SEPTEMBER 28--FBI agents targeting possible child porn collectors have built an undercover web site purporting to offer illicit videos for free, but which actually captures the IP address and other identifying information of suspects who click on download buttons offering samples of the site’s illegal clips, The Smoking Gun has learned.

The bureau’s operation last month snared a Department of State diplomatic security officer, according to court records. James Cafferty, 45, who was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in London, was named in an August 29 felony complaint charging him with possession of child pornography.

Cafferty first came to the attention of federal agents in the course of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement probe of a “criminal organization” that operated 18 separate web sites selling access to child pornography. The probe revealed that Cafferty, seen in the mug shot at right, had used his PayPal account to pay for access to five of those web sites.

While court records do not indicate when the investigation began, at least two of Cafferty’s PayPal charges date back to October 2006. The ICE probe “identified over 5000 U.S. individuals who subscribed” to child porn web sites.

Since Cafferty had “previously demonstrated an interest in obtaining child pornographic materials online,” he was tabbed to receive an unsolicited e-mail from an agent touting the undercover FBI web site.

As detailed in a confidential affidavit, recipients of the e-mail were provided the undercover web site’s url and a unique password (which was needed to advance beyond the site’s home page). Site visitors are met with a greeting welcoming them “to the hidden side of your soul, where you view the yung and innocent.”

Claiming to “have been around since 2002,” the site claims to offer “the best of private and series Child Pornography…all for FREE! All you have to do, enter in the password, and you’ll be viewing free CP for days.”

The site’s front page also carries a "Law Enforcement Note” announcing that, “If you happen to be in Law enforcement, FBI or Interpol and are viewing this website, it’s called free speech. There is nothing illegal about this website.” It also warned, “Even if you are able to shut us down, we pop up again somewhere else.”

When a visitor enters their password, they get a page listing about 35 child porn videos, all of which can be previewed--via a one-minute sample--by clicking an adjacent download button. Brief descriptions offer little doubt about the illicit nature of the respective clips.

As described in the affidavit, when a user “selects a video they are interested in and chooses to click on the download ‘button,'” their web browser opens another webpage that appears to start the child pornography video download.” However, after a few seconds, “the video download appears to slow and then stop.” In fact, the purported download was a ruse and not actually occurring. “No child pornography is actually made available to any individuals on the undercover website,” according to the affidavit.

In mid-July, investigators sent an e-mail solicitiation to Cafferty’s Yahoo e-mail address. Days later, Cafferty allegedly logged into the undercover web site from an IP address in London and selected to download a video purporting to depict “a 9-10 y.o. girl and man” engaged in a variety of sexual activity.

During a search last month at his Florida home, Cafferty reportedly confessed to using his PayPal account to purchase subscriptions to about 10 child porn web sites. He also admitted to “having approximately 10,000 to 15,000 files of child pornography” and accessing the FBI undercover web site, according to the confidential affidavit. Cafferty, a federal investigator noted, “provided a hand written confession to agents wherein he admitted to having child pornography on the computer media seized from his residence that he had transported home from London.”

Free on $50,000 bond, Cafferty has been placed on home incarceration by a federal magistrate who has barred him from using the Internet or having any unsupervised contact with minors.

The undercover web site used to entice Cafferty and other targets is the latest aggressive tactic used by federal agents to identify child porn suspects. A previous FBI operation featured a web site (“Wicked Adventures Travel”) purporting to offer pedophiles “exotic excursions” to the Philippines or Thailand, where they could have sex with children.

Earlier this year, Department of Homeland Security agents launched an undercover web site (“Precious Treasure Holiday Company”) that offered to arrange travel from the U.S. to Canada for illicit liaisons with minors. That DHS sting effort, however, itself fell victim to an online sting. (4 pages)