June 5, 2020 • 14 mins
This is a story about how the internet played a part in both the propagation and the collapse of a large, multinational network of child pornographers.
We know from shows like To Catch a Predator that, sometimes, law enforcement will pose online to bait potential or active predators into a trap. And that’s how this story starts as well. An agent chatted online with a group of people who fantasized about kidnapping, raping, killing, and eating small toddlers and infants.
We know from shows like To Catch a Predator that, sometimes, law enforcement will pose online to bait potential or active predators into a trap. And that’s how this story starts as well. An agent chatted online with a group of people who fantasized about kidnapping, raping, killing, and eating small toddlers and infants.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Freak kind and bite the ground,you know, to make us rip our
things. I set of the Mama'sRitual set Reformed Internet Show. Hey everybody,
(00:27):
welcome back to Internet Freak Show.So these last few episodes of this
podcast, I kind of feel likeI've taken it easy on you guys.
We've covered a mysterious commenter who's alwaysposting about key line pies, one of
the first fake Internet personas, avisionary who had a hand in the live
streaming movement, and other pretty innocuouspieces of Internet history. But now let's
(00:51):
dive a little deeper into the disturbingand horrible parts of the Web. This
episode will not be good for younglisteners, so please do keep small ears
away from this episode, and ifyou're sensitive to topics like pedophilia and cannibalism,
it's probably best for you to turnoff this episode. This is a
story about how the Internet played arole in both the propagation and the collapse
(01:11):
of a large, multinational network ofchild pornographers. We know from shows like
To Catch a Predator that sometimes lawenforcement will pose online to bait potential or
active predators into a trap, andthat's how this story starts. An agent
chatted online with a group of peoplewho fantasized about kidnapping, raping, killing,
(01:33):
and eating small toddlers and infants.A man named Robert Diduca, a
hotel manager, husband and father ofthree small children, went by the name
baby todd Online he chatted with informantsand other members of this pedophile ring,
where he admitted to raping and abusingchildren. Agents were able to trace those
(01:53):
chats that he conducted back to thehotel that he managed, and during a
chat with the informant d Duca turnedhis way came on to masturbate. They
were able to get images of hisface. They used those images in a
reverse image search to find the man'sidentity, only to find his photo on
a website for Delirean owners. Now, there were very few Delirean owners obviously,
(02:14):
so digging through DMV records to findDiduca proved to be quite easy.
After his arrest, police confiscated toDuca's computer and found over twenty seven thousand
child pornography images on SD cards.For his part in the pedophile ring,
Diduca was sentenced to eighteen years inprison, but before his arrest, at
the FBI agent's request, Diduca senthim a very explicit photo of a young
(02:38):
boy being raped. This one photowas picked apart meticulously, and ultimately was
the beginning of the end for thisonline ring of cannibal pedophiles. This particular
photo was of an eighteen month old, half dressed and clinging to a stuffed
bunny. The photo was forwarded toInterpol, an agency not bound by national
(02:59):
jurist. A Dutch investigator immediately pointedout that the stuffed bunny was a character
known as Miffi, who is featuredin many stories in Dutch children's books.
The orange sweater was traced to ashop in Amsterdam, which told only sold
a small handful of these particular sweaters. When images of this young child started
circulating in local media to help findthe perpetrator, it didn't take long for
(03:21):
the parents to be contacted and arrestsmade. Robert Michelson's, a twenty seven
year old daycare worker, had caredfor the boy, and he was arrested.
On his personal computer, they foundthousands and thousands and thousands of images
similar to the original Bunney image.The victim in these images ranged from the
oldest who was a four year old, to the youngest, who was a
(03:44):
shocking nineteen days old. Michelson's confessedto raping eighty children during his time as
a daycare worker. He was sentencedto eighteen years in prison and then indefinite
psychiatric commitment. So Michelson's was thesecond domino to fall in this pedophile ring,
but he was not the last.The two computers confiscated from Michelson's and
(04:05):
Deduca turned out to be a goldmine for investigators, leading to dozens more
suspects over several continents. So atthis point in our story, two people
have been arrested and thousands of imageshad been obtained, along with several dozen
more suspects and leads from the confiscationof those computers. The dominoes were starting
(04:26):
to fall and police were dedicated tofinding as many of these perpetrators as possible.
