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- 2026-10-09T1757 · [[Ocean Living Institute]]
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- 2026-10-09T1755 · [[Gerald Richards]]
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- 2026-10-09T1755 · [[Adam Starchild]]
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- 2026-10-09T1755 · [[Francis Shelden]]
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- 2026-10-09T1755 · [[The Church of New Revelation]]
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- 2026-10-09T1755 · [[Dyer Grossman]]
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- 2026-10-09T1755 · [[Claudius Vermilye]]
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- 2026-10-09T1755 · [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]]
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- 2026-10-09T1752 · [[Tony Van den Boggaert]]
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- 2026-10-09T1752 · [[Regina Louf]]
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- 2026-10-09T1751 · [[Karel Maasdam]]
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- 2026-10-09T1751 · [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]]
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- 2026-10-09T1751 · [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]]
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- 2026-10-09T1750 · [[Marc Dutroux]]
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- 2026-10-09T1750 · [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]
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- 2026-10-09T1750 · [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]
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- 2026-10-09T1750 · [[Count Leopold Lippens]]
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- 2026-10-09T1750 · [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]]
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- 2026-10-09T1750 · [[Michel Bourlet]]
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- 2026-10-09T1749 · [[X-Dossier]]
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- 2026-10-09T1749 · [[Melchior Wathelet]]
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- 2026-10-09T1749 · [[Katrien de Cuyper]]
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- 2026-10-09T1749 · [[Christine Van Hees]]
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- 2026-10-09T1749 · [[Carine Dellaert]]
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- 2026-10-09T1749 · [[Annie Bouty]]
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- 2026-10-09T1749 · [[Patrick De Baets]]
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- 2026-10-09T1744 · [[Chris Denning]]
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- 2026-10-09T1744 · [[Operation Fernbridge]]
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- 2026-10-09T1744 · [[Operation Arundel]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Lothar Glandorf]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Gary Glitter]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Peter Howells]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Manuel Schadwald]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Gay Palace]]
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- 2026-10-09T1743 · [[Alan Williams]]
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- 2026-10-09T1741 · [[Operation Framework]]
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- 2026-10-09T1741 · [[Warwick Spinks]]
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- 2026-10-09T1738 · [[Greggy's Cult]]
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- 2026-10-09T1737 · [[Camden Rodriguez]]
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- 2026-10-09T1737 · [[Zachary Dosch]]
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- 2026-10-09T1737 · [[Hector Bermudez]]
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- 2026-10-09T1737 · [[Rumaldo Valdez]]
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- 2026-10-09T1736 · [[David Brilhante]]
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- 2026-10-09T1711 · [[Samson Option]]
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- 2026-10-09T1711 · [[Samson Option]]
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- 2026-10-09T1711 · [[Ari Ben-Menashe]]
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- 2026-10-09T1711 · [[Ari Ben-Menashe]]
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- 2026-10-09T1708 · [[Claire Zabel]]
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- 2026-10-09T1708 · [[Claire Zabel]]
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@ -53,48 +98,3 @@
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Lockheed Aircraft Company]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Lockheed Aircraft Company]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[John Curtin Foundation]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[John Curtin Foundation]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[ITICO]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[ITICO]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Industrias Cardoen]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[IBM]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Honeywell]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Gamma Corporation]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[FXC International]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Esquire]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[El Al]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Eagle]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Dynavest Limited]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Drexel Burnham]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Degem]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Banque Worms]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[ARMSCOR]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Air France]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Stern Gang]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Shining Path]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[LEHI]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Jewish Defense League]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Golani infantry brigade]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Black September]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Baader-Meinhof Group]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[African National Congress]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Tower Commission]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Iran Group]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Unit 8200]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Shas Party]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Russian Orthodox Church]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[LAKAM]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Iran-Israel Joint Committee]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Australian Security Intelligence Service]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Australian Security Intelligence Organization]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Agranat Commission]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Yosef Zeira]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Yitzhak Tunic]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Reuben Yirador]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Pieter Van Der Westhuizen]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Mordechai Tsippori]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Mordecai Vanunu]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Mike Timpani]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Mark Thatcher]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[John Tower]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Jack Varona]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Ezer Weizman]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[David Zornow]]
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- 2026-10-09T1701 · [[Craig Unger]]
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@ -11,27 +11,32 @@ relations:
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with: "[[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]"
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with: "[[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]"
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start: 1975
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start: 1975
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end: 1983
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end: 1983
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fn: 4
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fn: 2
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- type: founded
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- type: founded
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with: "[[Cadreco]]"
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with: "[[Cadreco]]"
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start: 1985
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start: 1985
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fn: 2
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fn: 1
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created: 2026-04-28
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created: 2026-04-28
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updated: 2026-09-22
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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---
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Annie Bouty was a Brussels lawyer specializing in the law on foreigners and from 1975 to 1983 the companion of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], with whom she had a son, Jean-Michel, and a daughter, Gentiane; she was later struck off the bar.[^2][^4] Having just left the bar, she founded with a Mr. Flier in 1985 a legal-aid association, Cadreco, in whose name Nihoul approached the Belgian Justice Department on behalf of its clients; it handled about 300 files before going into liquidation in 1987. In November 1985 she set up two subsidiaries of Cadreco in Lagos, Nigeria, Law and Cadreco Ltd Commercial Company, dealing in import and export, the management of football players and legal help for Nigerians wishing to emigrate to Belgium. On September 20, 1989, the Brussels Court of Appeal sentenced her to two years' imprisonment, suspended, for breach of trust and violation of professional secrecy committed while she was still a lawyer. She and Flier were then prosecuted for fraud and fraudulent insolvency; Flier's case was dismissed, and on February 21, 1997, the Court of Appeal sentenced Bouty, who had obtained papers for foreigners in irregular situations, to two months.[^2]
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Annie Bouty was a Brussels lawyer specializing in the law on foreigners and from 1975 to 1983 the companion of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], with whom she had a son, Jean-Michel, and a daughter, Gentiane; she was later struck off the bar.[^1][^2] Having just left the bar, she founded with a Mr. Flier in 1985 a legal-aid association, Cadreco, in whose name Nihoul approached the Belgian Justice Department on behalf of its clients; it handled about 300 files before going into liquidation in 1987. In November 1985 she set up two subsidiaries of Cadreco in Lagos, Nigeria, Law and Cadreco Ltd Commercial Company, dealing in import and export, the management of football players and legal help for Nigerians wishing to emigrate to Belgium. On September 20, 1989, the Brussels Court of Appeal sentenced her to two years' imprisonment, suspended, for breach of trust and violation of professional secrecy committed while she was still a lawyer. She and Flier were then prosecuted for fraud and fraudulent insolvency; Flier's case was dismissed, and on February 21, 1997, the Court of Appeal sentenced Bouty, who had obtained papers for foreigners in irregular situations, to two months.[^1]
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The parliamentary commission of inquiry described an episode in which Nihoul telephoned a gendarmerie officer, at Bouty's instigation according to her own statement in a police report of October 2, 1989, about a gendarme investigating Cadreco; she later claimed that the gendarme had been transferred because of her, which the commission found false but which she used as a threat against the gendarmes questioning her. The commission called the episode illustrative of "the arrogance and the nerve" of Nihoul and Bouty at the time and of how they turned their illegal interventions to account, and found in the officer's response a sign of the erosion of standards. After her suspension from the bar, she often called on the same lawyers as Nihoul.[^2]
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The parliamentary commission of inquiry described an episode in which Nihoul telephoned a gendarmerie officer, at Bouty's instigation according to her own statement in a police report of October 2, 1989, about a gendarme investigating Cadreco; she later claimed that the gendarme had been transferred because of her, which the commission found false but which she used as a threat against the gendarmes questioning her. The commission called the episode illustrative of "the arrogance and the nerve" of Nihoul and Bouty at the time and of how they turned their illegal interventions to account, and found in the officer's response a sign of the erosion of standards. After her suspension from the bar, she often called on the same lawyers as Nihoul.[^1]
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Bouty was detained in 1996 in the Dutroux investigation.[^1] She was not among the four defendants tried at Arlon in 2004, [[Marc Dutroux]], [[Michelle Martin]], [[Michel Lelievre]] and Nihoul.[^3] On May 3, 2004, she testified for nearly two hours about her life with Nihoul, insisting that he had never taken her to orgies and that she could not imagine he would have kept quiet about pedophilia had he known of it.[^4]
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Bouty was detained in 1996 in the Dutroux investigation.[^3] She was not among the four defendants tried at Arlon in 2004, [[Marc Dutroux]], [[Michelle Martin]], [[Michel Lelievre]] and Nihoul.[^4] On May 3, 2004, she testified for nearly two hours about her life with Nihoul, insisting that he had never taken her to orgies and that she could not imagine he would have kept quiet about pedophilia had he known of it.[^2]
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### Allegations
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### Allegations
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In the [[X-Dossier]], compiled under [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and [[Michel Bourlet]], [[Regina Louf]] accused Bouty of taking part in sadomasochistic events. The writer S. Dovey wrote that her practice overlapped with the circles of [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and the Lippens family and handled matters for Nihoul's companies, including [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and that her statements described Nihoul's specifications for victims, the filming of parties for blackmail, his connections to [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, and links to [[CRIES]] and [[UNICEF]] through Dumont.[^1]
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In the [[X-Dossier]], compiled under [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and [[Michel Bourlet]], [[Regina Louf]] accused Bouty of taking part in sadomasochistic events. The writer S. Dovey wrote that her practice overlapped with the circles of [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and the Lippens family and handled matters for Nihoul's companies, including [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and that her statements described Nihoul's specifications for victims, the filming of parties for blackmail, his connections to [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, and links to [[CRIES]] and [[UNICEF]] through Dumont.[^3]
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### The Van Hees Allegation
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The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998 records that an anonymous witness had associated Jean-Michel Nihoul and "A. Bouty" with an unsolved murder in the Brussels region. The commission, finding that the inquiry into that murder had been reopened, charged its councillor-investigator [[Etienne Marique]] with inquiring whether protection mechanisms had operated in the case for Nihoul and Marc Dutroux.[^5]
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statements that Bouty was convicted in 2004 of kidnapping and manslaughter, sentenced to 30 years, admitted knowing of the captives in Dutroux's cellar and was released in 2012 are contradicted by the trial record, in which she was a witness, not a defendant; several of these details correspond to Michelle Martin. Sole source for the passages so cited.
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[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter on Nihoul's networks; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
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[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter on Nihoul's networks; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
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[^2]: Hovine, Annick. "Annie Bouty, ex-compagne de Nihoul, sort ses griffes." *La Libre Belgique,* May 3, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/05/03/annie-bouty-ex-compagne-de-nihoul-sort-ses-griffes-VKDQW4MOE5DTLGWMVOWZKUWGYI/
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[^3]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011 ; "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
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[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statements that Bouty was convicted in 2004 of kidnapping and manslaughter, sentenced to 30 years, admitted knowing of the captives in Dutroux's cellar and was released in 2012 are contradicted by the trial record, in which she was a witness, not a defendant; several of these details correspond to Michelle Martin.
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[^4]: Hovine, Annick. "Annie Bouty, ex-compagne de Nihoul, sort ses griffes." *La Libre Belgique,* May 3, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/05/03/annie-bouty-ex-compagne-de-nihoul-sort-ses-griffes-VKDQW4MOE5DTLGWMVOWZKUWGYI/
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[^4]: "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News and Associated Press, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5233011 ; "Nihoul acquitté pour les enlèvements." *La Dernière Heure,* June 17, 2004. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/2004/06/17/nihoul-acquitte-pour-les-enlevements-MF73NPYQVBC25I2Y6P54BXIQDA/
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[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 150; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ tags:
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summary: "Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of Societe Generale de Banque (also referred to as 'Society General'), which was described as 'the largest financial firm in the country' (Belgium)."
