Floridians Charged and Convicted in Connection with International Enterprise that Operated Sexually Exploitive ‘Child Modeling’ Websites

 

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Wednesday, August 18, 2021

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Floridians Charged and Convicted in Connection with International Enterprise that Operated Sexually Exploitive ‘Child Modeling’ Websites

A series of charges and convictions were announced today in connection with an international enterprise based in Florida that operated subscription-based sexually exploitive “child modeling” websites. According to court documents, Kenneth Power (deceased at 58, of Weston), was a principal member of the Newstar Enterprise – an internet-based business aimed at for-profit sexual exploitation of vulnerable children under the guise of “child modeling” through a collection of websites called the Newstar Websites. Patrice Eileen Wilowski-Mevorah, 53, of Tampa, and Mary Lou Bjorkman, 58, of Lutz, recently pleaded guilty to laundering money for the Newstar Enterprise. Other members of the Newstar Enterprise resided in Europe. Kenneth Power’s wife, Tatiana “Tanya” Power, 41, of Weston, is currently pending trial on money laundering charges in connection with the Newstar Enterprise. According to court documents, founded around 2005, the Newstar Enterprise built, maintained, hosted and operated the Newstar Websites on servers in the United States and abroad. To populate the Newstar Websites with content, Newstar Enterprise members sourced, enticed, solicited and recruited males and females under the age of 18, some of whom were prepubescent, to use as “child models” for the Newstar Websites. Using the recruited child-victims, the Newstar Enterprise produced more than 4.6 million sexualized images and videos to distribute and sell on the Newstar Websites. Some of those images and videos, though non-nude, depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. For example, images and videos sold on the Newstar Websites depicted children as young as 6 years old in sexual and provocative poses, wearing police and cheerleader costumes, thong underwear, transparent underwear, revealing swimsuits, pantyhose and miniskirts. Most of the child-victims - recruited from Ukraine, Moldova and other nations in Eastern Europe - were particularly vulnerable due to their age, family dynamics and poverty. Law enforcement officers have disabled the servers hosting the Newstar Websites. The Newstar Enterprise maintained a membership list for subscribers and customers of the Newstar Websites, who originated from 101 nations across the world. Images in the websites’ galleries were freely available to the public to preview, but greater access and more content required purchasing a subscription. The sale of purported “child modeling” content on the Newstar Websites generated more than $9.4 million during the course of the conspiracy. To process, receive and distribute this money, Newstar Enterprise members fraudulently opened merchant and bank accounts in the United States and laundered proceeds using a bogus jewelry company.  To date, four members of the Newstar Enterprise have been charged in connection with the Newstar Websites. The chart below shows the statuses of each case.

Name	Case Number	Charge(s)	Status	Maximum Penalty
Tatiana Power	8:21-cr-244-MSS-AAS	Conspiracy to commit money laundering; international promotion money laundering; concealment money laundering	Indicted, pending trial	100 years’ imprisonment
Kenneth Power	8:21-cr-00032-SDM-AAS	Conspiracy to advertise child pornography; conspiracy to distribute child pornography	Defendant deceased; case dismissed	60 years’ imprisonment
Patrice Wilowski-Mevorah	8:21-cr-00206-MSS-TGW	Conspiracy to commit money laundering	Pleaded guilty, sentence pending	20 years’ imprisonment
Mary Lou Bjorkman	8:21-cr-00227-SDM-AAS	Conspiracy to commit money laundering	Pleaded guilty, sentence pending	20 years’ imprisonment

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The defendants have also been notified that the United States intends to forfeit a total of $9.4 million, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses, in addition to real property located in Florida.

These cases were investigated by Homeland Security Investigations in Tampa, with substantial assistance provided by Homeland Security Investigations offices in Fort Lauderdale, Athens, and the Hague, as well as the IRS-Criminal Investigation in Tampa. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided investigative assistance.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Murray of the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Kyle Reynolds of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) are prosecuting these cases.

