coming to quickly realize that they and the mainstream media both greatly underestimated the staying power of the Epstein issue. The Trump Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi, declared in a joint statement with the FBI that Jeffrey Epstein, a wealthy, convicted pedophile who died in federal detention in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, did so by suicide. To support the conclusion, the agencies released video footage of an area outside of Epstein's cell spanning the time he was locked in for the evening on the night of his death. In the same statement, the agencies declared that no list of Epstein's co-conspirators was found within the DOJ's investigation files. That announcement was made in early July. Every week since then has been marked with new efforts by the Trump administration to calm its critics on the right, and each has largely been unsuccessful in doing so. Bondi's own contributions have been less than helpful for the president. She declared the Epstein file was 'on her desk' in an interview earlier this year when asked specifically about the list of Epstein's clients, and presented MAGA influencers with 'Phase 1' of the investigation in special binders bearing a federal seal at the White House. Phase 2 never materialized, and combined with a minute of footage missing from the videos released by the DOJ her consistent overpromising led to a rift between the attorney general and two top appointees at the FBI: Deputy Director Dan Bongino and Director Kash Patel. All of it has proven progressively more damaging to the president's efforts to get ahead of the story, which only exists because Trump himself promised his base that he would release all the information the government has on Epstein when he ran for president. Gabbard's campaign against former President Barack Obama and members of his administration has — so far — been the most successful of those efforts to distract. Gabbard's conclusion that the national intelligence office she now leads altered intel assessments at then-President Obama's direction to gin up fears about Russian interference in the 2016 election in order to benefit Trump shifted the attention of a number of MAGAworld's wayward voices, like Gen. Mike Flynn, Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. Many others remain fixated on Epstein, however, especially after a pair of Wall Street Journal scoops over the past week. The first detailed a birthday message supposedly penned by Trump and bearing his signature, which alluded to a 'secret' the two men shared. Trump fiercely denied the authenticity of the message and signature, and filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the WSJ and its owner Rupert Murdoch alleging libel. A second one, published Wednesday, reported that Bondi had informed Trump that he was mentioned in the Epstein investigation files that her team reviewed during a meeting in May. Trump's team also described that second story as 'fake'. With the exception of Trump's most committed loyalists, the truth understood across the political spectrum is the same: this issue threatens to derail Trump's second presidency. Progressives and centrist Democrats, as well as the president's own lingering rivals in the GOP, recognize that fact with barely-contained glee. Trump's supporters, meanwhile, couch every statement about the issue with effusive praise regarding how great and wonderful his second presidency has been — and how quickly that could end. One prominent supporter told his audience this week that he'd made that exact point to Vice President J.D. Vance in person. In an episode that posted Saturday, MAGA-aligned podcaster and comedian Tim Dillon hinted to viewers that he'd dined with the vice president and told him the administration was 'done' if the entirety of the Epstein files were not released — and Bondi fired. Dillon later confirmed it was Vance he dined with during a conversation with Alex Jones. 'If you don't disclose everything you're done,' Dillon said he told Vance. 'I mean, nobody will support you guys. You are fully and completely part of this coverup if everything doesn't come out. I think it paralyzes their presidency.' During that conversation with Jones days later, Dillon was already poking holes in the explanation Vance gave him in private. 'I had dinner last week with the vice president, he told me ... they do not have videos of any powerful person in a compromising position [with underaged girls],' Dillon told Jones. 'That's the party line that they're going with. If that's the case, why would Pam Bondi call it evidence? Why would she say it's evidence? She's not an idiot. She's the attorney general. Why would she say that she has files on her desk if none of these implicated anybody?' Dillon asked. 'It just feels like they're covering something [up]. For sure.' 'I feel like, they're telling a story. And the story doesn't make sense,' he added. This week, the fallout in Washington was in plain view. Congress departed early for the August recess, with Mike Johnson sending members home early to avoid embarrassing votes and the spectacle of Republicans joining with Democrats on a petition to release the Epstein files. But there's much more coming, and it no longer has an end in sight. Members of the House Oversight committee want Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend who is serving a 20-year sentence for grooming young women and girls for the sex trafficker, to testify. Thomas Massie, the Republican thorn in Trump's side co-leading the discharge petition, predicted to reporters that his effort would only grow in popularity over the next month as members faced their constituents back home. Then there's the 2026 midterms. If Democrats take back the House next year, a very possible prospect, the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency could well be tied up with congressional investigations centered on the Epstein issue. Subpoenas for Cabinet officials and other Trump officials could be on the agenda as a potentially Democrat-controlled House, with the aid of rebel Republicans, launch probe after probe, even potentially a special committee, to hammer at the issue. The survival of Trump's second-term agenda and, more significantly, his ability to hold his political power base intact could be on the line if the president cannot get on the same page as his base on this issue, and quickly. He needs to stop trying to distract and actually give his MAGA base an Epstein-related meal to chew on.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump's approval tanks amid Epstein fallout - now less than 30% of independent's approve
President Donald Trump's approval rating has tanked, amid the Jeffrey Epstein files fallout, with less than 30 percent of independents approving of the way the president is handling his job. A new Gallup poll shows Trump's overall approval rating at 37 percent. When broken up across political affiliation, 89 percent of Republicans approve of the job the president is doing. For independents, 29 percent approve of the president's performance and only 2 percent of Democrats approve. The 37 percent approval rating is the lowest of Trump's second term and mere points away from his all-time worst rating of 34 percent at the end of his first term. When it comes to specific issues, just 38 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of immigration, and 37 percent approve of his handling of the economy, two major issues of the president's campaign. The poll was taken between July 7 and 21, after Trump signed his 'big, beautiful bill,' which extended his 2017 tax cuts and increased border security funding while cutting welfare programs such as Medicaid and SNAP. Trump's victory lap on the legislation came to a crashing halt after the Justice Department and FBI came out with a memo stating there was no client list from Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died in jail in 2019. The White House has faced backlash, notably from its own base, after Trump had promised to release the files, and then the feds effectively said the matter was closed. Trump had asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to 'produce any and all pertinent' grand jury testimony from Epstein's case, 'subject to Court approval,' citing the 'ridiculous amount of publicity' over the case. But the court denied that request. The president's past relationship with Epstein has also been at the center of controversy. The Wall Street Journal reported Trump had been told in May by Attorney General Pam Bondi that his name appeared in the Epstein Files 'multiple times'. The president denied such claims to reporters earlier this month. Appearing in the files does not indicate an individual has committed any wrongdoing and Trump has not been accused of misconduct in connection with the Epstein case. While respondents in the Gallup poll were not asked about the Epstein drama, a poll conducted by The Economist and YouGov from July 11 to 14 found 67 percent of Americans believe the government is hiding evidence related to the sex offender. When asked if the government should release all documents relating to the feds' Epstein case, 79 percent of respondents said it should.
