When the FBI agents arrived outside the house of William Speyerman in the quiet suburb of Madison, Alabama in November 2022, they were ready for danger.
His search was so important for the warrant bureau that it was approved by the FBI Director himself. When the agents broke the door of the Spearman with strategic explosives, the Speyman fought back, stroked with agents as he was barely out of reaching their three handguns. The FBI managed to arrest a high-value, handcuffs and arrest Spearman, which was called by a top justice department official.
The Spearman went with the surname and was labeled by the Department of Justice “by the Department of Justice” as one of the most important “purveers of child sexual abuse materials in the world. His arrest in 2022, a year later, was part of an unprecedented Techdown of his convicted petition and his final life sentence.
The Spearman is one of at least 18 people, who have been convicted so far and use the dark web to share hundreds of children of children. The Department of Justice tells the investigation and the operation of the prosecution to Grassscul; This helped secure the arrests and shut down four heavy smuggled dark web sites, where violent and horrific images of hair sexual abuse were traded and kept.
Operation Grassscul investigation was launched in 2020, when law enforcement agents saw a spike in traffic on a dark web site on suspicion of hosting child abuse materials. According to an FBI official who spoke with CBS News, Dark Web Child Abuse Sites eventually attracted over 120,000 members, more than millions of files and at least 100,000 visits in a single day.
Matthew Geloti, head of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, said, “Even for prosecutors, it is difficult to understand how wide it is.”
“Because it happens on the dark web, people are not aware of it. It is extremely disturbing,” he told CBS News.
In the case of Spearman, there are similarities for many others uncontrolled by Operation Grassscul. Speerman was accused of helping to lead a dark web site with thousands of users and members. A memo presented to the court said that it was “no surprise” that he had tried to oppose the FBI instead of surrendering.
Memo said, “The equipment made at his desk had mass evidence, proving that he was the chief administrator of the website A.” “Unexpectedly, the devices of the defendant also had a huge collection of images and videos reflecting the rape and misuse of children.”
To operate a dark website for illegal exploitative images, Selvin Rousnstein was sentenced to 28 years in jail in 2022. The prosecutors stated that the platform “was not just a website; it was a large, active community and (abused material) enthusiast of the pedophile. And it was present in the part due to the criminal acts of the defendant.”
According to the Department of Justice, Rosenstein had such a large amount of derogatory images, they needed to store on some servers, which he used to run his business.
Talking to a second floor conference room at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington last week, Geloti told CBS News members of these Dark Web Child Abuse sites to contribute to the members of these Dark web child abuse sites to often pay the fees “Earn Membership”, “Immortal Help” or contribute to images or materials of child abuse.
Geloti said, “We are fortunately very sophisticated prosecutors and agents who work exclusively on this kind of thing. These are people who have more technical understanding.”
He said, “Defendants in this case, as they can be, are somewhat sophisticated,” and use encryption, he said.
Operation Grancul also acquired the punishment of Matthew Garel of Rale, Northern Carolina, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for misuse material to operate on a dark web site.
“Garels are engaged in a very complex and technically refined plot, which is more than unique child exploitation crimes,” the prosecutors said.
He argued in a court that Garel had a “handbook” of a hunter with “detailed instructions” to prepare children for future misuse.
The Tekdown of dark web leaders and users also included men from Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Michigan and Oklahoma.
“They were part of an online community of hundreds of thousands, with rules of leadership roles and a general dedicated purpose,” said Chris Delzoto, Deputy Assistant Director of a caretaker FBI. Delzoto told CBS News, “Some people must have imagined how (child abuse material) will allow the Internet, the way it is today.”
The federal inquiry that exposed and closed the first dark web site closed three others. FBI Unit chief Abigel Becksio told CBS News. “The leadership team operated one of the sites, which also operates others.”
The Department of Justice is helping future misuse or production of illegal images as a win to shut down those sites. “This is one of the most successful ever,” Geloti said. “We destroyed four websites that have not been revived.”