This investigation benefited from foreign law enforcement cooperation and substantial assistance by the Republic of Bulgaria, Supreme Cassation Prosecution Office and National Investigation Service; the Republic of Moldova, Office of the Prosecutor General and National Inspectorate of Investigations; the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Department for Combating Crime Cybercrime Office, Public Prosecution Service (North-Holland Unit); the Italian Republic; and the Czech Republic, Supreme Public Prosecutor’s Office, Czech Police.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Component(s): 

Criminal Division

Criminal - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section

USAO - Florida, Middle

Press Release Number: 

Sex assault accusers describe Bay Area coach’s ‘cult-like’ hold on them

Chioke Robinson faces 19 felony charges in sex assault case:

LOS GATOS – JULY 26: People space out and listen to speakers during a Stand for Survivor Solidarity event held on the football field of Los Gatos High School in Los Gatos, Calif., on Sunday, July 26, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/ Bay Area News Group)

By CURTIS PASHELKA 

SAN JOSE – A graphic and sometimes emotional preliminary hearing for a former South Bay track and field coach charged with multiple counts of sexual assault against underage girls is expected to conclude Monday in Santa Clara County Superior Court.

Chioke “Chee” Robinson, 46, has been charged with 19 felonies, including eight counts of oral copulation with a minor under 18 and five counts of sexual penetration with a minor under 18.

Deputy District Attorney Anne Seery plans to have San Jose Police Detective Michael O’Grady testify Monday morning. After that, Judge Julia Alloggiamento will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial.

Through the first four days of the hearing last week, four women who were coached by Robinson while in high school testified that they had sexual interactions with him before their 18th birthdays, with one witness saying her first encounter took place when she was 14 or 15. A fifth woman testified Friday that she was 14 when Robinson grabbed her breasts and touched her genital area.

The alleged incidents described in court took place between 1998 and 2011.

Three of the women said they were 17 when Robinson first had sexual intercourse with them. The former coach is also charged with four counts of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor age 14 or 15, one count of lewd and lascivious acts with a minor under 14, and oral copulation with a minor under 16.

Throughout the week, prosecutors sought to portray Robinson as a predatory figure who would gain the trust of his underage victims through ordinary coach-athlete interactions. The relationships then would grow more flirtatious, ultimately turning physical.

Multiple witnesses testified that they sought to please and protect Robinson, who they said was a controlling figure in their lives. One woman who attended Presentation High School, said she began a years-long sexual relationship with Robinson in 2006, when she was 17 and a member of his club team, ISC International.

“My life all revolved around him,” she said, later adding that the track club had a “cult-like mentality. We all just followed.”

Another woman, who broke down crying at one point under cross-examination, said she lied to Los Gatos police about their relationship. She testified Thursday that she was 14 at the time of her first sexual encounter with Robinson in 1998. As a once-promising runner, she said she was “recruited” to attend Los Gatos High School and compete in both track and field and cross-country.

That witness testified she had just started her freshman year and got to know Robinson after seeing him every day at cross-country practice. She said Robinson told her that she was a good athlete and then began to give her “extra attention” by giving her rides home and regularly calling her own home phone.

She testified that their relationship began with kissing but said the two had their first sexual encounter on a stairwell after a South Bay cross-country meet at another high school. The incident involved oral sex and other acts. After that encounter, the relationship became more sexual as the two saw each other alone on a more frequent basis.

“I was sort of numb,” she testified on direct examination when asked how that made her feel. “I didn’t know what to make of the attention.”

She testified that the first time Robinson had sexual intercourse with her was in the spring of her freshman year after she had turned 15 in January.

By the time she was a sophomore, she testified that she felt she was in a full, “secret relationship” with Robinson, one that continued for approximately six more years. She said the two moved in together around the time of her 18th birthday, but that she broke off the relationship in 2005 when she was 21.

7-years later in DC - Relisha Rudd is still missing...

Relisha Rudd is still missing, and police are still looking for her.

It has been seven years since the then 8-year-old Relisha Rudd went missing from a D.C. homeless shelter.

This ad will end in 23

 

Author: Kolbie Satterfield (WUSA 9)

WASHINGTON — July 11 is designated as Relisha Rudd Awareness Day.

The then 8-year-old girl went missing seven years ago on March 1, 2014, but wasn’t reported missing until 18 days later on March 19, 2014.

Relisha disappeared from a homeless shelter her family was staying at in Northeast D.C.

The young girl was last seen on surveillance video at a hotel with Kahlil Tatum, a 51-year-old janitor at D.C. General Family Shelter, the shelter her family was staying at.

Tatum’s wife was murdered in an Oxon Hill motel shortly after Relisha was reported missing.