Following the thread of chats and imagesfrom these confiscated computers, they found
images created by a man named MichaelArnette out of Kansas. One of these
photos our Neette had created was ofa two year old boy in a roasting
pan inside of an oven. Thechats that Ournett participated in were extremely extremely
(04:49):
disturbing. He fantasized about abducting,raping, killing, and eating children for
our Nette. Thankfully, he neverfulfilled his cannibalistic fantasies as far as we
know, but he did confess toabusing three boys. All three were identified
and found alive, thankfully. Anotherfour men were arrested after reading transcripts on
(05:12):
our Nett's computer fantasizing about killing andeating children. One of these men was
a man named Ronald Brown, apuppeteer in Florida who had made some appearances
on local children's television, like ashow called joy Junction. Now, I'm
going to play a clip from oneof these episodes. Now, and while
these voices sound identical, this isactually meant to show a conversation between Brown
(05:33):
and his ventriloquist stummy. And whenI got over, they are, i
know, just some of a kidfor kind of giggling and laughing, you
know, And I wondered why theywere doing that, Well, why were
they doing it? Well, theysaid, Marty, come over here and
take a look at our pictures.So I walked on over there and I
took a look. And do youknow what it was? What was it?
(05:58):
Marty? Well, I wasn't her. I'll tell you that right now.
Ron. They were looking at somedirty titchers and they want in need
a look too. Well Marty,what did you do? Well? I
said, look, guys, Ilike you a lot and I want to
play with you, but I can'tlook at those titchers. I just can't
do it. Or what did theysay, Marty? They said, oh,
(06:20):
Marty, come on, your parentsare in the house, no one
will see. Well, what didyou say? I said that, and
they'd be true. But I knowsomeone who will see, and that's God.
That's right, Marty. You knowthat kind of reminds me of a
verse I'm thinking of in the Biblethat's found in Second Timothy two twenty two,
(06:40):
and it says that you should runaway from anything that will give you
evil thoughts, and as your companions, you should have friends who have pure
and clean thoughts and will only giveyou good ideas. Well, you know
what I decided to do. What'sthat, Marty? I decided to turn
around and go right back home.Well, Marty, I'm real proud of
(07:00):
you for that. And some ofthe kids are kind of laughing Natany too,
Well, that's okay, Marty.I think they will respect you for
your opinion, and you know I'mglad you weren't wish you washing. I'm
glad you remained firm in your beliefthat looking at those kinds of things is
wrong. I'm real proud of you, Marty for the decision you made.
I'm proud of you too, Marty. All right, Professor, you mean
(07:23):
that is I got my wishy washingmachine here. That is a washing machine.
So pretty chilling conversation. In lightof what ultimately happened with Brown,
Arnette and Brown would chat via YahooMessenger and fantasized together about killing and eating
children. One of these transcripts readslike this, Brown, he would make
(07:46):
a fine Easter feast, Arnette.Yes, his thighs and butt cheeks would
be fantastic for Easter. Brown.I agree. You could be spending today
parting him out, getting a panready for the butt and thighs. Arnette.
I would have time to do itto day. If only I had
him, I would have been upall night enjoying him Brown. I'm sure
(08:07):
telling him about what his last dayas a boy will entail Arnette. I
imagine his eyes would be about justabout ready to bug out. Browne wet
with tears. So scared and helplessArnette, probably trembling trying to imagine his
body being cut up and eaten.Brown thinking about how much it will hurt
(08:28):
to be chopped up. Arnette.I can assure him that he won't feel
a thing, because he will beHe will be dead by then, Brown,
his mind not thinking like a bigboy anymore, fear reducing him back
to the level of a five yearold. Terrified and crying Arnette. Maybe
I can tell him that he isa big boy now and he will be
able to take it. I couldgive him a choice on how he wants
(08:52):
to go Brown. That would benice of you, Smiley Emoji, give
him choices, all of which endin him being cut up and eaten.
So I know that these chat transcriptsare long, and they're difficult to read
and difficult to hear me talking about. I'm sure, and these bizarre and
twisted fantasies go on for pages andpages and pages over months of chatting.
(09:16):
Arnette and Brown claim that these chatsare just fantasies and they never actually follow
through. But as we noted inthe Lapotca podcast, it is hard to
say never or always when it comesto people like this, fantasies escalate,
and while there is no proof ofany murder or cannibalism with Brown on our
net, there is definitely proof ofthem abusing children. Brown was sentenced to
(09:37):
twenty years for child pornography charges.Ournette was sentenced to thirty years for his
part in the creation and distribution ofchild pornography. The arrests of Ournette and
Brown led to even more evidence onmore perpetrators. Agents and investigators painstakingly went
through the photos and videos they'd collected, using clues to find the abused children.
