Couple Convicted in Child Porn Case
By Toni Heinzl, Staff Writer
Originally published in The Fort Worth Star–Telegram, December 1, 2000
FORT WORTH — Thomas Reedy gave himself the email name "Houdini," but even the legendary escape artist could not have wiggled out of the net of evidence of child pornography that authorities built against Reedy's Fort Worth Internet company.
After deliberating 6.5 hours Friday, a federal jury convicted Reedy, 37, and his company, Landslide, on all 89 counts of an indictment accusing him of distribution of child pornography, sexual exploitation of minors and related charges.
His wife, Janice Reedy, 32, was convicted on 87 of the 89 counts. The two counts on which she was acquitted had to do with 70 pornographic images on two of the couple's home computers, which were used mainly by Thomas Reedy, according to trial testimony.
The Reedys were accused of giving Landslide subscribers access to Internet sites displaying child pornography for fees ranging from $14.95 to $29.95 per month per site. The sites were maintained by foreign Web masters.
Landslide was the only gateway to the child–porn sites, prosecutors said. On its Web site a "click here for child porn" link directed customers to the sites. Landslide gave its subscribers user names and passwords after verifying their credit cards.
The Reedys could face sentences of life in prison based on the number of counts, the money involved and the violent content of the Web sites they marketed and provided access to.
U.S. District Judge Terry Means will sentence the Reedys. He did not set a sentencing date, but federal sentencings typically occur a few months after conviction.
The Reedys played a high–stakes gamble taking the case to trial, despite the self–incriminating statements they gave investigators during a raid on their home last year and the mountain of evidence gathered.
Thomas Reedy had admitted to a postal inspector that 30–40 percent of his business came from child pornography.
Prosecutors had offered Reedy a plea bargain of 20 years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea and his wife five years in a package deal, but the couple refused to take it, prosecutors and defense attorneys said.
Prosecutors and investigators who worked for more than a year on the Landslide case said they hope the verdict will put other Internet merchants of child pornography on notice.
"I hope this verdict might scare other companies into stopping what they're doing," Assistant U.S. Attorney Terri Moore said. "Police and prosecutors get smarter about this stuff and we're going after them."
Dallas Police Detective Steve Nelson, who signed on undercover as a subscriber to Landslide and bought access to more than 20 child pornography sites, said he was relieved after the verdict.
Nelson, a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Dallas, had unearthed evidence of child pornography on sites called "Child Rape," "Children Forced to Porn," "I am 14" and more. He and other investigators saved and documented images that included scenes of children being raped by adults.
"This was the tip of the iceberg," he said. "Other companies should be put on notice that they will be dealt with if they exploit children."
Attorney Wes Ball, who defended Thomas Reedy and Landslide, said he will appeal. He reiterated to a reporter what he told the jury in his final argument: "We don't think the responsibility trickles down this far from the Web masters. The Web masters are absolutely responsible."
The Reedys were charged in a conspiracy with two Indonesian Web masters, R.W. Kusuma and Hanny Ingganata, and Russian Web master Boris Greenberg, who have not been arrested.
The Reedys netted more than $1 million with their porn business between 1997 and 1999 and paid about 60 percent to the foreign Web masters, federal prosecutors said. The child porn business provided a comfortable lifestyle for the couple. They lived in a $425,000 Lakeside home, and each drove a new Mercedes.
That abruptly ended last year when federal agents raided their company and home. The business was shut down. The cars were seized along with $130,000 in bank accounts and a few thousand dollars in stocks.
Since then, the bank foreclosed on their home.
Moore reminded jurors in her closing argument that the Reedys had gotten rich off the misery of children.
After Ball compared what they did with ticket takers at a movie theater who are not responsible for the movies, Moore gave jurors another analogy to think about.
"They're not the ticket takers, they're like the madam in a whorehouse," she said. "You can't see the girls without the madam."
Moore closed her final arguments with the haunting image of a family photograph of five young British children, dressed in school uniforms, displayed for the jury on a large projection screen.
This innocent family photograph included two children who had been sexually molested by their father in Manchester, England. A British detective had told the jury Thursday that she identified those children, seen in images on a child porn site that Landslide made available to its customers.
"This case is about people who steal the innocence of children," Moore said in her last words to the jury.
Janice Reedy cried as the verdict was announced. She hugged and kissed her husband as U.S. marshals took him into custody pending sentencing. Janice Reedy will remain free on bail until sentencing. Prosecutors said they do not consider her a flight risk because she is taking care of her 9–year–old daughter and does not have a passport.