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summary: "Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of Societe Generale de Banque (also referred to as 'Society General'), which was described as 'the largest financial firm in the country' (Belgium)."
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born: 1939-03-14
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born: 1939-03-14
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location: "Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium"
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location: "Etterbeek, Brussels, Belgium"
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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---
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Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of [[Societe Generale de Banque]] (also referred to as "Society General"), which was described as "the largest financial firm in the country" ([[Belgium]]). This banking institution was controlled by "a fraternity of families who provided most of the funding for CSP political campaigns." The CSP (Parti Social Chretien/[[Christian Social Party]]) was described as a political faction that "at its fringes aligned with Belgium's neofascist movement and [[Operation Gladio]]." Operation Gladio was characterized as "a post-WW2 effort by NATO bloc spy agencies to tamper the dialectic swing away from fascism towards left-leaning political movements."[^1]
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Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin served as a director of [[Societe Generale de Banque]] (also referred to as "Society General"), which was described as "the largest financial firm in the country" ([[Belgium]]). This banking institution was controlled by "a fraternity of families who provided most of the funding for CSP political campaigns." The CSP (Parti Social Chretien/[[Christian Social Party]]) was described as a political faction that "at its fringes aligned with Belgium's neofascist movement and [[Operation Gladio]]." Operation Gladio was characterized as "a post-WW2 effort by NATO bloc spy agencies to tamper the dialectic swing away from fascism towards left-leaning political movements."[^1]
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@ -18,9 +19,7 @@ The alignment with Operation Gladio placed Baron de Bonvoisin within a network o
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Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin was identified in the [[X-Dossier]] as one of "powerful figures in a network of child abusers linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]." The X-Dossier investigation revealed multiple witnesses who named him as part of this network, which allegedly operated across Belgium's elite social circles. These allegations placed de Bonvoisin at the center of one of Belgium's most controversial investigations, connecting his aristocratic status and political influence to systematic child abuse and exploitation.[^1]
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Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin was identified in the [[X-Dossier]] as one of "powerful figures in a network of child abusers linked to [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]." The X-Dossier investigation revealed multiple witnesses who named him as part of this network, which allegedly operated across Belgium's elite social circles. These allegations placed de Bonvoisin at the center of one of Belgium's most controversial investigations, connecting his aristocratic status and political influence to systematic child abuse and exploitation.[^1]
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Witness [[Regina Louf]] provided detailed testimony about de Bonvoisin's participation in "high society sadomasochist child sex parties around Belgium." These parties were held at "hotel-villa's surrounding the Royal Zoute golf club." X2 claimed to have attended these parties as the mistress of a magistrate named [[Karel Maasdam]] during the 1980s, providing firsthand accounts of the aristocratic and professional figures who participated in these organized abuse events. The location near the prestigious Royal Zoute golf club suggests that these activities occurred within Belgium's most exclusive social circles, leveraging the privacy and prestige of elite venues to conceal criminal behavior.[^2]
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Witness [[Regina Louf]] provided detailed testimony about de Bonvoisin's participation in "high society sadomasochist child sex parties around Belgium." These parties were held at "hotel-villa's surrounding the Royal Zoute golf club." The witness designated X2 gave statements to investigators in 1996 and 1997 describing parties in Knokke attended by prominent figures.[^2][^3]
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The Mirano club testimony provided even more specific details about de Bonvoisin's alleged activities. In witness X2's detailed account of orgies at the [[Mirano nightclub]], "BONVOISIN" was listed among those present. The testimony described extreme sexual activities involving minors aged 12-15, with "about ten children - 25-30 adults including 5-6 women aged 50 and 3-4 girls aged 18-20." The testimony specifically stated that "DE BONVOISIN only practices sodomy while being sodomized himself and so on in the chain (4-5 men)." This level of detail, combined with the specific naming of participants, formed the basis of the allegations that would later become central to the X-Dossier investigation and its claims about organized child abuse networks operating within Belgium's elite.[^3]
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### Network Connections and Legal Implications
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### Network Connections and Legal Implications
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
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[^2]: 150.567 04/03/97, X-Dossier summary, 1235 pages, 2005, published by Wikileaks in 2009
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[^2]: 150.567 04/03/97, X-Dossier summary, 1235 pages, 2005, published by Wikileaks in 2009
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[^3]: 118.384 13/12/96 AUDITION of X2, X-Dossier summary, 1235 pages, 2005, published by Wikileaks in 2009
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[^3]: "Dutroux case and X-Dossier victim-witnesses," crimesandconsequences.com, updated 2021 (PV 116.799 and PV 117.535 as excerpted there). https://crimesandconsequences.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dutroux-case-and-x-dossier-victim-witnesses.pdf
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- Person
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- Person
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- Belgium
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- Belgium
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summary: "Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the X-Dossier."
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summary: "Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the X-Dossier."
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updated: 2026-10-09
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---
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---
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|
|
||||||
Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing Dellaert's death at one of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, testifying that Dellaert had given birth during a party and was subsequently murdered. An autopsy of Dellaert's remains confirmed evidence of childbirth, corroborating aspects of X1's testimony with physical evidence unavailable to the public.[^1]
|
Carine Dellaert was a Belgian woman whose 1983 death was investigated as part of the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing Dellaert's death at one of [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, testifying that Dellaert had given birth during a party and was subsequently murdered. According to S. Dovey, an autopsy of Dellaert's remains confirmed evidence of childbirth, corroborating aspects of X1's testimony with physical evidence unavailable to the public.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A Zembla programme broadcast on March 11, 2004 stated in its programme description that the Dellaert and [[Christine Van Hees]] inquiries were reopened on the basis of X1's statements and that X1 had "daderkennis" (knowledge of the perpetrators) in both cases. The description states that the Belgian gendarmerie had been able to confirm much of what she said and that the investigators of the time described growing internal obstruction from above.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel I," broadcast March 11, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-i
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -3,17 +3,20 @@ category: "Criminals & Offenders"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
summary: "Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with Jimmy Savile and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment."
|
summary: "Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ, a friend of Jimmy Savile and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment."
|
||||||
born: 1941-05-10
|
born: 1941-05-10
|
||||||
died: 2022-06-24
|
died: 2022-06-24
|
||||||
location: "Hayes, Middlesex, England"
|
location: "Hayes, Middlesex, England"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with [[Jimmy Savile]] and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment. The investigation into Denning served as the genesis to ongoing probes into a suspected child abuse ring linked to the [[BBC]], which eventually culminated in the infamous [[Operation Yewtree]] investigation after Jimmy Savile's death.[^1]
|
Chris Denning was a former BBC Radio One DJ who was good friends with [[Jimmy Savile]] and, according to Czech police, head of an international pedophile network running a child porn operation from his Prague apartment. The investigation into Denning served as the genesis to ongoing probes into a suspected child abuse ring linked to the [[BBC]], which eventually culminated in the infamous [[Operation Yewtree]] investigation after Jimmy Savile's death.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Denning had been arrested in November 1997 based on information Czech police received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile there. Denning was arrested by detectives investigating an international child pornography ring. Police alleged he was the leader of the child sex ring and said he was arrested after cocaine had been fed to young boys in preparation for filming a pornographic video. The arrest came after a two-month surveillance operation in which Scotland Yard supplied vital information about Denning's movements to colleagues on the continent. Denning, who had a flat in Prague and ran a music and video production company from his home in Britain, had been jailed for 10 weeks in February 1996 for possessing child pornography.[^1]
|
S. Dovey wrote that Denning was arrested in November 1997 on information Czech police received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile in Prague. Denning was arrested by detectives investigating an international child pornography ring. Police alleged he was the leader of the child sex ring and said he was arrested after cocaine had been fed to young boys in preparation for filming a pornographic video. The arrest came after a two-month surveillance operation in which Scotland Yard supplied vital information about Denning's movements to colleagues on the continent. Denning, who had a flat in Prague and ran a music and video production company from his home in Britain, had been jailed for 10 weeks in February 1996 for possessing child pornography.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Denning and three others, two Frenchmen and an American, were charged with hooking boys as young as seven on cocaine to produce pornography they distributed globally online. A week after Denning's arrest, British glam rock artist [[Gary Glitter]], whose career Denning helped catapult to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s, was arrested by British authorities after child pornography was discovered on a computer he had taken into a repair store. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers, presumably one of which had been run by his old pal Chris Denning, who was running around with Warwick Spinks in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
|
The Guardian reported on July 31, 1998 that Denning, aged 57, was in Pankrac prison in Prague awaiting trial; the same article reported that Warwick Spinks, who had broken his parole in Britain, was running an accommodation agency for foreign visitors in the city.[^2] The [[Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre]] said Spinks breached his licence conditions in 1997, was recalled to prison and went missing.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Denning and three others, two Frenchmen and an American, were charged with hooking boys as young as seven on cocaine to produce pornography they distributed globally online. A week after Denning's arrest, British glam rock artist [[Gary Glitter]], whose career Denning helped catapult to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s, was arrested by British authorities after child pornography was discovered on a computer he had taken into a repair store. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers. S. Dovey wrote that one of these had presumably been run by Denning, who he wrote was running around with Warwick Spinks in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Trial and Conviction
|
### Trial and Conviction
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -25,8 +28,10 @@ Following King's conviction, investigators put in an extradition request for Chr
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The investigation into King and Denning in the early 2000s led to another, called [[Operation Arundel]], into a suspected pedophile ring of BBC celebrities in the 70s and 80s who allegedly procured boys and girls from an underage nightclub called the [[Walton Hop Disco]]. This investigation led to the arrest of another BBC personality in 2003, but the charges against them were subsequently dropped. One suspect in that investigation who was never arrested or charged had been a good friend and colleague of both Denning and King, BBC Radio One DJ Jimmy Savile. Nothing came of this though. The case was closed and forgotten about for nearly a decade.[^1]
|
The investigation into King and Denning in the early 2000s led to another, called [[Operation Arundel]], into a suspected pedophile ring of BBC celebrities in the 70s and 80s who allegedly procured boys and girls from an underage nightclub called the [[Walton Hop Disco]]. This investigation led to the arrest of another BBC personality in 2003, but the charges against them were subsequently dropped. One suspect in that investigation who was never arrested or charged had been a good friend and colleague of both Denning and King, BBC Radio One DJ Jimmy Savile. Nothing came of this though. The case was closed and forgotten about for nearly a decade.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The arrest of Chris Denning followed in June 2013 under [[Operation Yewtree]], and he was convicted of historic child sexual abuse against 24 boys, one of whom Denning allegedly raped at Jimmy Savile's house. His conviction was part of the broader investigation into the organized pedophile network operating at the BBC that had been exposed through the Operation Yewtree investigation.[^1]
|
The arrest of Chris Denning followed in June 2013 under Operation Yewtree, and he was convicted of historic child sexual abuse against 24 boys, one of whom Denning allegedly raped at Jimmy Savile's house. His conviction was part of the broader investigation into the organized pedophile network operating at the BBC that had been exposed through the Operation Yewtree investigation.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," The Guardian, July 31, 1998, page 15.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, "Child sexual offender who went on the run for 15 years is now back behind bars," press release, November 16, 2012, Wayback Machine capture of January 30, 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20130130112106/http://ceop.police.uk/Media-Centre/Press-releases/2012/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,25 +6,107 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- ChildExploitation
|
- ChildExploitation
|
||||||
- CSAM
|
- CSAM
|
||||||
- FederalCase
|
- FederalCase
|
||||||
|
- EasternDistrictOfNewYork
|
||||||
- California
|
- California
|
||||||
- USA
|
- USA
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-22
|
aliases:
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-22
|
- "David Brilhante"
|
||||||
summary: "David Brilhante, aliases 'Knight' and 'CS:GO,' was a San Diego, California leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants."