(10:00):
On one video that they obtained fromthese computers, they used a TV
playing in the background and the orderof the commercials being played to track down
a very specific time that that videowas recorded. The carpet and furniture in
the video was traced back to ahotel in California. In the background of
another photo, they saw a waterbottle that, when enhanced, displayed the
(10:20):
name of a local swim center.These clues allowed investigators to track down the
children and the perpetrators and make morearrests. As more people in this pedophile
ring are arrested and more evidence collected, it leads to more clues, more
victims, and more arrests. Thelast reference I found to this case was
in two thousand and twelve, andat that point forty three men had been
(10:41):
arrested, with more arrests expected.So you might listen to this podcast and
choose to focus on the negative partsof this right. The Internet allowed a
sprawling child pornography ring over several continents, with dozens of people participating, producing
child porn and fantasizing about even worsecrimes. This kind of evil couldn't spread
(11:03):
so quickly without the Internet, Butfor me, I'm choosing to focus on
the positive here. The Internet alsoallowed investigators to find and arrest these psychopaths.
It allowed them to reach out toother agencies and compare notes and track
down that bunny in the shirt thatstarted this house of cards to fall.
(11:24):
Unfortunately, we can't stop people fromusing the Internet for nefarious purposes. There
will always be sickos out there insearch of their next victims. We can,
however, learn to beat them attheir own game, infiltrate their circles,
take down the perpetrators. As afather of two small children myself,
I'm thankful for the Internet and especiallythe law enforcers who play their roles in
(11:45):
bringing down criminals and save lives.I want to finish this episode by talking
a bit about the defenses that thesecriminals used in court. Daduca claimed that
his issues started when he himself wasraped as a child by a boy scout
leader. Most of them said thatfantasizing isn't a crime at all. Most
(12:05):
took the defense that child pornography isa victimless crime and that the true crime
is the creation of the porn,not the distribution. I hope it's clear
that distribution of child pornography is nota victimless crime and deserves to be punished,
even if the perpetrators never laid ahand on a child. Thank you
for listening to this episode of InternetFreak Show. Remember to visit Internet Freakshow
(12:28):
dot com to find episode transcripts,videos, and photos related to the stories
you hear about here. Also checkout the Internet Freak Show Instagram for photos
related to the stories and for morepodcasts, or if you want to start
your own podcast, check out thegeek Nerdery podcasting network at geeknrdery dot com.
Please do leave reviews on Apple podcastsif you can that helps other people
(12:50):
find the show and keeps me motivatedto keep making episodes. Thank you to
those of you have already left reviews. Next time on Internet Freak Show,
we'll be doing another episode that ispretty dark and disturbing. It's the Murder
of Bianca Devins. We'll see younext time, Internet. Until next time,
(13:43):
stay free, be clergy.
Freak kind and bite the ground,you know, to make us rip our
things. I set of the Mama'sRitual set Reformed Internet Show. Hey everybody,
(00:27):
welcome back to Internet Freak Show.So these last few episodes of this
podcast, I kind of feel likeI've taken it easy on you guys.
We've covered a mysterious commenter who's alwaysposting about key line pies, one of
the first fake Internet personas, avisionary who had a hand in the live
streaming movement, and other pretty innocuouspieces of Internet history. But now let's
(00:51):
dive a little deeper into the disturbingand horrible parts of the Web. This
episode will not be good for younglisteners, so please do keep small ears
away from this episode, and ifyou're sensitive to topics like pedophilia and cannibalism,
it's probably best for you to turnoff this episode. This is a
story about how the Internet played arole in both the propagation and the collapse
(01:11):
of a large, multinational network ofchild pornographers. We know from shows like
To Catch a Predator that sometimes lawenforcement will pose online to bait potential or
active predators into a trap, andthat's how this story starts. An agent
chatted online with a group of peoplewho fantasized about kidnapping, raping, killing,
(01:33):
and eating small toddlers and infants.A man named Robert Diduca, a
hotel manager, husband and father ofthree small children, went by the name
baby todd Online he chatted with informantsand other members of this pedophile ring,
where he admitted to raping and abusingchildren. Agents were able to trace those
(01:53):
chats that he conducted back to thehotel that he managed, and during a
chat with the informant d Duca turnedhis way came on to masturbate. They
were able to get images of hisface. They used those images in a
reverse image search to find the man'sidentity, only to find his photo on
a website for Delirean owners. Now, there were very few Delirean owners obviously,
(02:14):
so digging through DMV records to findDiduca proved to be quite easy.
