Four Texas men arrested when child porn website is shut down

The largest child pornography website in history has been shut down, following an investigation involving various global agencies, netting more than 340 arrests. 

According to the Department of Justice, at least four Texas men were arrested: 

  • Michael Ezeagbor, 22, of Pflugerville was arrested and charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute child pornography
  • Eliseo Arteaga Jr., 28, of Mesquite pleaded guilty in the Northern District of Texas to possession of prepubescent child pornography.
  • Richard Nikolai Gratkowski, 40, of San Antonio pleaded guilty in the Western District of Texas on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of access with intent to view child pornography
  • Paul Casey Whipple, 35, of Hondo was arrested in the Western District of Texas, on charges of sexual exploitation of children/minors, production, distribution, and possession of child pornography.  

Arteaga Jr is pending sentencing.

Gratkowski, a former HSI special agent, was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution to seven victims and a $10,000 assessment.

Whipple, a U.S. Border Patrol Agent, remains in custody awaiting trial in San Antonio.

On Thursday, FOX 7 Austin visited Ezeagbor’s home — as he has bonded out. His mother answered the door and said her son was in class. She said her son is autistic and that he is mentally years younger than his birth age and believes he too, is a victim. 

Ezeagbor was caught, as most of those arrested were, by using Bitcoin on the site. 

Law enforcement got their big break by finding and impounding the site's server. They were then able to find Bitcoin addresses and trace them back to exchanges. Information must be exchanged during exchanges, so, using subpoenas, law enforcement officers were able to identify and catch predators. 

“This technology creates transparency, not the other way around,” McCombs Business School clinical assistant professor Tej Anand said.

Anand works with the Blockchain initiative and says he has never seen a case like this. 

“If this website was only accepting money in cash, it would have been harder to trace, impossible to trace,” he said.