|
- "Brilhante"
|
||||||
|
summary: "David Brilhante, aliases 'Knight' and 'CS:GO,' is a San Diego defendant in the Eastern District of New York Greggy's Cult case, charged in Counts One through Three and released on a $1,000,000 secured bond."
|
||||||
born: 1997
|
born: 1997
|
||||||
location: "San Diego, California"
|
location: "San Diego, California"
|
||||||
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: member_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "alleged member"
|
||||||
|
start: 2020-01
|
||||||
|
end: 2021-01
|
||||||
|
fn: 3
|
||||||
|
- type: prosecuted
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Eastern District of New York]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
start: 2025-11-18
|
||||||
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-05-22
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[David Brilhante]], aliases "Knight" and "CS:GO," is a resident of [[San Diego, California]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1997 and was 28 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
[[David Brilhante]], charged under the aliases "Knight" and "CS:GO," is a [[San Diego, California]] man named in an [[Eastern District of New York]] indictment of six defendants, five of whom the [[Department of Justice]] describes as leaders of [[Greggy's Cult]], an online group that operated on [[Discord]] and gaming platforms. He was born approximately 1997 and was 28 when the indictment was unsealed on December 2, 2025. The case is United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The Department of Justice states, "An indictment is merely an allegation," and that all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
### Arrest and Rule 5 Proceedings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Brilhante alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]], conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^1]
|
A grand jury returned the indictment on November 18, 2025 and it was filed under seal, with the docket entry dated November 19.[^2][^3] On December 2 the indictment was unsealed in redacted form, and the Justice Department announced that the defendants "were arrested today throughout the United States and will be arraigned in the Eastern District of New York at a later date."[^1][^2] The docket contains an entry dated December 3, 2025 reading "Arrest of David Brilhante in California-Southern."[^2] The docket of the [[Southern District of California]] magistrate case, 3:25-mj-06668, records an arrest on December 3, an initial appearance and detention entry on December 4, two orders setting conditions of release filed December 8, a notice of appeal to the district court on December 9, a waiver of Rule 5 hearings and a warrant of removal on December 22, and a transcript on December 29.[^4] A Rule 5(c)(3) packet received in the Eastern District of New York on December 22 included an arrest warrant dated December 2, 2025, a warrant of removal from the Southern District of California, and a pretrial services report.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Greggy's Cult operated using coercion methods that directly informed the [[764 Network|764]] network's operational model. The group recruited minor victims through gaming platforms and social media, coerced them into producing [[CSAM]] on video, and blackmailed them with that material. [[NCITE]] tracked Greggy's Cult alongside [[CVLT]] and 764 as one of three connected precursor-successor networks accounting for 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes through December 2025.
|
The government's December 10 motion states that Brilhante made his initial appearance in the Southern District of California on December 3, 2025, that pretrial services there recommended detention, and that a magistrate judge, [[Michael Berg]], granted release over the government's objection on a $750,000 property bond with home detention and computer restrictions. The motion cites the Southern District of California case as 3:25-mj-6668.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Brilhante was publicly reported as of May 2026.
|
The same motion dates the magistrate's hearing to September 5, 2025 in its procedural history and dates the release order to December 5, 2025 in its opening paragraph and in footnote 2.[^6] The government's December 26 letter dates the release order to December 5, 2025, places Judge Berg in the "Central District of California," and says the release was stayed until December 10.[^7] An order of [[Pamela K. Chen]] dated December 17, 2025 refers to a September 5, 2025 bail decision by a magistrate judge of the "Central District of California," and her December 18 order refers to Judge Berg's order of September 5, 2025.[^5][^8] The defense memorandum places the magistrate court in the Southern District of California and cites the December 5 order.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Federal Charges
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Brilhante is named in Counts One, Two and Three of the indictment; the docket's count list places him in Counts One through Three only.[^2][^3] Count One charges engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]] and lists seventeen predicate violations. Brilhante is named in three of them. Violations One and Four charge sexual exploitation of a minor under 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a), each committed by Brilhante together with [[Zachary Dosch]]. Violation Three charges Brilhante, together with others, with access with intent to view child pornography ([[CSAM]]) under 18 U.S.C. § 2252(a)(4)(B).[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Count Two charges conspiracy to sexually exploit children under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251(a) and 2251(e), and Count Three charges conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(2) and 2252(b)(1). Both counts cover January 2020 through January 2021.[^3] The Justice Department's December 2 release lists four offense types, including conspiracy to communicate interstate threats, for the defendants collectively.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The government's December 10 motion states that the enterprise charge carries a twenty-year mandatory minimum and a maximum of life, and that the conspiracy under § 2251(e) carries a fifteen-year minimum and a thirty-year maximum.[^6] The December 2 letter describes the sexual exploitation charges as carrying a fifteen-year minimum and a maximum of life.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Government Allegations of Role
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The government's December 2 detention letter describes Greggy's Cult as a group that convened on Discord servers, directed minor victims on video calls to engage in sexually explicit or degrading conduct, and captured the conduct as screenshots and screen recordings shared among members.[^10] The December 10 motion attributes to Brilhante a specific role. It alleges that he targeted minors online, persuaded them to send pictures of themselves, manipulated them into sending further material, then edited the pictures and shared them online to torment the victims.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The motion further alleges that on at least one occasion a co-defendant directed a minor victim on a live video call while livestreaming the call to a wider audience that included Brilhante, and that Brilhante gave the co-defendant directions that the co-defendant then relayed to the victim. According to the motion, this arrangement allowed Brilhante to work with co-conspirators to abuse children when he could not do so himself.[^6] The motion also states that three reports from the [[National Center for Missing and Exploited Children]] show Brilhante using three different accounts, each a variant of his "Knight" alias, to share one image depicting a minor.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Later Conduct Alleged by the Government
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The government's December 10 motion and December 2 letter allege that two further reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, dated in or about August 2024 and September 2024, concerned an account that law enforcement identified as Brilhante, and the government characterizes the reported conduct as continuing after the charged period.[^6][^10] A footnote to the December 10 motion states that the account holder gave a false date of birth consistent with being a minor and that the material at issue appears consistent with an adult. A separate footnote states that during a post-arrest interview, after waiving his Miranda rights, Brilhante confirmed that the email associated with the reported account was his.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The motion also cites payment-record notes from 2023 through 2025 that it reads as references to sexually explicit material and to a commercial sexual encounter, and states that after his arrest Brilhante admitted to having been banned from multiple financial accounts.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The December 2 letter also cites an April 3, 2025 report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children from a tipster who stated, in substance, that Brilhante, using the alias "Knight," had previously engaged in child exploitation conduct and was still engaged in it.[^10] The December 10 motion quotes the same tipster, who identified "Knight" as "David," and reported that "oHare and Knight are still up to their disgusting deeds."[^6] The tipster's report focused on co-defendant [[Camden Rodriguez]].[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Defense Account and Release Conditions
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The defense memorandum argues that the government's facts on Brilhante "are draped in qualifiers and involve past investigations and anonymous reports." It states that two rounds of discovery had not produced reports, witness statements or videos substantiating the allegations, and it states that he has no criminal history.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The defense proposed release conditions that it described as consistent with, though more stringent than, the magistrate's order: home detention with travel restricted to San Diego County and the Eastern District of New York, a $750,000 bond secured by a trust deed on real property, no access to a computer, smartphone or the internet, residence at an approved address, and surrender of his passport.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The government's December 26 letter argues that the defendant's conduct as alleged included identifying and grooming victims for members of Greggy's Cult to exploit, and it cites records of conduct as recent as August 2024 and April 2025. It states that the defendant was pending transfer to the Eastern District of New York and that discovery had been limited to materials for an identity hearing in the Southern District of California.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Detention, Bond and Release
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On December 18, 2025 Judge Chen stayed Brilhante's release pending the government's appeal.[^5] On January 8, 2026, at a hearing held by video with Brilhante in custody and his appearance waived, the court granted bond "for the reasons stated on the record" and set a $1,000,000 bond.[^11] On January 9 the court set conditions of release and a $1,000,000 secured bond and ordered him released from custody of the [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]], and authorized his travel to California.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The January 8 bond hearing was recorded and posted to [[YouTube]]. Counsel reported the posting to the court by email on March 31, 2026, and the court's April 7 order took no action at that time, directing that such matters be reported by filed letter.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Docket Status
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On March 2, 2026 Brilhante appeared by telephone at a status conference, on bond, and the court excluded time through April 30, 2026 for the production and review of discovery and the joining of co-defendants.[^12] On April 30, 2026 he again appeared by telephone, on bond, and the court set the next conference for August 10, 2026, excluding time from April 30 through August 10 for the production and review of discovery.[^12] The docket lists a government letter dated May 8, 2026 on the first global Rule 16 production, and a status conference on August 10, 2026.[^2] The last entry on the docket, entry 106, is dated September 22, 2026 and is a notice of attorney appearance for a defendant.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Co-defendants
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The indictment names six defendants: [[Hector Bermudez]], Brilhante, Zachary Dosch, Camden Rodriguez, [[Rumaldo Valdez]] and [[Austin Yatco]]. Bermudez was ordered detained on December 4, 2025 and was released on a $350,000 secured bond on December 12, 2025.[^2] Dosch was arraigned on March 3, 2026, entered not-guilty pleas on all counts, and was ordered detained.[^2] Rodriguez was arraigned on March 3, 2026, entered not-guilty pleas on all counts, and was released on a $400,000 secured bond on March 6, 2026.[^2] Valdez was in custody in the [[District of Hawaii]] awaiting sentencing in a separate case, 1:25-cr-112, when the government filed its December 2 letter.[^6][^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Yatco, also known as "Hairy Lips," is listed on the docket's count list as defendant six, in Counts One through Eight. A January 23, 2026 order granted the government's request for an amended arrest warrant as to Yatco and vacated the prior arrest order, and on February 27, 2026 Judge Chen ordered the indictment and arrest warrant unsealed as to him on the government's application of February 26.[^2][^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Network Context
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The government's December 2 letter states that Greggy's Cult is a precursor to [[764 Network|764]].[^10] The Justice Department's release states that Greggy's Cult "came into existence before another sadistic extortion network, 764," and that prominent members of 764 and similar later networks were also members of Greggy's Cult.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[NCITE]] reports that as of December 20, 2025, thirty-three individuals had been publicly charged in the United States for activity associated with 764, [[CVLT]] and Greggy's Cult, and that thirty-one of them had been charged federally.[^14][^15] NCITE states that all federal indictments of CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants occurred between January and December 2025, although their primary activity occurred between 2019 and 2021.[^14] The report states that every defendant charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g) across the three groups was identified as a leader or administrator.[^14]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." Press release 25-1131, December 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet
|
||||||
|
[^2]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, entries 1 through 106 as viewed October 9, 2026 (last known filing September 22, 2026), including entries 1, 8, 9, 14, 26, 37, 41 and 42, the December 3, 2025 entry "Arrest of David Brilhante in California-Southern," the January 23, 2026 order for an amended arrest warrant, the February 27, 2026 unsealing order (entry 71), the March 2 and April 30 minutes, the arraignment and detention entries of March 3 and the bond entries of March 6, 2026, and entry 106. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Indictment, United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), ECF 8 (redacted, filed December 2, 2025; indictment filed November 18, 2025). https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.8.0_1.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^4]: United States v. Brilhante, 3:25-mj-06668 (S.D. Cal.), CourtListener docket 71994075, entries 1 through 27 as viewed October 9, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71994075/united-states-v-brilhante/