After his arrest, police confiscated toDuca's computer and found over twenty seven thousand
child pornography images on SD cards.For his part in the pedophile ring,
Diduca was sentenced to eighteen years inprison, but before his arrest, at
the FBI agent's request, Diduca senthim a very explicit photo of a young
(02:38):
boy being raped. This one photowas picked apart meticulously, and ultimately was
the beginning of the end for thisonline ring of cannibal pedophiles. This particular
photo was of an eighteen month old, half dressed and clinging to a stuffed
bunny. The photo was forwarded toInterpol, an agency not bound by national
(02:59):
jurist. A Dutch investigator immediately pointedout that the stuffed bunny was a character
known as Miffi, who is featuredin many stories in Dutch children's books.
The orange sweater was traced to ashop in Amsterdam, which told only sold
a small handful of these particular sweaters. When images of this young child started
circulating in local media to help findthe perpetrator, it didn't take long for
(03:21):
the parents to be contacted and arrestsmade. Robert Michelson's, a twenty seven
year old daycare worker, had caredfor the boy, and he was arrested.
On his personal computer, they foundthousands and thousands and thousands of images
similar to the original Bunney image.The victim in these images ranged from the
oldest who was a four year old, to the youngest, who was a
(03:44):
shocking nineteen days old. Michelson's confessedto raping eighty children during his time as
a daycare worker. He was sentencedto eighteen years in prison and then indefinite
psychiatric commitment. So Michelson's was thesecond domino to fall in this pedophile ring,
but he was not the last.The two computers confiscated from Michelson's and
(04:05):
Deduca turned out to be a goldmine for investigators, leading to dozens more
suspects over several continents. So atthis point in our story, two people
have been arrested and thousands of imageshad been obtained, along with several dozen
more suspects and leads from the confiscationof those computers. The dominoes were starting
(04:26):
to fall and police were dedicated tofinding as many of these perpetrators as possible.
Following the thread of chats and imagesfrom these confiscated computers, they found
images created by a man named MichaelArnette out of Kansas. One of these
photos our Neette had created was ofa two year old boy in a roasting
pan inside of an oven. Thechats that Ournett participated in were extremely extremely
(04:49):
disturbing. He fantasized about abducting,raping, killing, and eating children for
our Nette. Thankfully, he neverfulfilled his cannibalistic fantasies as far as we
know, but he did confess toabusing three boys. All three were identified
and found alive, thankfully. Anotherfour men were arrested after reading transcripts on
(05:12):
our Nett's computer fantasizing about killing andeating children. One of these men was
a man named Ronald Brown, apuppeteer in Florida who had made some appearances
on local children's television, like ashow called joy Junction. Now, I'm
going to play a clip from oneof these episodes. Now, and while
these voices sound identical, this isactually meant to show a conversation between Brown
(05:33):
and his ventriloquist stummy. And whenI got over, they are, i
know, just some of a kidfor kind of giggling and laughing, you
know, And I wondered why theywere doing that, Well, why were
they doing it? Well, theysaid, Marty, come over here and
take a look at our pictures.So I walked on over there and I
took a look. And do youknow what it was? What was it?
(05:58):
Marty? Well, I wasn't her. I'll tell you that right now.
Ron. They were looking at somedirty titchers and they want in need
a look too. Well Marty,what did you do? Well? I
said, look, guys, Ilike you a lot and I want to
play with you, but I can'tlook at those titchers. I just can't
do it. Or what did theysay, Marty? They said, oh,
(06:20):
Marty, come on, your parentsare in the house, no one
will see. Well, what didyou say? I said that, and
they'd be true. But I knowsomeone who will see, and that's God.
That's right, Marty. You knowthat kind of reminds me of a
verse I'm thinking of in the Biblethat's found in Second Timothy two twenty two,
(06:40):
and it says that you should runaway from anything that will give you
evil thoughts, and as your companions, you should have friends who have pure
and clean thoughts and will only giveyou good ideas. Well, you know
what I decided to do. What'sthat, Marty? I decided to turn
around and go right back home.Well, Marty, I'm real proud of
(07:00):
you for that. And some ofthe kids are kind of laughing Natany too,
Well, that's okay, Marty.I think they will respect you for
your opinion, and you know I'mglad you weren't wish you washing. I'm
glad you remained firm in your beliefthat looking at those kinds of things is
wrong. I'm real proud of you, Marty for the decision you made.
I'm proud of you too, Marty. All right, Professor, you mean
(07:23):
that is I got my wishy washingmachine here. That is a washing machine.
So pretty chilling conversation. In lightof what ultimately happened with Brown,
Arnette and Brown would chat via YahooMessenger and fantasized together about killing and eating
children. One of these transcripts readslike this, Brown, he would make
(07:46):
a fine Easter feast, Arnette.Yes, his thighs and butt cheeks would
be fantastic for Easter. Brown.I agree. You could be spending today
parting him out, getting a panready for the butt and thighs. Arnette.
