Newton and Truongâ€™s secret life began to unravel at a New Zealand home in August 2011 when a fan of their work and fellow sex offender was arrested with computer drives containing â€œhappy snapsâ€ of Adam and his parents among images of child exploitation.



To the untrained eye, the pictures depicted a family outing, but to a network of veteran detectives the snaps triggered grave concern.



â€œOn examination of the drives, they located some of the images â€“ whilst they were not of a nature that would constitute a criminal offence, to the trained eye, and there is a network of investigators across the world who do this on a daily basis, the images were not what you would see as a traditional family snap,â€™â€™ said Detective Inspector Jon Rouse, head of Queensland police Taskforce Argos which targets pedophilia.



â€œThe pictures were kind of modeling shots, it looked wrong to us,â€ said Inspector Rouse in an exclusive interview with Seven News.



However a detectivesâ€™ hunch was not sufficient for a search warrant but it was enough for both Argos and New Zealandâ€™s Department of Internal Affairs to launch an investigation.



Argos conducted background checks and used their specialist victim identification staff to identify who the people were in the photos and locate the boy. At the same time New Zealand authorities examined chat logs and information contained on their offenderâ€™s hard drives.

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Argos conducted several raids in Queensland including the menâ€™s Cairns home where they found a sophisticated set-up of surveillance cameras.



Concerned for Adamâ€™s welfare, Queensland police alerted their US counterparts who raided the menâ€™s Los Angeles home and took them into custody and placed Adam into care in October 2011.

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â€œThese two individuals were meticulous about cataloging nearly everything they did, all of their travel. The young boy featured very heavily in most of this material. Everything from airports to theme parksâ€¦.they documented everything which was to their detriment,â€™â€™ he said.



The information also helped police identify some of their associates.



â€œSo the backend of all this work being done, we had encrypted material we had a strong suspicion contained child exploitation images. We had a boy in care and the two offenders at large in Los Angeles protesting their innocence and the matter progressing through the (US) Family Law Court,â€™â€™ Insp Rouse said.



At the time Newton and Truong claimed authorities were targeting them because of their homosexuality.



Insp Rouse rejected the menâ€™s claims saying Argos targets anyone who harms children.



"If you're harming a child - I don't care what your gender is - we will take action. Our interest is the child, not your sexual preference."



Through their strong ties with their overseas counterparts, Argos learned the US Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) was investigating the Boy Lover network.



USPIS investigator Brian Bone was alerted to the photos of Adam found on the New Zealand offender and recognised he was the same boy who featured pornographic footage and images uncovered in several of their investigations.

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When the drives were unlocked, it was â€œblatantly apparentâ€ to investigators Newton and Truong had bought Adam into their lives for exclusive purpose of sexually exploiting him among the Boy Lovers network.

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Two other men, American residents John R Powell, 41, a Florida-based lawyer, and Jason Bettuo, a 36-year-old Michigan tennis coach, have also been charged.



US Attorney Joseph H Hogsett said between 2010 and 2011, Newtown and Truong travelled to San Francisco to meet with Powell and Bettuo who filmed themselves having sex with Adam.



Powell also travelled to the menâ€™s Cairns home in this time to do the same with Adam.

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Adamâ€™s future is unknown and he is currently in the care of an American family.

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Investigation into the menâ€™s activities is continuing.

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Examination of the pairâ€™s finances has also raised questions with investigators of how the men supported their global lifestyle with no obvious means of income.



â€œThere was no real money trail that indicates they are in a form of employment that would sustain the lifestyle theyâ€™ve had and you can draw your own conclusion with respect to the amount of travel theyâ€™ve done and where theyâ€™ve been and the purpose of that travel,â€ Insp Rouse said.