U.S. Attorney’s Office

Central District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Former Orange County Social Worker Who Distributed Child Pornography Videos Sentenced to 8 Years in Federal Prison

SANTA ANA, California – A former social worker in Orange County was sentenced today to 96 months in federal prison for distributing computer video files that contained sexually explicit videos depicting children, including infants and toddlers.

Carlos Castillo, 62, of Santa Ana, was sentenced by United States District Judge Cormac J. Carney, who also ordered Castillo to pay $40,000 in restitution to his victims. Castillo, who was remanded into federal custody today, pleaded guilty on January 11 to a single-count information charging him with distribution of child pornography.

Castillo worked at Orange County’s Social Services Agency from May 2002 to January 2020. Beginning in August 2007, Castillo was a placement senior social worker whose responsibilities included assessing applicants’ suitability to provide care of children who are in protective custody, completing a home and grounds environment assessment, and placing children into homes.

In November 2019, Castillo knowingly distributed child pornography consisting of three video files to an undercover law enforcement official. Castillo, using the screen name “Ratster12” as a member of a child pornography group that used the LiveMe application, posted a link to another webpage containing three videos depicting prepubescent children, including infants and toddlers, who were being sexually assaulted by adults and other children.

Castillo admitted in his plea agreement that in January 2020 he possessed a Dell computer, two flash drives and an Apple iPhone that contained at least 1,027 videos and 914 images of child pornography. Castillo further admitted that he possessed videos of minors undressing that Castillo had recorded from LiveMe. In addition, he admitted to possession of pictures of minors in public without the authorization or knowledge of the minors or their parents.

“The victims (and their families) must live with the reality that images and

videos of their childhood victimization will live on in the Internet forever,” prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

The FBI investigated this matter.

Assistant United States Attorney Vibhav Mittal of the Santa Ana Branch Office prosecuted this case.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdca/pr/former-orange-county-social-worker-who-distributed-child-pornography-videos-sentenced-8

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Lev Tahor Leaders Charged With Child Exploitation Offenses

Leaders of Extremist Jewish Sect Charged with Participating in a Scheme to Kidnap 14-Year-Old Girl and Return Her to Sexual Relationship with Adult “Husband”

Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William F. Sweeney Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced new charges against NACHMAN HELBRANS, MAYER ROSNER, YAKOV WEINGARTEN, SHMIEL WEINGARTEN, and YOIL WEINGARTEN for conspiring to (1) transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and (2) travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, in connection with the kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl (“Minor-1”) from New York to reunite her with her adult “husband” outside the United States for purposes of continuing their sexual relationship. The defendants, among other members of Lev Tahor, were previously charged with several other crimes related to the kidnapping of Minor-1 and her younger brother.

According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:[1]

NACHMAN HELBRANS, MAYER ROSNER, YAKOV WEINGARTEN, SHMIEL WEINGARTEN, and YOIL WEINGARTEN are U.S. citizens and senior leaders of Lev Tahor, an extremist Jewish sect previously based in New York and Canada, and currently based in Guatemala. HELBRANS became the leader of Lev Tahor in or about 2017. After HELBRANS and his leadership team took over, they seized tight control over the group and embraced several extreme practices, including strict, invasive monitoring of members, frequent beatings, and forced marriages of minors to adult members. Children in Lev Tahor are often subject to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse.

In or about 2017, HELBRANS arranged for his then-12-year-old niece, Minor-1, to be “married” to a then-18-year-old man, defendant JACOB ROSNER. They were religiously “married” the following year, when Minor-1 was 13 and JACOB ROSNER was 19, and immediately began a sexual relationship with the goal of procreation. They were never legally married. Lev Tahor leadership, including the defendants, required young brides to have sex with their husbands, to tell people outside Lev Tahor that they were not married, to pretend to be older, and to deliver babies inside their homes instead of at a hospital, partially to conceal from the public the mothers’ young ages.

In or about October 2018, the mother of Minor-1 (who is also HELBRANS’s sister) determined that it was no longer safe for her children to remain in the Lev Tahor community in Guatemala. The mother escaped from the group’s compound and arrived in the United States in early November 2018. Also in November 2018, a Brooklyn family court granted her temporary custody of the children and prohibited the children’s father, a leader within Lev Tahor, from communicating with the children.

After the mother fled and settled in New York with her children, the defendants devised a plan to return Minor-1, then 14 years old, to Guatemala and to her then-20-year-old “husband” so that they could resume their sexual relationship and procreate. In December 2018, they executed their plan, kidnapping Minor-1 and her brother in the middle of the night from a home in New York and transporting them through various states and, eventually, to Mexico. During this time, Lev Tahor leadership was seeking asylum for the entire Lev Tahor community in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Following a three-week search involving scores of local, federal, and international law enforcement entities, Minor-1 and her brother were recovered in Mexico and returned to New York. On two additional occasions, in or about March 2019 and March 2021, members of Lev Tahor again tried to kidnap Minor-1 and her brother.

NACHMAN HELBRANS, 39, of Guatemala, MAYER ROSNER, 44, of Guatemala, YAKOV WEINGARTEN, 30, of Guatemala, SHMIEL WEINGARTEN, 25, of Guatemala, and YOIL WEINGARTEN, 32, of Guatemala, are charged with (1) conspiring to transport a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and (2) conspiring to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/lev-tahor-leaders-charged-child-exploitation-offenses

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Turner Falls Man Charged with Child Pornography Offenses

BOSTON – A Turners Falls man was indicted last week by a federal grand jury in Springfield on child pornography charges.

Brian Cooper, 63, was charged on April 15, 2021 with four counts of distribution of child pornography, six counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Cooper will be arraigned in federal court at a later date.

According to the indictment, between April 2018 and October 2019, Cooper distributed, received and possessed child pornography files depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In October 2019, Cooper was arrested on state court charges and has been detained since that time.

For defendants with certain qualifying prior convictions, the charges of distribution and receipt of child pornography provide for a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to 40 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to 20 years in prison. Each charge also provides for a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; David E. Sullivan, Northwestern District Attorney; William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Mendell’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/turner-falls-man-charged-child-pornography-offenses

U.S. Attorney’s Office

District of Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Monday, April 19, 2021

Pittsfield Man Charged with Child Pornography Offenses

BOSTON – A federal grand jury in Springfield last week indicted a Pittsfield man on child pornography charges.

Benjamin Shacar, 34, was indicted on April 15, 2021 on 10 counts of receipt of child pornography and one count possession of child pornography. Shacar was charged by criminal complaint in March 2021.

According to charging documents, between August 2020 and March 2021, Shacar allegedly received and possessed child pornography. Law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Shacar’s residence and uncovered a thumb drive containing multiple files depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. During an on-scene interview, Shacar allegedly admitted that he viewed and downloaded child pornography from the internet.

The charge of receipt of child pornography provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and up to 20 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison. Each charge also provides for a mandatory minimum of five years and up to life of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Pittsfield Police Chief Michael J. Wynn made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Mendell’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/pittsfield-man-charged-child-pornography-offenses

2 drones near Ukraine

ISR + Tankers near Iran

Algerian Minster of Defence going ? (somewhere Portuguese)