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Docket order of Judge Pamela K. Chen, December 18, 2025, staying release; Rule 5(c)(3) documents received, entry 42, December 22, 2025; scheduling order of December 23, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Government's letter appealing the release order and moving to stay, ECF 26, December 10, 2025, including footnotes 2, 3, 9 and 10. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.26.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Government's letter in opposition to the defendant's request for bail, ECF 44, December 26, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.44.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Docket order of Judge Pamela K. Chen, December 17, 2025, in United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Defendant's motion to deny the government's appeal and memorandum of law, ECF 43, December 24, 2025, with the proposed conditions of release. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.43.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^10]: Letter from AUSA Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills requesting a permanent order of detention, ECF 14, December 2, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.14.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^11]: Minute entries of January 8, 2026 (bond appeal hearing) and January 9, 2026 (bond hearing), and sealed order setting conditions of release and bond, entry 46, January 9, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^12]: Minute entry of March 2, 2026 (status conference); order of March 16, 2026; order of April 7, 2026 on the recorded bond hearing; minute entry of April 30, 2026 (status conference). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^13]: Order unsealing the indictment and arrest warrant as to Austin Yatco, ECF 71, February 27, 2026. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957.71.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^14]: NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025, data as of December 20, 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/img/prosecuting-nve-report.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^15]: NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," landing page, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: Dyer Grossman
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Dyer Grossman
|
- Dyer Grossman
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
category: "Criminals & Offenders"
|
category: "Criminals & Offenders"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
|
@ -26,19 +26,22 @@ relations:
|
||||||
role: "vice president"
|
role: "vice president"
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Dyer Grossman, of Carmel, New York, was the product of a wealthy Long Island family and a graduate of Cornell University. He taught for ten years at an exclusive boarding school for boys in [[New Jersey]] and for two years at a private academy for boys in the fourth through ninth grades, and, in the words of the district attorneys' statement, "is alleged to have been director of a boys' camp in Vermont." He applied to serve as a Big Brother in a California county while scouting sites for a boys' camp there, and sought money from wealthy contributors, including a Michigan philanthropist, to start his camp.[^3] He was vice president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], executive director of the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and youth director of [[The Church of New Revelation|the Church of the New Revelation]], of which [[Adam Starchild]] was president.[^2]
|
Dyer Grossman, of Carmel, New York, was the product of a wealthy Long Island family and a graduate of Cornell University. He taught for ten years at an exclusive boarding school for boys in [[New Jersey]] and for two years at a private academy for boys in the fourth through ninth grades, and, in the words of the district attorneys' statement, "is alleged to have been director of a boys' camp in Vermont." He applied to serve as a Big Brother in a California county while scouting sites for a boys' camp there, and sought money from wealthy contributors, including a Michigan philanthropist, to start his camp.[^1] He was vice president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], executive director of the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and youth director of [[The Church of New Revelation|the Church of the New Revelation]], of which [[Adam Starchild]] was president.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After [[Gerald Richards]] answered an advertisement in *Better Life Monthly,* in which the church offered to help readers set up child care organizations and camps, Grossman came to Port Huron from New Jersey to help set up Brother Paul's. On that trip, according to the Michigan State Police, he committed sexual acts with two Port Huron boys aged 10 and 14; the police had photographs of the 10-year-old in the motel room. He and Richards had applied to join Big Brothers and been rejected. A letter from Grossman found on Richards at his arrest in July 1976 proposed "child care" sites in nine states and the District of Columbia and described the monthly payments per boy from counties (up to 150 dollars), states (up to 400) and federal agencies (up to 700). By 1977 he was a fugitive under federal flight warrants on two counts of criminal sexual conduct and was believed by the police to be in Washington State.[^2][^4]
|
After [[Gerald Richards]] answered an advertisement in *Better Life Monthly,* in which the church offered to help readers set up child care organizations and camps, Grossman came to Port Huron from New Jersey to help set up Brother Paul's. On that trip, according to the Michigan State Police, he committed sexual acts with two Port Huron boys aged 10 and 14; the police had photographs of the 10-year-old in the motel room. He and Richards had applied to join Big Brothers and been rejected. A letter from Grossman found on Richards at his arrest in July 1976 proposed "child care" sites in nine states and the District of Columbia and described the monthly payments per boy from counties (up to 150 dollars), states (up to 400) and federal agencies (up to 700). By 1977 he was a fugitive under federal flight warrants on two counts of criminal sexual conduct and was believed by the police to be in Washington State.[^2][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On March 4, 1977, Robert F. Leonard, president-elect of the National District Attorneys Association, wrote to Benjamin Civiletti, Assistant Attorney General-designate for the Criminal Division, that there might be "a national conspiracy made up of an inter-relating network of foster homes, churches, nature camps and other similar programs," and that "someone that needs investigation is a person by the name of Dyer Grossman, who it appears, goes from state to state setting up these organizations, and in some cases, affiliating with a New Jersey church under circumstances which avoid any scrutiny by the IRS." Some of the costs, he wrote, were "unknowingly being provided by public funding," and many of the men who traveled between states to abuse children at these camps were "very wealthy individuals and some are respectable community leaders in their home towns."[^3]
|
On March 4, 1977, Robert F. Leonard, president-elect of the National District Attorneys Association, wrote to Benjamin Civiletti, Assistant Attorney General-designate for the Criminal Division, that there might be "a national conspiracy made up of an inter-relating network of foster homes, churches, nature camps and other similar programs," and that "[s]omeone that needs investigation is a person by the name of Dyer Grossman, who it appears, goes from state to state setting up these organizations, and in some cases, affiliating with a New Jersey church under circumstances which avoid any scrutiny by the IRS." Some of the costs, he wrote, were "unknowingly being provided by public funding," and many of the men who traveled between states to abuse children at these camps were "very wealthy individuals and some are respectable community leaders in their home towns."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In a deposition taken in Amsterdam in 1982 in the litigation over his trust, [[Francis Shelden]] testified that in July 1976 he received a telephone call from Grossman, who said that a mutual acquaintance, Gerald Richards, was having severe "difficulties" and might involve Shelden in them, and that Shelden might become the subject of blackmail by Richards. Shelden testified that Grossman "suggested that it might be wise for me to leave the country for awhile ... to await events," and, when Shelden asked for advice about protecting his assets, suggested that he contact Adam Starchild, "an investment counseler specializing in offshore investments."[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Big Brother Letter
|
### The Big Brother Letter
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Grossman co-drafted the charter of Brother Paul's, was closely associated with [[Francis Shelden]], and in a letter to Richards described a twelve-year-old boy he had obtained through a Big Brother program, and that he created the church on paper and linked it to [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] of [[Claudius Vermilye]].[^1] In 1977 [[Adam Starchild]], president of the church, told the *Record-Eagle* that its organizations had not been set up as fronts but might have been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^2]
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Grossman co-drafted the charter of Brother Paul's, was closely associated with Francis Shelden, and in a letter to Richards described a twelve-year-old boy he had obtained through a Big Brother program, and that he created the church on paper and linked it to [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] of [[Claudius Vermilye]].[^5] In 1977 Adam Starchild, president of the church, told the *Record-Eagle* that its organizations had not been set up as fronts but might have been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It places the boarding school in New York; the district attorneys' statement places it in New Jersey. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^1]: National District Attorneys Association, Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Children, statement and letter of Robert F. Leonard to Benjamin Civiletti, March 4, 1977, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 78. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws" and related articles. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws" and related articles. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^3]: National District Attorneys Association, Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Children, statement and letter of Robert F. Leonard to Benjamin Civiletti, March 4, 1977, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977.
|
[^3]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
[^4]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
[^4]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984) (Nos. 82-1737, 82-1905). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ tags:
|
||||||
summary: "Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success by Chris Denning, who catapulted him to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s."
|
summary: "Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success by Chris Denning, who catapulted him to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s."
|
||||||
born: 1944-05-08
|
born: 1944-05-08
|
||||||
location: "Banbury, Oxfordshire, England"
|
location: "Banbury, Oxfordshire, England"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success by [[Chris Denning]], who catapulted him to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s. In November 1997, a week after Denning's arrest, Glitter was arrested by British authorities after child pornography was discovered on a computer he had taken into a repair store.[^1]
|
Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success by [[Chris Denning]], who catapulted him to the Top of the Pops in the 1970s. In November 1997, a week after Denning's arrest, Glitter was arrested by British authorities after child pornography was discovered on a computer he had taken into a repair store.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -14,7 +15,7 @@ Gary Glitter was a British glam rock artist whose career was helped to success b
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The images found on Glitter's computer were described as being at the most extreme end of child pornography content. Using a scale where child pornography ranges from naked children artistically posed to children being tortured, the material on Glitter's computer rated at the highest level, featuring acts of torture on infants. The 55-year-old pop star had created a 'vast library' of computer images which were described as 'about as hardcore, sick, and degrading as it is possible to conceive' of children as young as two.[^1]
|
The images found on Glitter's computer were described as being at the most extreme end of child pornography content. Using a scale where child pornography ranges from naked children artistically posed to children being tortured, the material on Glitter's computer rated at the highest level, featuring acts of torture on infants. The 55-year-old pop star had created a 'vast library' of computer images which were described as 'about as hardcore, sick, and degrading as it is possible to conceive' of children as young as two.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Glitter was jailed for four months for downloading 4,000 child porn images from the internet. This came after a sensational day in court which had seen him cleared of sexually abusing a schoolgirl of 14, but he reappeared after two hours to admit the pornography offences. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers, presumably one of which had been run by his old pal Chris Denning, who was running around with Warwick Spinks in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
|
Glitter was jailed for four months for downloading 4,000 child porn images from the internet. This came after a sensational day in court which had seen him cleared of sexually abusing a schoolgirl of 14, but he reappeared after two hours to admit the pornography offences. Glitter had downloaded thousands of these images from specially encrypted members-only webservers. S. Dovey wrote that one of these had presumably been run by Chris Denning, who he wrote was running around with [[Warwick Spinks]] in Prague producing child pornography on the harder end of the scale.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### International Child Sex Tourism
|
### International Child Sex Tourism
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -22,7 +23,7 @@ After receiving his 4-month sentence in 1999 and with his music career over, Gli
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Operation Yewtree and BBC Connections
|
### Operation Yewtree and BBC Connections
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Glitter was arrested in October 2012 and convicted of historic child sexual abuse charges related to [[Operation Yewtree]]. His arrest was part of the investigation that quickly circled back to the earlier investigations into [[Jonathan King]] and [[Chris Denning]]. One woman abused by [[Jimmy Savile]] as a ward at a group foster home called Duncroft alleged she and two other girls from the home were driven to the BBC studios and sexually assaulted in Savile's dressing room by Savile, Gary Glitter, and a third famous BBC personality.[^1]
|
Glitter was arrested in October 2012 and convicted of historic child sexual abuse charges related to [[Operation Yewtree]]. His arrest was part of the investigation that quickly circled back to the earlier investigations into [[Jonathan King]] and Chris Denning. One woman abused by [[Jimmy Savile]] as a ward at a group foster home called Duncroft alleged she and two other girls from the home were driven to the BBC studios and sexually assaulted in Savile's dressing room by Savile, Gary Glitter, and a third famous BBC personality.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,10 +9,17 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- NewYork
|
- NewYork
|
||||||
- USA
|
- USA
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-22
|
created: 2026-05-22
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
summary: "Hector Bermudez, aliases 'Fiasco,' 'Rogue,' and 'Diablo,' was a Queens, New York leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants."
