Northwest Georgia Man Alleged to have Produced an Internationally-Known Series of Child Pornography Images Arrested on Federal Charges

JAMES BARTHOLOMEW "BART" HUSKEY, 38, of LaFayette, Georgia, has been arrested by federal, state and local law enforcement authorities on a federal criminal complaint charging him with manufacturing child pornography and uploading it to the Internet.

"This defendant allegedly produced a notorious series of images of child sexual abuse that have circulated around the world, with demand from the most hard-core and despicable child porn consumers," said David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. "The series of videos depict a girl being abused from the time she was approximately 5 years old to when she was 9 years old. Law enforcement around the country has taken extraordinary steps to find this alleged predator, and he has now allegedly been found, in Northwest Georgia."

According to United States Attorney Nahmias and the information presented in court: In June 2006, authorities in Australia informed FBI Headquarters' Innocent Images Unit about an international investigation into the activities of a group of child pornography traders. These traders used sophisticated security measures to protect their trading of child porn from authorities. FBI agents began investigating this group and recovered particularly graphic and disturbing photos and videos depicting sexual abuse of a young girl being traded among the group. Over the last two years, the images of this child being violently sexually assaulted grew gradually worse. The Innocent Images Unit of the FBI, working with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, (NCMEC), the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Richmond Field Office of the FBI, Maine State Police, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Atlanta Field Office of the FBI, worked to identify the victim child, who had been given a specific name by the perpetrator of the abuse. Using details in some of the photos and videos, law enforcement was able to identify HUSKEY as the alleged perpetrator of the sexual abuse depicted in the series of images.

On June 16, 2008, HUSKEY was arrested at his residence in LaFayette, Georgia. According to the criminal complaint, HUSKEY admitted he had abused the child victim and had sent the images of the abuse out over the Internet. The victim was also identified and interviewed and she confirmed that HUSKEY had sexually assaulted her over a period of time and had videotaped the assaults.

HUSKEY's two children have been taken into protective custody by Georgia state authorities.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Richmond, Virginia, the Innocent Images Unit at FBI Headquarters and the Safe Child Task Force at FBI's Atlanta Division; with key investigative assistance from the Internet Crimes Against Children unit of the Maine State Police, and the United States Postal Inspection Service. Assistance has also been provided by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI), Catoosa County Sheriff's Office, Fort Oglethorpe Police Department and the Walker County Sheriff's Office, along with input and assistance from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Assistant United States Attorneys Francey Hakes and Corey Steinberg are prosecuting the case.

This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the Attorney General launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney's Offices around the country, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

For further information please contact David E. Nahmias (pronounced NAH-me-us), United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.