Alleged Pedophile Nabbed After Global Hunt

May 8, 2008 — -- An unidentified man who was sought by Interpol because he was allegedly seen in photographs sexually abusing children in Southeast Asia has been captured in the United States, law enforcement officials told ABC News.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested Wayne Nelson "Casey Wayne" Corliss early this morning at his Union City, N.J., apartment. Interpol said Corliss, a U.S. citizen, confessed to the crimes during police questioning.

Earlier this week, Interpol launched Operation IDent, a global appeal for help in identifying a man seen in a group of images investigators found on the Internet and others taken from the computer of a convicted pedophile.

Corliss' arrest came as a result of tips from three people in the United States, which came to Interpol via the Internet.

Interpol investigators said the images depicting the abuse numbered at least 800, and were thought to have been taken in Southeast Asia between April 2000 and May 2001. In the photos, investigators said, the man appeared to be sexually abusing a minimum of three boys between the ages of 6 and 10.

The criminal complaint filed in Corliss' case says the images that allegedly show him engaged in sex acts with boys first came to the attention of Norwegian police in March 2006 after authorities retrieved them from a file named "Thai_Luv" on the computer of a different child exploitation suspect arrested in that country and later convicted.

The photos "depict the offender engaged with Asian, prepubescent minors in sexually explicit conduct." The criminal complaint notes that the face of the suspect, allegedly Corliss, "is clearly shown."

After discovering the photos, authorities in Norway alerted Interpol, and the agency's child exploitation unit attempted to identify the man using digital comparison techniques to search through its Child Abuse Image Database and by consulting a network of experts around the world for help before reaching out to the public.