LOS ANGELES TASK FORCE ANNOUNCES ARRESTS INVOLVING FEDERAL CHARGES OF POSSESSION AND DISTRIBUTION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND STATE CHARGES OF CHILD MOLESTATION; PUBLIC'S HELP SOUGHT IN IDENTIFYING VICTIMS

Two individuals were taken into custody within the past week on charges involving sexual exploitation of children ranging from possession and distribution of child pornography to child molestation, announced J. Stephen Tidwell, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI in Los Angeles. Mr. Tidwell made the announcement on behalf of the SAFE (Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement) Team, a task force with members from agencies at the local, state and federal level which investigates and prosecutes crimes that involve the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. The SAFE Team is comprised of members from the FBI, Los Angeles Country Sheriff's Department, Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Orange County Sheriff's Department, California Department of Justice - Bureau of Investigations, the United States Attorney's Office and the District Attorney's Office.

On this past Wednesday, members of the SAFE Team arrested Jeffrey Blaine Hall, 51, of Valley Village, California, on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Hall was a subscriber to a website known as www.namgla.net. The "namgla" site, meant to stand for "North American Man Girl Love Association," was shut down by the SAFE Team in July 2006 as part of the FBI's Innocent Images National Initiative targeting child pornography online networks operating globally.

The www.namgla.net website functioned as a message board where users could view and post messages to what is essentially a computerized bulletin board. The site served as a mechanism to advertise and directly link users to websites containing child pornography and serviced an international community of online predators where thousands of graphic images of sexually abused children could be shared.

A search of Hall's residence on July 25, 2006 resulted in the seizure of three desktop computers, several hard drives and several discs. These items were examined and found to contain over 7,600 images of child pornography. Hall used the screen name "pleasemr" to access and post messages on the "namgla" site. Hall was afforded an initial appearance in U.S. District Court yesterday and was denied bail.

In a second case investigated by the SAFE Team, Christopher Jarold Hoff, of Lancaster, California, was arrested last Friday based on a complaint received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. According to the tip, Hoff had been molesting and taking photographs of a minor girl over a period of several years. The SAFE Team's investigation led to a 48 felony count complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court charging Hoff with the molestation, including five counts carrying life sentences. He also faces multiple potential federal charges. Based on evidence collected during the investigation, including four computers and dozens of movies, disks and other media, members of the SAFE Team believe Hoff has additional victims who may have left the greater Los Angeles area. Therefore, his photographs are being released so that these or any other additional victims might come forward. Hoff is being held on $5 million bail at Men's Central Jail in Los Angeles.

Additional information on the namgla.net investigation:

The namgla.net investigation has led to searches at 35 locations in the United States which resulted in the seizure of dozens of computers and related evidence. The investigation was conducted by agents and task force officers in 24 FBI field offices in the following 20 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

Prior to Wednesday's arrest of Hall, eight other individuals have previously been arrested and charged in the United States with child pornography offenses in connection with this investigation - Joseph M. Jones, 47, of Roseville, Ohio; Russell Christie III, 48, of a school bus driver in Newtown, New Jersey; Eric Andrew Olson, 39, of Superior, Wisconsin; Thomas R. Herman, 65, of Spokane, Washington; Charles Michael Rochon, 39, of Middlesboro, Kentucky; Douglas Knight, 48, of Fort Washington, Maryland; Rick Nicholson, 51, of Phoenix, Arizona; Pedro Alexander Rodriguez, 31, of Portland, Oregon.

Investigation of namgla.net site has been conducted overseas in Ecuador, Chile, Poland, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and Sweden. In all, 49 namgla.net subjects have been identified in 27 foreign countries, and multiple coordinated international investigations continue.

The cases against Hall and Hoff are continuing investigations by the SAFE Team, in conjunction with agents and task force officers from around the country, as well as FBI Legal Attaches and foreign law enforcement agencies around the world.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can be accessed at www.cybertipline.org. The FBI in Los Angeles can be reached 24 hours a day at 310 477-6565.