I would have time to do itto day. If only I had
him, I would have been upall night enjoying him Brown. I'm sure
(08:07):
telling him about what his last dayas a boy will entail Arnette. I
imagine his eyes would be about justabout ready to bug out. Browne wet
with tears. So scared and helplessArnette, probably trembling trying to imagine his
body being cut up and eaten.Brown thinking about how much it will hurt
(08:28):
to be chopped up. Arnette.I can assure him that he won't feel
a thing, because he will beHe will be dead by then, Brown,
his mind not thinking like a bigboy anymore, fear reducing him back
to the level of a five yearold. Terrified and crying Arnette. Maybe
I can tell him that he isa big boy now and he will be
able to take it. I couldgive him a choice on how he wants
(08:52):
to go Brown. That would benice of you, Smiley Emoji, give
him choices, all of which endin him being cut up and eaten.
So I know that these chat transcriptsare long, and they're difficult to read
and difficult to hear me talking about. I'm sure, and these bizarre and
twisted fantasies go on for pages andpages and pages over months of chatting.
(09:16):
Arnette and Brown claim that these chatsare just fantasies and they never actually follow
through. But as we noted inthe Lapotca podcast, it is hard to
say never or always when it comesto people like this, fantasies escalate,
and while there is no proof ofany murder or cannibalism with Brown on our
net, there is definitely proof ofthem abusing children. Brown was sentenced to
(09:37):
twenty years for child pornography charges.Ournette was sentenced to thirty years for his
part in the creation and distribution ofchild pornography. The arrests of Ournette and
Brown led to even more evidence onmore perpetrators. Agents and investigators painstakingly went
through the photos and videos they'd collected, using clues to find the abused children.
(10:00):
On one video that they obtained fromthese computers, they used a TV
playing in the background and the orderof the commercials being played to track down
a very specific time that that videowas recorded. The carpet and furniture in
the video was traced back to ahotel in California. In the background of
another photo, they saw a waterbottle that, when enhanced, displayed the
(10:20):
name of a local swim center.These clues allowed investigators to track down the
children and the perpetrators and make morearrests. As more people in this pedophile
ring are arrested and more evidence collected, it leads to more clues, more
victims, and more arrests. Thelast reference I found to this case was
in two thousand and twelve, andat that point forty three men had been
(10:41):
arrested, with more arrests expected.So you might listen to this podcast and
choose to focus on the negative partsof this right. The Internet allowed a
sprawling child pornography ring over several continents, with dozens of people participating, producing
child porn and fantasizing about even worsecrimes. This kind of evil couldn't spread
(11:03):
so quickly without the Internet, Butfor me, I'm choosing to focus on
the positive here. The Internet alsoallowed investigators to find and arrest these psychopaths.
It allowed them to reach out toother agencies and compare notes and track
down that bunny in the shirt thatstarted this house of cards to fall.
(11:24):
Unfortunately, we can't stop people fromusing the Internet for nefarious purposes. There
will always be sickos out there insearch of their next victims. We can,
however, learn to beat them attheir own game, infiltrate their circles,
take down the perpetrators. As afather of two small children myself,
I'm thankful for the Internet and especiallythe law enforcers who play their roles in
(11:45):
bringing down criminals and save lives.I want to finish this episode by talking
a bit about the defenses that thesecriminals used in court. Daduca claimed that
his issues started when he himself wasraped as a child by a boy scout
leader. Most of them said thatfantasizing isn't a crime at all. Most
(12:05):
took the defense that child pornography isa victimless crime and that the true crime
is the creation of the porn,not the distribution. I hope it's clear
that distribution of child pornography is nota victimless crime and deserves to be punished,
even if the perpetrators never laid ahand on a child. Thank you
for listening to this episode of InternetFreak Show. Remember to visit Internet Freakshow
(12:28):
dot com to find episode transcripts,videos, and photos related to the stories
you hear about here. Also checkout the Internet Freak Show Instagram for photos
related to the stories and for morepodcasts, or if you want to start
your own podcast, check out thegeek Nerdery podcasting network at geeknrdery dot com.
Please do leave reviews on Apple podcastsif you can that helps other people
(12:50):
find the show and keeps me motivatedto keep making episodes. Thank you to
those of you have already left reviews. Next time on Internet Freak Show,
we'll be doing another episode that ispretty dark and disturbing. It's the Murder
of Bianca Devins. We'll see younext time, Internet. Until next time,
(13:43):
stay free, be clergy.
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