Jersey IT server hosted international child sexual exploitation network

Friday 23 June 2017

More than 20 criminals responsible for trading images and videos of hundreds of sexually exploited children online were put behind bars thanks to the efforts of an island Police Constable.

Initiated in 2011 by the FBI and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Operation Kingdom Conqueror aimed to crack down on a global network of individuals using an online bulletin board to share explicit images of young girls globally.

Jersey Police became involved when the investigation uncovered that the site – named Kingdom of Future Dreams – was housed on an island server, and subsequently helped agents to track down US-dwelling users of the illicit web page. 

Upon further investigation, a second, highly-encrypted website – Dark Moon – was discovered. Efforts to gain access were complex, but officials succeeded in April 2013.

That work led to the imprisonment of 21 criminal individuals in the US, who were handed sentences ranging from 15 to 18 years. Jerseyman Johnathan Godson was also prosecuted in 2013 as part of the investigation after being found with more than 68,000 indecent images and hundreds of hours of video.

Pictured: Constable Patrick Forde (centre), with US Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein (left) and Monty Wilkinson, Director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys (right). (USDoJ)

Last week, States of Jersey Police were recognised for their efforts to make those prosecutions possible, with Detective Constable Patrick Forde awarded specifically for his “superior performance” in an investigation involving collection of evidence from international sources and the use of innovative computer techniques.

He was flown to Washington on Friday – courtesy of the Department of Justice – for a ceremony at the Robert F. Kennedy Main Justice Building, where he received the 33^rd Executive Office for the United States Attorneys Director’s Award for Superior Performance by a Litigation Team.

A Police spokesperson described the Force as, “…extremely proud of Pat’s work and achievements.”

They added: “This international recognition just goes to show the skill level and volume of complex work that goes into all these types of high tech investigations.”