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Russia, U.S. bust alleged global child porn ring

Kevin Delli-Colli, director of the U.S. Customs Cyber Smuggling Center, outlines the case against those involved with Blue Orchid.

From Terry Frieden
CNN Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Four U.S. citizens and five Russians have been arrested in an ongoing investigation into a Moscow-based Web site that sold and distributed pornographic videotapes featuring children, the U.S. Customs Service announced Monday.

The 10-month investigation by Russian officials and agents of the U.S. Customs Service -- dubbed Operation Blue Orchid after the name of the Web site -- has so far resulted in arrests of the alleged pornographers and child molesters in Moscow and customers in and near San Francisco, California, New York and Portage, Indiana.

DOCUMENTS • Read the documents in the government's case against one of the "Blue Orchid" suspects (FindLaw) (PDF) • Read one indictment in the "Blue Orchid" case (U.S. v. Martikean) (FindLaw) (PDF) Read the pertinent statutes in the "Blue Orchid" case (FindLaw): • Aggravated sexual abuse: 18 USC 2241(c) • Sexual exploitation of minors: 18 USC 2252(a)(2) & (a)(3)(B) • Transportation of minors to engage in any sexual act: 18 USC 2423(b) Documents in PDF format require Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing.  VIDEO CNN's Steve Harrigan has more on what has allowed pornographers to thrive in Russia Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

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The Web site was shut down in December, said customs spokesman Dennis Murphy.

Officials said federal search warrants have also been executed in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Tampa, Florida; Salt Lake City, Utah; and San Diego and Santa Barbara, California.

Related investigations are continuing in European countries, including Denmark, Sweden, and the Netherlands, authorities said.

Customs and FBI officials told CNN the tensions between Washington and Moscow over espionage allegations and the expulsion of diplomats have not hindered cooperation between U.S. and Russian law enforcement officials in conducting the investigations.

Customs agents said the Moscow end of the investigation culminated March 2 with the arrest of Victor Razumov, known as the "Punisher," who allegedly beat and whipped boys as young as 12 years old.

The officials said Razumov appeared in two videos depicting forcible sex and painful sadomasochistic activity as a 15-year-old boy cried.

Another actor in the videos, Aleksei Tormazov, was arrested March 15. Video cameraman Yuri Arkhipov was arrested February 27 and later killed himself, customs officials said.

Blue Orchid customers would wire cash, then send an e-mail with instructions on where to send a videotape, according to officials. Videotapes were shipped via private courier or the postal service. Prices ranged from $200 to $300.

Customs officials said seized records indicated that while hundreds of videotapes were shipped worldwide, the majority of them went to the United States.

Details of the case were announced Monday by U.S. Attorney for Northern Indiana David Capp, who is prosecuting Martikean; Acting Commissioner of Customs Charles Winwood; and Kevin Delli-Colli, director of the Customs Cyber Smuggling Center.

"The global nature of the Internet demands a global response by law enforcement to protect innocent children, regardless of their nationalities," Winwood said.

The investigation started in May when Moscow police asked customs for help. After customs conducted an undercover purchase of a videotape from the site, Moscow police were led in December to Vsevolod Solntsev-Elbe, one of the alleged Web site operators.

Russian police detained Elbe and a 13-year-old boy, whom Elbe had allegedly transported to Moscow for the purpose of sexual exploitation, customs said. Police seized 400 videotapes, video duplication equipment and sales and shipping records from Elbe's apartment. He was arrested December 10.

Sergey Garbko, the other alleged Web site operator, was arrested by Russian authorities on December 18, customs officials said.

As a result of the search of Elbe's apartment, information was sent to customs, identifying people who allegedly had ordered child pornography from the Web site.

That led U.S. officials to Glenn Martikean of Portage, Indiana, who was arrested by customs agents January 31. He was indicted Friday by a grand jury in the Northern District of Indiana on charges of importing child pornography and interstate and foreign travel to engage in sexual activity with minors, customs said.

Authorities said that while searching Martikean's home in late January they learned he was in Moscow attempting to have sex with a child. Customs agents arrested him a few days later when he returned to the United States. He is accused of molesting children between the ages of 10 and 14.

The U.S. attorney's office in Massachusetts, meanwhile, announced that another man, Derek Lochiatto of Malden, had been arrested and appeared in federal court Monday on charges that he attempted to receive child pornography from the Russian Web site. He also was charged with possession of other child pornography that he obtained over the Internet.

The names of the two other people who were arrested in the United States were not released.

Another U.S. suspect was identified in court documents as Seth Bekenstein of Walnut Creek, California.

The international operation against Blue Orchid was first disclosed by Newsweek magazine in a March 19 report. It is the third probe of a child pornography distribution network in which U.S. agents joined with Russian authorities.

An estimated 100,000 Web sites worldwide are involved in some way with child pornography, customs estimates. Online child pornography is a problem that has grown with the worldwide popularity of the Internet, law enforcement officials say.

The FBI also has a special unit that investigates domestic cases of child pornography and molestation by adults using the Internet to contact children.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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