|
summary: "Hector Bermudez, aliases 'Fiasco,' 'Rogue,' and 'Diablo,' is a Queens, New York leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise."
|
||||||
born: 1996
|
born: 1996
|
||||||
location: "Queens, New York"
|
location: "Queens, New York"
|
||||||
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: member_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "alleged leader"
|
||||||
|
start: 2020-01
|
||||||
|
end: 2021-01
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Hector Bermudez]], aliases "Fiasco," "Rogue," and "Diablo," is a resident of [[Queens, New York]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1996 and was 29 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
[[Hector Bermudez]], aliases "Fiasco," "Rogue," and "Diablo," is a resident of [[Queens, New York]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1996 and was 29 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -23,13 +30,21 @@ Greggy's Cult operated using methods that would define the [[764 Network|764]] n
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Bermudez alongside four co-defendants: [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, [[New Mexico]]), [[Rumaldo Valdez]] (22, Wahiawa, Hawaii), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado). The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC).[^2]
|
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Bermudez alongside four co-defendants named in the Justice Department's release: [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, [[New Mexico]]), [[Rumaldo Valdez]] (22, Wahiawa, Hawaii), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado). The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC).[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2]
|
The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Bermudez was publicly reported as of May 2026.
|
No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Bermudez was publicly reported as of May 2026.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Detention and Bond
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A detention hearing before Chief Magistrate Judge [[Vera M. Scanlon]] on December 4, 2025 ended in an order of detention, after the court denied a $250,000 bond proposal backed by three sureties and one property.[^3] Bermudez moved to revoke the detention order on December 9.[^3] After a hearing before [[Pamela K. Chen]] on December 11, the court granted the request provided conditions were met, and on December 12 Magistrate Judge [[Peggy Kuo]] set a $350,000 secured bond and recorded his release.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The government's December 2, 2025 detention letter states that CyberTips dated from about June 2025 indicate that Bermudez continued to use Discord to solicit child sexual abuse material and to groom at least two minors, including through additional Discord accounts. The letter presents these as the government's allegations.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; NCITE. "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges." December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; NCITE. "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges." December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
||||||
[^2]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/; DOJ USAO-EDNY. "Five Members of Greggy's Cult Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/five-members-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet
|
[^2]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/; DOJ USAO-EDNY. "Five Members of Greggy's Cult Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/five-members-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet
|
||||||
|
[^3]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, minute entries and orders of December 4, 2025 (entries 19 and 20), December 11, 2025 (bond hearing), and December 12, 2025 (entries 33 and 34). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Letter from AUSA Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills requesting a permanent order of detention, ECF 14, December 2, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.14.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ tags:
|
||||||
summary: "Brussels investigating judge of the 1980s and reopened 1997 inquiries into the murder of Christine Van Hees, who suspended the X1 investigators' work in 1997 and was reported to have ties to Nihoul."
|
summary: "Brussels investigating judge of the 1980s and reopened 1997 inquiries into the murder of Christine Van Hees, who suspended the X1 investigators' work in 1997 and was reported to have ties to Nihoul."
|
||||||
location: "Brussels, Belgium"
|
location: "Brussels, Belgium"
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Jean-Claude Van Espen was an investigating judge (juge d'instruction) in Brussels. In the 1980s he directed the judicial investigation into the murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], killed and partly burned in the disused mushroom farm at Auderghem in 1984. When the statements of the anonymous witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], led to the case being reopened, the Brussels file, referred to as instruction 64/85 in the gendarmerie's correspondence with him, was returned at the end of January 1997 to the same judge.[^1] The gendarme Aimé Bille, assigned to it from the team of Patrick De Baets, found that the earlier investigation under Van Espen had "multiple gaps."[^2]
|
Jean-Claude Van Espen was an investigating judge (juge d'instruction) in Brussels. In the 1980s he directed the judicial investigation into the murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], killed and partly burned in the disused mushroom farm at Auderghem in 1984. When the statements of the anonymous witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], led to the case being reopened, the Brussels file, referred to as instruction 64/85 in the gendarmerie's correspondence with him, was returned at the end of January 1997 to the same judge.[^1] The gendarme Aimé Bille, assigned to it from the team of Patrick De Baets, found that the earlier investigation under Van Espen had "multiple gaps."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -18,11 +18,13 @@ Jean-Claude Van Espen was an investigating judge (juge d'instruction) in Brussel
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry into the [[Marc Dutroux]] affair asked its councillor-investigator, Marique, to look for protection mechanisms for [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and Dutroux in the Van Hees case, after an anonymous witness had linked Nihoul and [[Annie Bouty]] to it. When Marique spoke with investigators of the Neufchâteau antenna, the commission learned that Van Espen "was annoyed" by the contact, and it recorded its astonishment at "the violent reaction of the investigating judge." At a coordination meeting of the magistrates handling the related files on May 22, 1997, he asked that the college of prosecutors-general be seized of the question of what attitude magistrates and investigators should adopt when invited by the commission.[^1]
|
The Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry into the [[Marc Dutroux]] affair asked its councillor-investigator, Marique, to look for protection mechanisms for [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and Dutroux in the Van Hees case, after an anonymous witness had linked Nihoul and [[Annie Bouty]] to it. When Marique spoke with investigators of the Neufchâteau antenna, the commission learned that Van Espen "was annoyed" by the contact, and it recorded its astonishment at "the violent reaction of the investigating judge." At a coordination meeting of the magistrates handling the related files on May 22, 1997, he asked that the college of prosecutors-general be seized of the question of what attitude magistrates and investigators should adopt when invited by the commission.[^1]
|
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|
|
||||||
On June 22, 1997, Van Espen withdrew his confidence from the antenna's team and asked the Brussels gendarmerie to restructure it "to avoid any risk of pollution" of the investigation, ordering the suspension of "all investigative acts requested by my office or announced on initiative" and stating that he would continue the investigation provisionally without the gendarmerie's help. The commission noted that the team had by then carried out some 250 of his apostilles without any observation from him on their quality. He and the procureur du Roi of Ghent declined to work further with the team, which was removed from the antenna in August 1997; he later asked to be relieved of the investigation. In its report of February 16, 1998, the commission concluded that "the Brussels investigating judge gave particular, in fact disproportionate, attention to the contacts between the councillor-investigator of the commission of inquiry and certain investigators."[^1]
|
On June 22, 1997, in a letter addressed to the Brussels district commander, the BSR commander for Brabant and the antenna head Duterme, Van Espen withdrew his confidence from the antenna's team and asked the Brussels gendarmerie to restructure it "to avoid any risk of pollution" of the investigation, ordering the suspension of "all investigative acts requested by my office or announced on initiative" and stating that he would continue the investigation provisionally without the gendarmerie's help. The commission noted that the team had by then carried out some 250 of his apostilles without any observation from him on their quality. He and the procureur du Roi of Ghent declined to work further with the team, which was removed from the antenna in August 1997; he later asked to be relieved of the investigation. In its report of February 16, 1998, the commission concluded that "the Brussels investigating judge gave particular, in fact disproportionate, attention to the contacts between the councillor-investigator of the commission of inquiry and certain investigators."[^1]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
On July 7, 1997 Van Espen wrote to the Brussels district commander, who had asked his opinion on the antenna head [[Jean-Luc Duterme]]'s report of June 3, 1997 and the person cited in it. He answered that there was indeed convergence but that it was not for him to individualize the grievances without an inquiry outside his competence, and that he was passing the elements to the Brussels prosecutor. The prosecutor sent them to the prosecutor-general, who, "vu la gravité des faits," seized the Minister of Justice, who asked [[Anne Thily]], prosecutor-general of Liège, to inquire. She put the question to the college of prosecutors-general, which on September 15, 1997 decided to put the affair to an investigating judge.[^3] The commission heard him on October 15, 1997.[^4]
|
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|
|
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### Press Reports
|
### Press Reports
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 2002 *The Observer* reported that a Belgian journalist had revealed about two years earlier "the close relationship between Judge Van Espen and Nihoul and his then wife": that as a lawyer Van Espen had represented Nihoul's wife, that his sister was godmother of Nihoul's child, and that he had resigned as judge of the Van Hees investigation in early 1998 "after his relationship with Nihoul was exposed." The commission's report of February 1998 does not name Van Espen in connection with any tie to Nihoul; it records that Nihoul had several times tried to make investigators believe he was protected by a Brussels investigating judge, "(ex-)brother-in-law of a former lawyer," and found "qu'il n'en était rien" (that there was nothing to it).[^3][^1]
|
In 2002 *The Observer* reported that a Belgian journalist had revealed about two years earlier "the close relationship between Judge Van Espen and Nihoul and his then wife": that as a lawyer Van Espen had represented Nihoul's wife, that his sister was godmother of Nihoul's child, and that he had resigned as judge of the Van Hees investigation in early 1998 "after his relationship with Nihoul was exposed." The commission's report of February 1998 does not name Van Espen in connection with any tie to Nihoul; it records that Nihoul had several times tried to make investigators believe he was protected by a Brussels investigating judge, "(ex-)brother-in-law of a former lawyer," and found "qu'il n'en était rien" (that there was nothing to it).[^1][^5]
|
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|
|
||||||
On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels closed the files opened on Louf's testimony.[^2] The Van Hees murder was never solved.[^2]
|
On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels closed the files opened on Louf's testimony.[^2] The Van Hees murder was never solved.[^2]
|
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|
|
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|
|
@ -30,4 +32,6 @@ On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels closed
|
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|
|
||||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, "the problems within the Neufchâteau antenna," pp. 150-161; quotations translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, "the problems within the Neufchâteau antenna," pp. 150-161; quotations translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000.
|
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000.
