Feds: Child-porn network operated in Fort Dix prison

CAMDEN - When about a dozen men were sent to a South Jersey prison for separate child-pornography crimes, life behind bars didn’t stop them from viewing images of sexually assaulted children, authorities say.

The men allegedly used contraband cellphones at Federal Correctional Institute Fort Dix to access child pornography on the “Dark Web,” a federal investigator says in a newly filed criminal complaint.

The inmates stored images and videos of child sex abuse on Internet-based cloud accounts and on small digital cards that can be inserted in a smart phone.

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One inmate even made a hiding place in a Bible, cutting out “a tiny square of space” to hold a “micro SD card” loaded with child pornography, FBI Special Agent Kevin Matthews said in an affidavit filed Friday in federal court, Camden.

The affidavit also notes an upsurge in illegal phones at the Fort Dix prison, which holds about 4,400 men in low- and minimum-security settings.

“In recent years, the seizures of contraband cellphones at FCI Fort Dix have increased dramatically,” Matthews notes.

His affidavit says 1,522 phones were confiscated in 2016, up from 652 a year earlier and 217 in 2014.

Statistics for last year's seizures were not immediately available from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

Matthews describes cellphone possession as one of the "greatest severity level prohibited acts" for federal prisons, noting the offense can add up to a year to an inmate’s sentence.

Nonetheless, an inmate cooperating with investigators said prisoners typically used contraband phones to view child pornography in their living areas. He said phones were hidden "in light fixtures, jacket liners, closets and under lockers,” according to the affidavit.

That inmate, whose name was not made public, said prisoners at Fort Dix also “are getting tattoos, cooking alcohol and doing drugs,” the affidavit says.

The inmate said each housing unit at the facility had one corrections officer and stairwell lookouts “are able to notify the unit when an officer leaves his or her office."

According to Matthews, the alleged ringleader of a child-porn network — a Virginia man named Anthony C. Jeffries — purchased a black-market phone for about $1,000.

At least one other inmate contributed to the purchase price for Jeffries, who rented the phone to other prisoners for $6 an hour, the FBI agent said.

Jeffries, 32, was one of five inmates charged in April 2017 with alleged involvement in the child-porn network. He is now being held at a federal detention center in Philadelphia, according to the BOP.

The affidavit accompanies a criminal complaint filed Friday against three more inmates — Jacob Good, Charles Wesley Bush and William Noble.

It contends the inmates used an Internet browser called The Onion Route, or TOR, to access child-porn sites and cloud-based storage sites. According to the affidavit, TOR uses “virtual tunnels” that follow indirect routes, so a computer user can evade detection by authorities.

The inmates shared a false user name and a password to access the cloud-storage sites.

Good, who allegedly hollowed out part of his Bible, was sent to FCI Fort Dix after pleading guilty to child-pornography offenses in Virginia in July 2013.

A search of his locker in April 2016 found two scraps of paper with addresses for so-called “Dark Web” sites, the affidavit says.

Good, 26, told an inmate he intended to use the same process to look at child pornography after his release from custody.

“I’ll be honest. I have no intention of stopping,” he allegedly said during a secretly recorded conversation in November 2016.

Good is set to leave custody Tuesday, Feb. 6, for a five-year period of supervised release, according to the BOP.

Noble, 52, is serving an almost seven-year term for child porn convictions in Massachusetts. He is scheduled for release next month.

Bush, 38, is serving more than 13 years, with a scheduled release date in 2024, for child porn convictions in Tennessee.

Good, Noble and Bush were charged with possession of child pornography on federal property.

Good also was charged with access with intent to view child pornography. Noble and Bush are accused of distributing and conspiring to distribute child pornography.

Two other inmates, who have not been publicly identified, are suspected of being members of the child-porn network, the affidavit says.

It indicates at least two prisoners are cooperating with investigators.

A child-porn offender identified as CHS-1 told authorities about the alleged ring in June 2016. He was motivated by a desire to be moved to another facility, the affidavit says.

An unnamed ring member offered to cooperate in February 2017 after he sold an SD card containing child pornography to the original informant.

Conversations recorded during the investigation include graphic descriptions of children being assaulted in photos and videos, as well as discussions on how to move data from the Internet to smartphones.

In an April 2017 conversation, Jeffries allegedly expressed mistrust of other inmates and expressed concern the ring could be exposed if too many prisoners learned of it.

“I’m honestly surprised that the circle has stayed as small as it has,” he said, unaware his words were being recorded.

Jim Walsh: @jwalsh_cp; 856-486-2646; jwalsh@gannettnj.com

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