Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood?
It just goes to show, you really never can tell who your sharing a neighborhood with. No sooner did we get settled in the suburbs of Maryland, than we learned we'd been sharing our former neighborhood (or at least part of it) with an alleged purveyor of child pornography. Fortunately, we were already sitting down when we heard news that a D.C. man from our old stomping grounds was arrested recently for using his computer to traffic in child pornography.
According to reports, from news sources including the W.Times, Bruch Schiffer used his personal computer as a file server to advertise, transport and recieve files -- including pornographic pictures of young boys, toddlers, and even infants. Police found 11,000 images on Schiffer's computer. Accordring to the charges against him, Schiffer allegedly used an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel to advertise his willingness to send and receive such materials.
Sounds like he was a busy man, who may have wanted to be even busier.
According to the papers filed in court, Schiffer corresponded with sex offenders in prison and expressed his desire to rape children.
No word on whether Schiffer ever acted on those desires, but -- considering that somebody's kids had to be used in the images Schiffer's accused of having sent, received, stored and advertised -- it seems almost irrelevant. That is, of course, if he's guilty.
Schiffer was indicted last week, after an investigation by the FBI, the Pennsylvania State Police and the High Tech Investigative Unit of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section at the Criminal Division. On Monday, he was arraigned before a federal magistrate. If convicted, he'll have plenty of time to confer with sex offenders in prison; something in the neighborhood of 15 to 30 years.
Like we said earlier, you just never know. So, if you have kids, maybe the next time they want to go to the playground, the corner store, or more than a foot past the front stoop, you'll do more than just send them. Maybe you'll go with them.