For Immediate Release
March 3, 2004

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Jana Monroe today announced the arrest of one man and the location of another man charged with the production of child pornography, a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2251. The arrests were made as a direct result of the FBI’s coordination with the television program “America’s Most Wanted: America Fights Back,” (AMW) hosted by John Walsh.

At the time of the airing on AMW, both men’s identities were unknown. Their images had been collected during an investigation of alleged child pornography. As a result of this FBI investigation, both men were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Baltimore, Maryland. The Grand Jury returned one-count indictments against each man for the production of child pornography. At the time of these indictments, the men were only identified as “John Doe” and “John Doe Jared”.

On February 21, 2004, “John Doe Jared” aired on AMW and was identified as a man held in state custody at the Indiana State Prison, Michigan City, Indiana. The man is serving an unrelated thirty-year state sentence for sexual molestation of children. On February 28, 2004, “John Doe” aired on AMW and was identified. The man was arrested by Deputies of the Missoula County, Montana Sheriff’s Department, in a grocery store parking lot. Based upon subsequent investigation, it is alleged that “John Doe Jared” is Scott Hayden and “John Doe” is Thomas Richard Evered.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said, “Targeting sexual predators is a priority for the Justice Department, and these cases demonstrate that the government can make a difference in combating child pornography and exploitation in America, “ AG Ashcroft continued, “The FBI, in collaboration with other federal, state and local law enforcement and the media, used an innovative and aggressive approach that helped us identify and apprehend men charged to be dangerous sexual predators.”

Assistant Director Monroe said, “This is a shining example of how law enforcement investigations should work -- a collaborative effort involving multiple law enforcement agencies together with a diligent and alert public.”

This investigation was supervised and coordinated by the Innocent Images Task Force of the FBI Baltimore Field Office. Since its inception in 1995, the Innocent Images Task Force, which specializes in investigating Child Pornography, has initiated 10,509 investigations. As a result 3,015 persons have been arrested and charged with offenses involving child pornography. Many of these persons were charged with using the internet to lure or entice a child for sexual purposes. Of particular significance in these cases was that for the first time, the Innocent Images Program obtained “John Doe” arrest warrants based solely on images acquired through undercover investigations. Once the defendants were identified, law enforcement response was effected in a timely manner.

Recently, the Innocent Images Task Force began a new, aggressive approach to identify unknown individuals involved in the production of Child Pornography and actual sexual abuse of children. The “Endangered Child Alert Program” will provide national and international exposure of unknown adult persons captured on visual depictions involved in child pornography. The unknown person’s face will be displayed on the FBI’s Fugitive website and eventually broadcast on AMW. It is believed that national and international exposure will lead to rapid identifications and arrests of persons involved in child pornography and sexual abuse of minors. This new program and method is intended to aggressively pursue and thwart individuals who would abuse or harm our nation’s children.

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