Indictments Soon in Child Porn Case (The Associated Press)

Web site allegedly had 250,000 subscribers

Originally published by The Associated Press, August 7, 2001

WASHINGTON — Federal authorities are expected to announce indictments this week in one of the largest international child porn investigations ever, law enforcement officials said Tuesday.

Subscribers to a child porn Web site connected to a Texas couple are among those expected to be indicted following a two-year probe by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and other federal authorities, officials said.

A news conference in Washington was scheduled for Wednesday, said Alan Holmes, head of the inspection service's southwest region.

A federal judge on Monday sentenced Thomas Reedy, 37, to life in prison and his 32-year-old wife, Janice, to 14 years in prison. The Fort Worth couple was convicted last year on charges including sexual exploitation of minors and distribution of child pornography.

The Reedy's home-based company, Landslide Inc., provided a credit card verification service that admitted customers into Web sites containing graphic pictures and videos of children engaging in sex acts with adults and with each other, the government said.

Landslide charged customers $29.95 per month for access and netted more than $1 million between 1997 and 1999, the government said.

The Web site had about 250,000 subscribers. Holmes said authorities tracked down some of them using electronic and credit card information gathered in an investigation conducted by the postal inspection service, U.S. Customs Service, the FBI and the Dallas Police Department. It is illegal to possess child pornography.

The porn sites were run by Web masters in Russia and Indonesia; warrants have been issued for their arrest.