A Department of Homeland Security investigation looking into the activities of a suspected child predator in Dallas discovered an Oklahoma City man allegedly exchanging child pornography videos with the target of their investigation. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents say that when they questioned Brandon Wayne Edgman, 36, he admitted to exchanging pornographic videos of children with their target via Skype and Yahoo! Messenger.
Agents say Skype chats between the two men were sexually explicit and indicated the men's attraction to young boys. They say Edgman told investigators that they would find between 20 and 40 child pornography videos on his computer; instead, investigators say they found 98 pornographic files involving children as young as 9 months old.
HSI says that Edgman received from their target a video involving sexual activity between an older teen and boy approximately 6 to 8 years old. They say Edgman sent the target a video showing a naked 10 to 12 year old boy being bound and beaten by a naked adult male.
Edgman was arrested April 3 and booked into the Oklahoma County jail. He is free on $22,000 bond.
Often, possession or distribution of child pornography is prosecuted as a state crime. This often takes place when an Oklahoma Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) task force agent receives child pornography from someone else in Oklahoma. However, Edgman's arrest is the result of a federal investigation, and he is accused of distributing child pornography across state lines. Though he has not been formally charged as of this writing, it seems likely that he will be charged in federal court--the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.
Under 18 U.S. Code § 2252A, it is illegal to knowingly receive or distribute child pornography via mail or any other means of interstate commerce, "including by computer." Receiving or distributing child pornography across state lines is a federal felony sex crime punishable by 5 to 20 years in prison.
Many of the federal government's agencies work diligently to end and prosecute the sexual exploitation of children. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is a division of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and it is the largest investigative unit of the Department of Homeland Security. HSI's child exploitation division tracks and prosecutes those who sexually exploit children through Operation Predator. This initiative seeks to identify victims of child exploitation and safeguard children from those who would exploit them. According to an Operation Predator fact sheet released by ICE, one in five girls and one in ten boys will be sexually exploited as children. HSI reports that the Operation Predator initiative has resulted in more than 8,000 criminal arrests since its inception in 2003. Click here to learn more about the agency and how it works to prevent cyber crime against children.
