Osama bin Laden Replaced by Child Porn Suspect on Most Wanted List
FBI officially replaces deceased al Qaeda leader on top 10, most-wanted list.
April 10, 2012 — -- A suspected child pornographer has replaced the late Osama bin Laden on the FBI's most-wanted list.
Eric Justin Toth, a former third-grade teacher at the prestigious Beauvoir-National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., is the newest addition to the list, joining people the FBI call the worst of the worst fugitives.
Toth has been sought by the FBI's Washington Field Office for almost four years since he was indicted in December 2008 after pornographic images were found months before on a school camera that Toth had used for some time. It is unclear how many children he has allegedly abused and possibly molested. Details of an indictment against him in Washington are under seal at the federal court, according to FBI officials.
There have been two vacancies on the Most Wanted list since al Qaeda leader bin Laden was killed and former organized crime figure James "Whitey" Bulger was captured last year.
Toth was last seen in Arizona in 2009 after he was believed to have been on the run through Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to the FBI. Officials suspect that Toth works as a tutor and possibly as a male nanny seeking access to children.
The FBI also said it believes he is skilled with computers and is security conscious. FBI officials said he is able to be reassuring and is capable of gaining the trust of people, making him dangerous. He might be preying on more children because child pornographers often are repeat offenders, the officials said.
The addition of Toth to the list comes almost one year after bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs last May. The FBI is offering up to $100,000 for information directly leading to Toth's arrest. Bin Laden had a $25 million bounty on him, courtesy of the State Department's Rewards for Justice Program.
The FBI does not rank the slots on the list, but instead says the fugitives all have equal weight. Each of the 56 FBI field offices nominates its most-wanted criminals to the list.
Of the 495 fugitives who have been on the Top Ten list since it was created in 1950, 465 (94 percent) have been caught, according to the FBI.