|
||||||
[^3]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
[^3]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 156; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, hearings section, p. 34; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
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|
[^5]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
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@ -14,29 +14,36 @@ relations:
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role: "investigating judge, Neufchâteau"
|
role: "investigating judge, Neufchâteau"
|
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start: 1996-08
|
start: 1996-08
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end: 1996-10
|
end: 1996-10
|
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fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
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updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
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---
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---
|
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|
|
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Jean-Marc Connerotte was the investigating judge at Neufchâteau in the file on the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]], taken at Bertrix on August 9, 1996. [[Marc Dutroux]], his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested on August 12; on August 15 Dutroux confessed, and on his directions Laetitia and [[Sabine Dardenne]] were found alive in the cellar of his house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. The bodies of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17.[^2] The parliamentary commission noted that Connerotte and the Neufchâteau prosecutor, [[Michel Bourlet]], preferred to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit, in contrast to the more formal practice of his successor.[^3]
|
Jean-Marc Connerotte was the investigating judge at Neufchâteau in the file on the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]], taken at Bertrix on August 9, 1996. [[Marc Dutroux]], his wife [[Michelle Martin]] and [[Michel Lelievre]] were arrested on August 12; on August 15 Dutroux confessed, and on his directions Laetitia and [[Sabine Dardenne]] were found alive in the cellar of his house at [[Marcinelle, Belgium|Marcinelle]]. The bodies of [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] were found at Sars-la-Buissière on August 17.[^1] The parliamentary commission noted that Connerotte and the Neufchâteau prosecutor, [[Michel Bourlet]], preferred to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit, in contrast to the more formal practice of his successor.[^2]
|
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|
|
||||||
### The Hotline and X1
|
### The Hotline and X1
|
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|
|
||||||
After the girls were freed, Connerotte opened a free telephone line for witnesses of child abuse and people with information on Dutroux and his associates. A Dutch-speaking woman called to say that a friend knew a great deal about grave abuse of children; the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]], who was in Connerotte's office to report on his financial investigation of Dutroux's assets, took the call because of the language. The caller, Tania, was a friend of the witness later known as X1, [[Regina Louf]]; the call was the starting point of the so-called connected files. A special unit of the Brussels criminal investigation brigade (BSR) under De Baets was set up to question X1. One of her accounts led the investigators to the unsolved 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^4]
|
After the girls were freed, Connerotte opened a free telephone line for witnesses of child abuse and people with information on Dutroux and his associates. A Dutch-speaking woman called to say that a friend knew a great deal about grave abuse of children; the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]], who was in Connerotte's office to report on his financial investigation of Dutroux's assets, took the call because of the language. The caller, Tania, was a friend of the witness later known as X1, [[Regina Louf]]; the call was the starting point of the so-called connected files. A special unit of the Brussels criminal investigation brigade (BSR) under De Baets was set up to question X1. One of her accounts led the investigators to the unsolved 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^3]
|
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|
|
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|
The 0800 telephone line described in the parliamentary commission's April 1997 report was the commission's own line, for people who had worked on or knew of the investigation into the disappearances of minors; it became operational on November 6, 1996, and the commission decided to disregard anonymous communications received through it.[^4] The complementary report of February 1998 records that a friend of the anonymous witness telephoned Connerotte, who put her in contact with a Dutch-speaking investigator of the 3e SRC and issued a written instruction to question her.[^5]
|
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|
|
||||||
### Removal
|
### Removal
|
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|
|
||||||
In October 1996, after what became known as the "spaghetti ruling" of the Court of Cassation, Connerotte was replaced as investigating judge by Jacques Langlois. Shortly before he was removed, he opened a second telephone line for information on sexual abuse of children; whether Langlois ever acted on what it produced was still without a precise answer in 2000.[^4] In June 1997 the Brussels investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who held the Van Hees file, suspended all investigative acts by the team re-examining it.[^5]
|
On October 14, 1996 the Court of Cassation removed Connerotte from files 86/96 (Dutroux and Nihoul) and 87/96 and ordered them sent to another investigating judge of the Neufchâteau court of first instance. The petition came from the person under investigation in those files and relied on press reports that on September 21, 1996 the Bertrix branch of the non-profit association Marc et Corinne had held a dinner for about 400 people, the proceeds going notably to the legal costs of one of the victims of the case; that Connerotte had attended as a guest of the association together with the prosecutor; and that a gift had been handed to him. The Court found those facts established and relevant, and noted that the association had filed a civil-party claim before Connerotte against the petitioner.[^6] The decision is known as the Connerotte or "spaghetti" ruling.[^7] [[Jacques Langlois]] replaced him as investigating judge.[^8] Shortly before he was removed, he opened a second telephone line for information on sexual abuse of children; whether Langlois ever acted on what it produced was still without a precise answer in 2000.[^3] In June 1997 the Brussels investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who held the Van Hees file, suspended all investigative acts by the team re-examining it.[^9]
|
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|
|
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### The X-Witnesses
|
### The X-Witnesses
|
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|
|
||||||
After a public appeal by Connerotte in September 1996, eight witnesses gave testimony alleging abuse by members of the elite, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]] under Bourlet. The testimony described orgies and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83 frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], and at estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. The team matched X1's account of Van Hees's murder to unpublished details, and her account of a friend, "Clo," to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], identified through a yearbook, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze. X2 named de Bonvoisin, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay; X3 described abuse at royal castles between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified pornographic films featuring X1's friends. X2 also described orgies at the Mirano club attended by Princes Philippe and Laurent. The dossier mapped politicians of the Christian Social Party backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and described Dumont as representing [[CRIES]], which used [[UNICEF]] in the production of pornography through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]]; X1 described hunts and snuff films at [[ASCO Industries NV]], owned by [[Roger Boas]]. A 2005 summary of the file, later leaked through WikiLeaks, described 300 tapes, some featuring members of the elite. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and one of them, [[Melchior Wathelet]], sat on the European Court of Justice. The investigation followed [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, more than twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around Laetitia's abduction, vans of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and some 300 violent pornographic tapes seized from Nihoul's home. It examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio, linked through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] to Zandvoort, and a list compiled by Serge Heylens that included [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of CRIES; after a note signed "Anubis" was found in [[Bernard Weinstein]]'s cabin, the [[Abrasax Institute]] was raided and found to include police members. More than twenty witnesses died in the period, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] in 1998, after identifying Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte was cleared of bias in 1999; in 2004 he testified that contracts had been taken out on the lives of magistrates, who needed bulletproof vehicles. The dossier was leaked and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers.*[^1]
|
After a public appeal by Connerotte in September 1996, eight witnesses gave testimony alleging abuse by members of the elite, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]] under Bourlet. According to S. Dovey, the testimony described orgies and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83 frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], and at estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. The team matched X1's account of Van Hees's murder to unpublished details, and her account of a friend, "Clo," to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], identified through a yearbook, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze. X2 named de Bonvoisin, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay; X3 described abuse at royal castles between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified pornographic films featuring X1's friends. X2 also described orgies at the Mirano club attended by Princes Philippe and Laurent. The dossier mapped politicians of the Christian Social Party backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and described Dumont as representing [[CRIES]], which used [[UNICEF]] in the production of pornography through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]]; X1 described hunts and snuff films at [[ASCO Industries NV]], owned by [[Roger Boas]]. A 2005 summary of the file, later leaked through WikiLeaks, described 300 tapes, some featuring members of the elite. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and one of them, [[Melchior Wathelet]], sat on the European Court of Justice. The investigation followed [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]'s parties, more than twenty calls between Nihoul and Dutroux around Laetitia's abduction, vans of Nihoul's company [[Achats Services Commerces|ASCO]], and some 300 violent pornographic tapes seized from Nihoul's home. It examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio, linked through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] to Zandvoort, and a list compiled by Serge Heylens that included [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of CRIES; after a note signed "Anubis" was found in [[Bernard Weinstein]]'s cabin, the [[Abrasax Institute]] was raided and found to include police members. More than twenty witnesses died in the period, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] in 1998, after identifying Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]]. Connerotte was cleared of bias in 1999; in 2004 he testified that contracts had been taken out on the lives of magistrates, who needed bulletproof vehicles. The dossier was leaked and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers.*[^10]
|
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|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited; the underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux,* Houtekiet, 1999. Its date for Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) and its placing of the bodies of An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks at Sars-la-Buissière are contradicted by the commission's chronology and by the reports of their recovery at Jumet on September 3, 1996.
|
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, chronology of August 1996; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire...,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
[^3]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire...,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
[^3]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
||||||
[^4]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire..., rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 14, 1997, p. 25; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||||
[^5]: As cited on the Christine Van Hees page (Doc. 713/8-96/97, chapter V).
|
[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 152; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Cour de cassation de Belgique. Arrêt du 14 octobre 1996, P.96.1267.F, ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2; translated from the French. https://juportal.be/content/ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 866/7-96/97, October 8, 1997, p. 2 (l'arrêt Connerotte (ou «spaghetti»)); translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0866/49K0866007.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
|
||||||
|
[^9]: As cited on the Christine Van Hees page (Doc. 713/8-96/97, chapter V).
|
||||||
|
[^10]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux,* Houtekiet, 1999. Its date for Dutroux's arrest (August 13, 1996) and its placing of the bodies of An Marchal and Eefje Lambrecks at Sars-la-Buissière are contradicted by the commission's chronology and by the reports of their recovery at Jumet on September 3, 1996.
|
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|
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|
|
@ -6,9 +6,14 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Belgium
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
- Dutroux
|
- Dutroux
|
||||||
summary: "Katrien de Cuyper was a Belgian girl whose 1991 disappearance was linked to the Marc Dutroux network through testimony in the X-Dossier."
|
summary: "Katrien de Cuyper was a Belgian girl whose 1991 disappearance was linked to the Marc Dutroux network through testimony in the X-Dossier."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Katrien de Cuyper was a Belgian girl whose 1991 disappearance was linked to the [[Marc Dutroux]] network through testimony in the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing de Cuyper's murder at a castle, providing details that matched aspects of the case. Members of the [[Morkhoven Workgroup]] believed they had identified de Cuyper in pornographic photos found on the [[Apollo Disks]] seized from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s apartment in Zandvoort.[^1]
|
Katrien de Cuyper was a Belgian girl whose 1991 disappearance was linked to the [[Marc Dutroux]] network through testimony in the [[X-Dossier]]. X1 ([[Regina Louf]]) described witnessing de Cuyper's murder at a castle, providing details that matched aspects of the case. Members of the [[Morkhoven Workgroup]] believed they had identified de Cuyper in pornographic photos found on the [[Apollo Disks]] seized from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s apartment in Zandvoort.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Zembla programme description of the second part of "De X-dossiers," broadcast March 18, 2004, states that Katrien de Cuyper, who disappeared in Antwerp in 1991, resembles a photograph found on a CD-ROM in the [[Zandvoort]] child pornography case, and that other indications link the case to Zandvoort; it states that the Belgian judiciary investigated none of these leads at the time.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel II," broadcast March 18, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-ii
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- AbuseNetworks
|
- AbuseNetworks
|
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- Person
|
- Person
|
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summary: "German operator of boy brothels in Rotterdam whose police file recorded the sale of hundreds of boys; officers saw him with a boy believed to be Manuel Schadwald and did not intervene."
|
summary: "German operator of boy brothels in Rotterdam whose police file recorded the sale of hundreds of boys; officers saw him with a boy believed to be Manuel Schadwald and did not intervene."
