I took a long sip of beer and continued, “My sources tell me the shit is hitting the fan this week. It involves porn, the dark web—whatever the hell that is—underage girls, and maybe Monte Tatum.”
“Damn, Walker, the hits keep coming,” said Gravy. “Did Eva Johnson give you any worthwhile information?”
“She was very helpful. Tatum is a slimeball. How big of one? Yet to be determined.”
He took a bite of the pizza, wiped the sauce off his chin. Only Gravy would find sauce in an almost sauceless pizza. I drank my Bud Light. The staff gave us extra attention, wanting to make up for the fight last week. New beers appeared before we finished the ones on the table.
“Are you going to be able to help Bree?”
I shook my head. “Too early to tell for sure. I haven’t quite found the right pressure point, but we need to see how this week plays out.”
Gravy said, “Remember, Tatum’s a vindictive bastard. He backed off after his lawsuit was thrown out by the judge. If you take him on again, you could be creating another lifelong enemy, something you don’t need.”
“He’ll have to get in line.”
When I got back to the loft, someone had painted in blood red on the gray metal door, “Murderer.” Living downtown, doors and walls were regularly tagged. I got out the gray paint, and Big Boy watched me repaint the door. No need for the staff to see this kind of crap.
The dog stood guard while I worked. Maybe he was getting a little worried, too.
26
At 4:00 a.m. my cell phone rang. Alphonse Tyndall said, “It’s going down now. Might want to have someone outside Central Booking.”
I called and woke up Teddy. “Ted, I hate to ask, but the cops are busting a big porn ring. Need you over at Central Booking. Get photos of everybody going in.”
I could hear Mal in the background asking what was happening. Teddy shushed her before agreeing to go.
Bleary eyed, Teddy came into the office at 7:00 a.m. with Mal in tow. I had coffee and bagels on the counter.
“They arrested about a dozen people,” said Mal. “A few faces you might recognize.”
Teddy loaded the memory card from his camera on his Mac. Monte Tatum’s disheveled mug was among the photos.
Mal said, “The deputies said that there would be a press conference at the county courthouse at 11:00 a.m.”
I immediately wrote on the blog.
BUZZ: PORN RING BUSTED
Early this morning, law enforcement rounded up what may be a national pornography ring run out of the Pensacola area. Several people arrested, including at least one local bar owner. A press conference is scheduled for 11:00 a.m.
Teddy and Mal picked out the four best photos, and Teddy began to edit them for the paper. We still needed the week’s issue completed and to the printer by 6:00 p.m. Fortunately, all the editorial had been copyedited and approved. Only two ads were outstanding.
At the staff meeting, we agreed to pull one news story, a profile of the new president of one of the hospitals. Instead, I would attend the press conference and complete an article by 2:00 p.m.
At the courthouse, the media gathered in Courtroom 601. Sheets covered two easels near the podium. Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents prevented us from peeking under them. Someone had tipped off CNN, and they had a crew from Atlanta in the room.
Florida Attorney General Charles Gore walked to the podium, flanked by State Attorney Newton, Sheriff Frost, Tyndall, and several law enforcement officers.
Tall, slim, gray-haired Gore said, “This morning we arrested thirteen men and women associated with a national pornography operation that generated millions of dollars exploiting women and children.”
The FDLE agents pulled back the sheets, revealing poster boards with photographs of those arrested. Tatum’s mug shot wasn’t there. Good thing I didn’t mention him in the blog post. At the top of the boards was written “Operation Cherry Bomb.”
Gore explained Operation Cherry Bomb had begun a year ago when police in Miami found a large porn site, Deb’s Playpen, populated with photos and videos of teenagers under the age of eighteen. Agent Alphonse Tyndall gained administrative access by anonymously posting photos with a computer code hidden in the file.
“It’s really cutting-edge police work,” said Gore. “Once he gained administrative access, Agent Tyndall attached the code to other photos on the site. Every time a website visitor clicked on an image, their computer also downloaded extra data that reported back to us the computer’s true IP address and type of operating system.”
Tyndall found that the Web server was physically located in a Pensacola-based hosting service, Lightning DNN. While the team had access to the website, they didn’t know the identities of the users and their passwords.
With a judge’s approval, the Child Predator Cybercrime Task Force staked out the home of one Lightning DNN employee, Wesley McKee, who was also tied to a film company that was secretly shooting porn videos in the area using amateurs. The film company uploaded the videos to Deb’s Playpen.
“At five this morning, we picked up McKee, Cecil Rantz, the owner of Happy Cumings Films, and their accomplices,” said Gore. “We have their computers, laptops, and portable hard drives. We also have what we believe is the master list of all 27,000 users of the site.”
The reporters pelted Gore and Tyndall with questions. They didn’t answer many of them, saying the investigation was still active. More documents would be released after the grand jury indicted the individuals and later at the trials.
I said, “Mr. Gore, Walker Holmes with Pensacola Insider. What has been the involvement of local law enforcement agencies?”
Sheriff Frost’s face turned red. He stared at me, willing me to die. Not quite sure if I knew about his brother’s secret.
“They have been very cooperative,” said Gore. “Without their manpower, we couldn’t have made all the arrests in less than three hours.”
I said, “Our photographer was at Central Booking this morning. He took photos of people not included
