Suspect in Deputy's Murder, His Partner are Indicted on Federal Child Pornography Charges
By Ann W. O'Neill, Staff Writer
Originally published by the Sun-Sentinel, August 27, 2004
A federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale indicted police-slaying suspect Kenneth Wilk and his domestic partner on child pornography and witness-tampering charges Thursday.
The indictment sets the stage for a locally prosecuted federal death penalty case in the shooting. No murder charges have been filed, but they can be added in future indictments.
Wilk is accused of opening fire with a high-powered hunting rifle, killing Broward Sheriff's Detective Todd Fatta, 33. The 11-page indictment unsealed Thursday afternoon covers the same allegations that led a federal task force to Wilk's door on Aug. 19.
Because Fatta was a member of a task force serving federal warrants, the U.S. Attorney's Office has taken the lead in the anticipated capital case against Wilk.
Wilk, 43, will be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Lurana Snow on Sept. 3. No court date has been scheduled for his partner and co-defendant, Kelly Ray Jones, who is in the St. Lucie County jail.
For now, the grand jury accuses Wilk and Jones of scheming to obtain child pornography for Jones. The two men are accused of coming up with a plan to defy a court order prohibiting Jones from using the Internet to send or receive sexually explicit images of minors. Under the plan, the indictment stated, "Wilk would assist Jones in disobeying [the] court order by permitting Jones to used Wilk's AOL Internet account."
The indictment also accused the two men of plotting to destroy evidence and discourage a cooperating witness in the case against Jones, 39, who was arrested July 15. Evidence to be destroyed or hidden included compact computer disks and computer e-mail files.
Much of the alleged planning was captured in tape-recorded telephone calls from the St. Lucie County jail.
Jones was charged in St. Lucie County after he allegedly sent a sexually explicit image to an undercover detective there. He is being held on state charges and a federal hold alleging he violated terms of his release from prison.
According to the indictment, Jones was freed in May after serving most of a 28-month sentence for the 2001 case. Wilk used his credit card May 22 to sign up for an AOL account that Jones allegedly used to download child pornography. By June 3, the indictment alleged, Jones was transmitting child pornography over the Internet.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Debra Stuart, of Fort Pierce, and Bruce Brown, of Fort Lauderdale, signed the indictment. The two, along with Assistant U.S. Attorney John Kastrenakes, were among a contingent of federal prosecutors who appeared Wednesday at a pretrial detention hearing for Wilk in Fort Pierce.
The indictment also seeks forfeiture of the $300,000 Northeast Fort Lauderdale home Wilk and Jones shared, along with their computer equipment and alleged child pornography collection.