RELATED: Relisha Rudd suspect Kahlil Tatum's Divorce papers

On April 1, 2014, Tatum was found dead at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, according to D.C. Police. It was later discovered that Tatum killed himself before he could be questioned by police. There was no sign of Relisha.

"We kind of failed Relisha Rudd on so many different levels, so many different people, from the community, from family, from government, law enforcement,” Henderson Long, a missing person’s advocate and CEO of D.C.’s Missing Voice said.

Credit: National Association of Missing and Exploited Children

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children along with the DC Metropolitan Police Department released a new age progression for Relisha Rudd.

“Always keep hope, never give up, never stop searching,” Long said. “My main message today (July 11) is that so anybody who knows anything, even if it’s the least little thing about the disappearance or the whereabouts of Relsiha Rudd to dial into MPD.”

If you know anything about Relisha’s disappearance or whereabouts, call 202-727-9099.

There is a $50,000 reward for information.

for information.

Nutrition Crisis Looms as Pandemic Cuts 39 Billion School Meals Worldwide

By 

Agnieszka de Sousa

January 28, 2021, 2:26 AM PST

• Some 370 million children miss 40% of school meals in pandemic
• Many are reliant on school meals for key source of nutrition

With many children reliant on school meals as a key source of nutrition, agencies urged governments to prioritize school reopening. Photographer: Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

A global nutrition crisis is looming as 39 billion school meals have been missed since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, risking the futures of millions of the poorest children, according to the United Nations.

Closed classrooms mean 370 million children on average have missed about 40% of school meals globally, the UN’s World Food Programme and Unicef Office of Research said in a report. With many children reliant on the meals as a key source of nutrition, the agencies urged governments to prioritize school reopening.

“We risk losing a whole generation,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement. “For many, the nutritious meal they get in school is the only food they will receive all day.”

Healthy and nutritious food is becoming out of reach for millions of people as the pandemic reduces incomes and boosts unemployment. Children can feel the effects of a poor diet well into adulthood, as it can weaken immune systems, limit mobility and even impair brain functioning. Malnutrition can also cause poor school performance, hurting future career prospects.

Food Access

Percentage of the population that cannot afford a healthy diet

Source: FAO

Meal programs can provide incentives for the most vulnerable children to return to school. Estimates show that 24 million children are at risk of dropping out of school due to the coronavirus crisis, reversing enrollment progress made in recent decades, the UN agencies said

FAMILY TRAVELS CROSS-COUNTRY TO JOIN SEARCH FOR MISSING DAUGHTER

 

The family of 22-year-old Abigael Bellows arrived in Oregon Friday as the search for the woman, who disappeared under the waters near Clearwater Park, entered its fourth day.

Posted: Jul 25, 2020 5:47 PM

Updated: Jul 26, 2020 8:59 AM

Posted By: Jacob Roberts 

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. – The family of 22-year-old Abigael Bellows arrived in Oregon Friday as the search for the woman, who disappeared under the waters near Clearwater Park, entered its fourth day.

Tressa Bellows, Abigael’s mother, said her daughter was swimming with friends along the Middle Fork Willamette River near Clearwater Park on Wednesday when witnesses saw her disappear underwater without a lifejacket. Bellows said search crews responded immediately to the scene, but were unable to locate her daughter.

RELATED: SEARCH CONTINUES FOR SWIMMER MISSING NEAR CLEARWATER PARK

Crews with Lane County Search and Rescue have combed the area every day since Abigael disappeared, but with no luck. Bellows said searchers have been using boats, divers, dogs and drones during their searches.

“We are hoping and praying that the river releases her, and search and rescue is able to bring her back to us,” Bellows said.

Abigael’s family, who live in Pennsylvania, arrived Friday night in time to join searchers Saturday morning.

Bellows said her daughter has lived in Eugene for the past two years and moved here after falling in love with the area while visiting.

“She is incredibly beautiful. She is smart. She is loving. She is full of hope and positivity. And her energy – it’s too big for this world,” Bellows said.

Bellows said Abigael was a successful student at Duquesne University, but left to pursue interests in the environment and was passionate about sustainable food.

“She came out to the west coast and she fell in love with the lifestyle here,” Bellows said. “She wanted to forge her own path. She wanted to make her own mark in the world.”

Longtime parkgoers said that the