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
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---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Lothar Glandorf was a German child trafficker operating boy brothels in Rotterdam and Berlin during the early 1990s. He owned establishments named Euro Boys and Young Boys in Rotterdam, which served as fronts for systematic child prostitution and pornography production catering to local and international pedophiles. Glandorf's enterprise formed a key node in an international child exploitation network connecting German, Dutch, and British operations, with his escort service providing boys to wealthy clients including influential figures.[^1]
|
Lothar Glandorf was a German child trafficker operating boy brothels in Rotterdam and Berlin during the early 1990s. He owned establishments named Euro Boys and Young Boys in Rotterdam, which served as fronts for systematic child prostitution and pornography production catering to local and international pedophiles. Glandorf's enterprise formed a key node in an international child exploitation network connecting German, Dutch, and British operations, with his escort service providing boys to wealthy clients including influential figures.[^1]
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|
|
@ -13,12 +13,15 @@ Lothar Glandorf was a German child trafficker operating boy brothels in Rotterda
|
||||||
Glandorf smuggled boys from Eastern Europe into Rotterdam brothels, where he pimped them to VIP clients and child pornographers, including renting a boy to sadistic pedophile [[Martin Smollners]] for a torture porn film involving electrocution of the boy's testicles. His Rotterdam operation faced investigation in 1994 following the 1993 disappearance of 12-year-old [[Manuel Schadwald]] from Berlin's [[Pinocchio Bar]], a venue linked to Glandorf, with witnesses confirming Schadwald was trafficked to Rotterdam for prostitution. Dutch authorities wiretapped Glandorf's phone during the HIK investigation, revealing his advice to a senior Dutch official named Joris on smuggling boys across borders and providing new boys for sex despite health risks like STDs; Glandorf was convicted in November 1995 for child trafficking and prostitution, with the case gaining renewed scrutiny in 1998 after the HIK report's leak exposed omitted surveillance of Schadwald and government ties. Glandorf sold boys to British child pornographers in Amsterdam, including claims by [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] that Schadwald was sold to [[Warwick Spinks]] after transport from Berlin.[^1]
|
Glandorf smuggled boys from Eastern Europe into Rotterdam brothels, where he pimped them to VIP clients and child pornographers, including renting a boy to sadistic pedophile [[Martin Smollners]] for a torture porn film involving electrocution of the boy's testicles. His Rotterdam operation faced investigation in 1994 following the 1993 disappearance of 12-year-old [[Manuel Schadwald]] from Berlin's [[Pinocchio Bar]], a venue linked to Glandorf, with witnesses confirming Schadwald was trafficked to Rotterdam for prostitution. Dutch authorities wiretapped Glandorf's phone during the HIK investigation, revealing his advice to a senior Dutch official named Joris on smuggling boys across borders and providing new boys for sex despite health risks like STDs; Glandorf was convicted in November 1995 for child trafficking and prostitution, with the case gaining renewed scrutiny in 1998 after the HIK report's leak exposed omitted surveillance of Schadwald and government ties. Glandorf sold boys to British child pornographers in Amsterdam, including claims by [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] that Schadwald was sold to [[Warwick Spinks]] after transport from Berlin.[^1]
|
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|
|
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### Connections
|
### Connections
|
||||||
Glandorf maintained business ties with Warwick Spinks, selling boys to his Amsterdam operations, and was investigated alongside associates like [[Karel Maasdam]] of the [[Bell Boys]] escort service, which catered to Dutch justice officials including [[Joris Demmink]]. Through the broader [[Marc Dutroux]] network, Glandorf linked to Marc Dutroux and [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] via shared trafficking routes and porn distribution, with Robbie van der Plancken claiming involvement in Schadwald's transport and sale, tying into Dutroux dossier evidence of Amsterdam connections. Glandorf's VIP clientele included political figures like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Tony Van den Boggaert]], with wiretaps implicating officials in boy smuggling; his operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks through elite pedophile rings involving blackmail and international child trade.[^1]
|
S. Dovey wrote that Glandorf maintained business ties with Warwick Spinks, selling boys to his Amsterdam operations. Robbie Van Der Plancken claimed, in an unbroadcast section of a Dutch television interview, that Manuel Schadwald had been sold to Spinks in Amsterdam some time after Glandorf took him from Berlin, and [[Nick Davies]] reported the claim.[^2] The [[Algemeen Dagblad]] reported on May 2, 1998 that a missing schoolboy had been seen in the boys' brothel of Lothar G. and Henk S. in Rotterdam, and was suspected of having reached it through the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.; the records found do not establish whether Warwick S. is Spinks.[^3] Dovey wrote that Glandorf was investigated alongside associates like [[Karel Maasdam]] of the [[Bell Boys]] escort service, which catered to Dutch justice officials including [[Joris Demmink]]. Through the broader [[Marc Dutroux]] network, Glandorf linked to Marc Dutroux and [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] via shared trafficking routes and porn distribution, with Robbie van der Plancken claiming involvement in Schadwald's transport and sale, tying into Dutroux dossier evidence of Amsterdam connections. Glandorf's VIP clientele included political figures like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Tony Van den Boggaert]], with wiretaps implicating officials in boy smuggling; his operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks through elite pedophile rings involving blackmail and international child trade.[^1]
|
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|
|
||||||
### The Rotterdam Investigation
|
### The Rotterdam Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Glandorf, a German, ran several brothels in Rotterdam using boys. After ignoring complaints for eighteen months, the Rotterdam police targeted him and found he had sold hundreds of boys, nearly half of those traced under 16, one only nine. Three Rotterdam surveillance officers saw him with a boy all three believed to be the missing Berlin boy Manuel Schadwald, but, according to police logs leaked to the Dutch television program *Network,* did not break cover to rescue him; Schadwald was never found. The police found the names of British men who used the brothels in his papers, one of whom crossed the North Sea weekly, and wrote a report, *De Handel in Kinderen* ("The Trade in Children"), which they never sent to Scotland Yard. Glandorf served four years of his sentence and was released.[^2]
|
Glandorf, a German, ran several brothels in Rotterdam using boys. After ignoring complaints for eighteen months, the Rotterdam police targeted him and found he had sold hundreds of boys, nearly half of those traced under 16, one only nine. Three Rotterdam surveillance officers saw him with a boy all three believed to be the missing Berlin boy Manuel Schadwald, but, according to police logs leaked to the Dutch television program *Network,* did not break cover to rescue him; Schadwald was never found. The police found the names of British men who used the brothels in his papers, one of whom crossed the North Sea weekly, and wrote a report, *De Handel in Kinderen* ("The Trade in Children"), which they never sent to Scotland Yard. Glandorf served four years of his sentence and was released.[^4]
|
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|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
|
||||||
[^2]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, with the author's later update. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
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|
[^3]: Algemeen Dagblad, "Politie onderzoekt 'politieschandaal'," May 2, 1998, Delpher KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051, https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051 Original: "Vermoed wordt dat de scholier daar terecht is gekomen via de Duitser Ludwig A. (44) en de Brit Warwick S." [It is suspected that the schoolboy ended up there via the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.]
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, with the author's later update. https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ tags:
|
||||||
summary: "Marc Dutroux, born November 6 1956, operated as a Belgian child trafficker and serial killer whose 1996 arrest exposed connections to international pedophile networks."
|
summary: "Marc Dutroux, born November 6 1956, operated as a Belgian child trafficker and serial killer whose 1996 arrest exposed connections to international pedophile networks."
|
||||||
born: 1956-11-06
|
born: 1956-11-06
|
||||||
location: "Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium"
|
location: "Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
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|
|
@ -22,11 +23,11 @@ Witnesses like [[Regina Louf|Regina Louf]] detailed Dutroux attending Nihoul's b
|
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|
|
||||||
Dutroux's wife [[Michelle Martin]] and accomplice [[Michel Lelievre]] confirmed he acted on Nihoul's orders, kidnapping girls for delivery to clients. X-witnesses, including X1, accused Dutroux of participating in the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]] at a mushroom farm, matching crime scene details unavailable publicly. X1 also linked him to [[Carine Dellaert]]'s 1983 death, describing her childbirth and subsequent murder.
|
Dutroux's wife [[Michelle Martin]] and accomplice [[Michel Lelievre]] confirmed he acted on Nihoul's orders, kidnapping girls for delivery to clients. X-witnesses, including X1, accused Dutroux of participating in the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]] at a mushroom farm, matching crime scene details unavailable publicly. X1 also linked him to [[Carine Dellaert]]'s 1983 death, describing her childbirth and subsequent murder.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Dutroux's ties extended to German trafficker [[Lothar Glandorf]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], who transported [[Manuel Schadwald]] to Rotterdam brothels. The X-Dossier detailed Dutroux's involvement in hunts and orgies at estates of figures like [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and Counts [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]], removed after appealing for victims, oversaw early probes uncovering these links before replacement in 1997 amid protests.
|
Dutroux's ties extended to German trafficker [[Lothar Glandorf]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], who transported [[Manuel Schadwald]] to Rotterdam brothels. The X-Dossier detailed Dutroux's involvement in hunts and orgies at estates of figures like [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and Counts [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] oversaw the early inquiry until the Court of Cassation removed him on October 14, 1996 after he attended a dinner held by the association Marc et Corinne; protests followed.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Dutroux's 2004 trial resulted in life imprisonment for murders of [[Julie Lejeune]], [[Melissa Russo]], An Marchal, and Eefje Lambrecks, but Nihoul was acquitted of key charges and released in 2005. Over 20 suspicious deaths, including prosecutor [[Hubert Massa]] and witness [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], plagued the investigation. The [[Apollo Disks]] from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s network contained materials linking back to Dutroux's circle, with Pardaens-Bernaer identifying a Dutroux-linked perpetrator in a snuff film before her 1998 death.
|
Dutroux's 2004 trial resulted in life imprisonment for murders of [[Julie Lejeune]], [[Melissa Russo]], An Marchal, and Eefje Lambrecks, but Nihoul was acquitted of the charges tied to the abductions, sentenced to five years for drug trafficking and criminal association, and paroled on April 28, 2006.[^3] Over 20 suspicious deaths, including prosecutor [[Hubert Massa]] and witness [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], plagued the investigation. The [[Apollo Disks]] from [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]]'s network contained materials linking back to Dutroux's circle, with Pardaens-Bernaer identifying a Dutroux-linked perpetrator in a snuff film before her 1998 death.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Dutroux's operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks, involving blackmail of elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Paul Martens]].[[Sabine Dardenne]] and Laetitia Delhez were rescued from his dungeon in August 1996, and Dutroux received a life sentence at his 2004 trial.[^1]
|
Dutroux's operations aligned with [[Operation Gladio]] networks, involving blackmail of elites like [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and [[Paul Martens]].[[Sabine Dardenne]] and Laetitia Delhez were rescued from his dungeon in August 1996, and Dutroux received a life sentence at his 2004 trial.[^4]
|
||||||
### Kidnappings and Trafficking Operations
|
### Kidnappings and Trafficking Operations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Dutroux kidnapped six girls between 1995 and 1996, holding them in a basement dungeon at his Marcinelle home. Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, aged 8, vanished July 22 1995; An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, disappeared August 22 1995; Sabine Dardenne, 12, abducted May 26 1996; Laetitia Delhez, 14, taken August 9 1996.
|
Dutroux kidnapped six girls between 1995 and 1996, holding them in a basement dungeon at his Marcinelle home. Julie Lejeune and Melissa Russo, aged 8, vanished July 22 1995; An Marchal, 17, and Eefje Lambrecks, 19, disappeared August 22 1995; Sabine Dardenne, 12, abducted May 26 1996; Laetitia Delhez, 14, taken August 9 1996.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -44,11 +45,11 @@ Phone records showed 20 calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduc
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Carine Dellaert's 1983 murder involved Dutroux and Nihoul, with autopsy showing childbirth evidence. [[Katrien de Cuyper]]'s 1991 disappearance tied to Dutroux via X1's testimony of a castle murder. Dutroux's network overlapped Spartacus via Jean-Paul Dumont, attorney for CRIES pedophile ring using UNICEF basement for filming.
|
Carine Dellaert's 1983 murder involved Dutroux and Nihoul, with autopsy showing childbirth evidence. [[Katrien de Cuyper]]'s 1991 disappearance tied to Dutroux via X1's testimony of a castle murder. Dutroux's network overlapped Spartacus via Jean-Paul Dumont, attorney for CRIES pedophile ring using UNICEF basement for filming.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Jean-Paul Dumont]] represented figures like [[Forges de Clabecq]] of Bank Brussels Lambert. Dutroux's early 1986 release by Wathelet, accused by X1 of abuse, raised cover-up claims. Judge Connerotte's removal after a victims' fundraiser sparked White Marches of 300,000 protesters.
|
[[Jean-Paul Dumont]] represented figures like [[Forges de Clabecq]] of Bank Brussels Lambert. Dutroux's early release in 1992 by Wathelet, accused by X1 of abuse, raised cover-up claims. Judge Connerotte's removal after a dinner for a victims' fund sparked the White Marches, which drew between 200,000 and 300,000 participants to Brussels on October 20, 1996.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
X-Dossier leaked in 1997 detailed orgies at Lippens' estates with Dutroux present. X3 accused Dutroux of rapes at royal castles from 1950-1962. Police seized 300 violent child porn tapes from Nihoul's home, some featuring elites.
