Child-Porn Sting Nets International Group

March 15, 2006 — -- Twenty-seven people have been charged in an online child-pornography sting, according to the Department of Justice.

Federal agents made arrests in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee, according to officials. The investigation began in Canada and included charges made in Australia and Britain.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency led the U.S. investigation. Details of the sting were announced today at a news conference in Chicago.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales had said in the past that the Justice Department would focus on crimes against children and online pornography.

"The behavior in the chat room and the images sent around the world ... are the worst imaginable form of child pornography," Gonzales said today at the news conference.

Seven child victims of sexual molestation were identified as a result of the investigation, and four alleged molesters are among the 27 defendants charged in the continuing investigation.

In Chicago three defendants were charged with conspiracy to possess, receive, solicit and distribute child pornography in a seven-count indictment returned Tuesday by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Illinois. A fourth defendant was charged separately in a related indictment.

The conspiracy indictment against Brian A. Annoreno, of Bartlett, Ill.; Gregory J. Sweezer, of Aurora, Ill.; and Lisa A. Winebrenner, of Osceola, Iowa; alleges that they, together with the other 24 individuals, tapped into the chat room from computers around the world and participated in the chat room through chats and file-sharing.

"Molestation 'on demand' and an ever-younger and more defenseless group of child victims are two of the most disturbing trends [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] investigators see when they infiltrate child-pornography rings. This case had both," said Julie Myers, assistant secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.