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that the X-Dossier testimony described orgies at Lippens' estates with Dutroux present. X3 accused Dutroux of rapes at royal castles from 1950-1962. Police seized 300 violent child porn tapes from Nihoul's home, some featuring elites.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Dutroux boasted of Slovakian contacts for easy abductions. His 2004 life sentence followed X-witness testimonies, but Nihoul received only 5 years.[^1]
|
Dutroux boasted of Slovakian contacts for easy abductions. His 2004 life sentence followed X-witness testimonies, but Nihoul received only 5 years.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### X-Dossier and Elite Connections
|
### X-Dossier and Elite Connections
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -56,26 +57,31 @@ The X-Dossier, compiled by Judge Connerotte's team, contained testimonies from e
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
X1 claimed witnessing Christine Van Hees' 1984 murder at a mushroom farm, details matching police files like ligature and burns. Judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who had directed the 1980s Van Hees investigation and was later reported to have had close ties to Nihoul, suspended the Neufchâteau team's work on the reopened file in June 1997. X1 identified Carine Dellaert's 1983 murder, autopsy confirming childbirth.
|
X1 claimed witnessing Christine Van Hees' 1984 murder at a mushroom farm, details matching police files like ligature and burns. Judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who had directed the 1980s Van Hees investigation and was later reported to have had close ties to Nihoul, suspended the Neufchâteau team's work on the reopened file in June 1997. X1 identified Carine Dellaert's 1983 murder, autopsy confirming childbirth.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
X1 detailed hunts at Lippens' estates and snuff films at ASCO Industries factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. Boas linked to [[Parti Social Chretien]] (CSP) elites like Paul Vanden Boeynants and Martens. X1 described parties with blackmail, escalating to violence. X2 corroborated, naming Lippens, Jean-Paul Dumont, and de Bonvoisin at sadomasochist orgies. X2 attended hunts near Chimay castle. X3 alleged royal involvement with Baudouin and Albert. X4 identified X1's friends in porn films. Investigations reopened cold cases, but team accused of fabrication and replaced in 1997. X-Dossier leaked to journalists in 1999 book, leading to King Albert's lawsuit.
|
X1 detailed hunts at Lippens' estates and snuff films at ASCO Industries factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. Boas linked to [[Parti Social Chretien]] (CSP) elites like Paul Vanden Boeynants and Martens. X1 described parties with blackmail, escalating to violence. X2 corroborated, naming Lippens, Jean-Paul Dumont, and de Bonvoisin at sadomasochist orgies. X2 attended hunts near Chimay castle. X3 alleged royal involvement with Baudouin and Albert. X4 identified X1's friends in porn films. Investigations reopened cold cases, but team accused of fabrication and replaced in 1997. The testimonies were published in 1999 in the book De X-dossiers;[^5] Dovey wrote that King Albert sued over it.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
2004 summary leaked via Wikileaks in 2009. Dutroux's ties to Spartacus via Dumont, who represented [[CRIES]] members using [[UNICEF]] for porn. CRIES linked to French pastor [[Joseph Douce]] and neo-Nazi [[Michel Caignet]].
|
2004 summary leaked via Wikileaks in 2009. Dutroux's ties to Spartacus via Dumont, who represented [[CRIES]] members using [[UNICEF]] for porn. CRIES linked to French pastor [[Joseph Douce]] and neo-Nazi [[Michel Caignet]].
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Beat Meier]], Spartacus associate, smuggled boys with Roger Lawrence for films. Ties to Belgian royal family via X3's claims of abuse at castles. Over 20 witness deaths, including prosecutor Massa and Gina Pardaens-Bernaer, who identified Dutroux-linked snuff on Apollo Disks before her 1998 death.[^1]
|
[[Beat Meier]], Spartacus associate, smuggled boys with Roger Lawrence for films. Ties to Belgian royal family via X3's claims of abuse at castles. Over 20 witness deaths, including prosecutor Massa and Gina Pardaens-Bernaer, who identified Dutroux-linked snuff on Apollo Disks before her 1998 death.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The 1989 Conviction and Early Release
|
### The 1989 Conviction and Early Release
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Dutroux's 1996 arrest was not his first: on April 26, 1989 he was convicted of abducting and raping five girls and women and sentenced to 13.5 years, but Justice Minister Wathelet paroled him on April 8, 1992 after roughly three years, over the objections of both the public prosecutor and a prison psychiatrist who had assessed him as a high-risk offender. He resumed offending soon after release, and the decision became a central controversy in the later parliamentary inquiries.[^2]
|
Dutroux's 1996 arrest was not his first: on April 26, 1989 he was convicted of abducting and raping five girls and women and sentenced to 13.5 years, but Justice Minister Wathelet paroled him on April 8, 1992 after roughly three years, over the objections of both the public prosecutor and a prison psychiatrist who had assessed him as a high-risk offender. He resumed offending soon after release, and the decision became a central controversy in the later parliamentary inquiries.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Witness X1 Corroboration and the De Baets Team
|
### Witness X1 Corroboration and the De Baets Team
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The investigative team under the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]] conducted extensive interviews with Regina Louf (Witness X1) and corroborated significant portions of her testimony through independent means before being removed from the case after pursuing leads toward prominent individuals; Judge Jacques Langlois ordered a rereading of all the related files in the summer of 1997, and on April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general closed them, a course which De Baets and his colleagues maintained was a political decision.[^2][^4]
|
The investigative team under the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]] conducted extensive interviews with Regina Louf (Witness X1) and corroborated significant portions of her testimony through independent means before being removed from the case after pursuing leads toward prominent individuals; Judge Jacques Langlois ordered a rereading of all the related files in the summer of 1997, and on April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general closed them, a course which De Baets and his colleagues maintained was a political decision.[^6][^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Gunderson, Gosch, and U.S. Parallels
|
### Gunderson, Gosch, and U.S. Parallels
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Researchers including [[Ted Gunderson]], a former head of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Los Angeles]] field office, drew parallels between the Belgian network and organized-abuse rings in the United States, including the [[McMartin Preschool]] case and the [[The Finders|Finders]] case; [[Noreen Gosch]], mother of kidnapped Iowa paperboy [[Johnny Gosch]], publicly stated her belief that her son had been abducted into an organized network with connections to both American and European intelligence services.[^3]
|
Researchers including [[Ted Gunderson]], a former head of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]]'s [[Los Angeles]] field office, drew parallels between the Belgian network and organized-abuse rings in the United States, including the [[McMartin Preschool]] case and the [[The Finders|Finders]] case; [[Noreen Gosch]], mother of kidnapped Iowa paperboy [[Johnny Gosch]], publicly stated her belief that her son had been abducted into an organized network with connections to both American and European intelligence services.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
|
||||||
[^2]: "Paedophile Marc Dutroux and the Murders That United a Divided Belgium," *Euronews*, October 27, 2019; *Dutroux* trial verdict, Arlon Assize Court, June 17, 2004; U.S. Office of Justice Programs, "Exhausting Whiteness: The 1996-98 Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry," 2004.
|
[^1]: Cour de cassation de Belgique. Arrêt du 14 octobre 1996, P.96.1267.F, ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2; translated from the French. https://juportal.be/content/ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2
|
||||||
[^3]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996; Ted Gunderson investigative reports.
|
[^2]: "14-20 octobre 1996." Encyclopaedia Universalis, chronicle entry "Belgique. Vives réactions au dessaisissement du juge chargé de l'enquête sur le réseau de pédophilie"; translated from the French. https://www.universalis.fr/evenement/14-20-octobre-1996-vives-reactions-au-dessaisissement-du-juge-charge-de-l-enquete-sur-le-reseau-de-pedophilie/
|
||||||
[^4]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements.
|
[^3]: "Michel Nihoul est décédé." La Libre Belgique, October 23, 2019; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/societe/michel-nihoul-est-decede-5db04ec39978e218e36b29be Sentence: "'Most hated' Belgian in jail for life." Al Jazeera, June 22, 2004. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/6/22/most-hated-belgian-in-jail-for-life
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux. Antwerp: Houtekiet, 1999, 543 pp., ISBN 90-5240-536-0 (catalogue record from the Library of Congress, LCCN 2002406745, as listed in Open Library). https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9789052405360
|
||||||
|
[^6]: "Paedophile Marc Dutroux and the Murders That United a Divided Belgium," *Euronews*, October 27, 2019; *Dutroux* trial verdict, Arlon Assize Court, June 17, 2004; U.S. Office of Justice Programs, "Exhausting Whiteness: The 1996-98 Belgian Parliamentary Inquiry," 2004.
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements.
|
||||||
|
[^8]: A.B.H. Alexander, "Sex, Drugs, the CIA, MIND CONTROL and Your Children," PROBE, c. 1996; Ted Gunderson investigative reports.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -12,29 +12,42 @@ relations:
|
||||||
with: "[[Marc Dutroux]]"
|
with: "[[Marc Dutroux]]"
|
||||||
role: "procureur du Roi, Neufchâteau"
|
role: "procureur du Roi, Neufchâteau"
|
||||||
start: 1996-08
|
start: 1996-08
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
- type: reported_to
|
- type: reported_to
|
||||||
with: "[[Anne Thily]]"
|
with: "[[Anne Thily]]"
|
||||||
role: "prosecutor-general, Liège"
|
role: "prosecutor-general, Liège"
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Michel Bourlet was the procureur du Roi (King's prosecutor) at Neufchâteau during the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] opened after the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]] in August 1996, and worked the file alongside the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]]. The parliamentary commission noted that Bourlet and Connerotte had preferred, in the past and at the time, to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit.[^2]
|
Michel Bourlet was the procureur du Roi (King's prosecutor) at Neufchâteau during the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] opened after the abduction of [[Laetitia Delhez]] in August 1996, and worked the file alongside the investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]]. The parliamentary commission noted that Bourlet and Connerotte had preferred, in the past and at the time, to work directly with the investigators rather than through the command of the investigation unit.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After Connerotte's replacement by Jacques Langlois in October 1996, the families of the missing children continued to meet Bourlet, whom they trusted, rather than Langlois. On October 24, 1997, [[Anne Thily]], prosecutor-general at the court of appeal in Liège, wrote to Bourlet in a letter marked "personal and confidential" asking him to stop all contact with the press and, temporarily, with the parents of the missing children except on the parts of the files concerning them; the commission found that the families were thereby partly deprived of information on the investigation.[^2]
|
After Connerotte's replacement by [[Jacques Langlois]] in October 1996, the families of the missing children continued to meet Bourlet, whom they trusted, rather than Langlois. On October 24, 1997, [[Anne Thily]], prosecutor-general at the court of appeal in Liège, wrote to Bourlet in a letter marked "personal and confidential" asking him to stop all contact with the press and, temporarily, with the parents of the missing children except on the parts of the files concerning them; the commission found that the families were thereby partly deprived of information on the investigation.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In January 1998, amid a press campaign against the witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], fed by leaks from police and judicial circles, the Liège prosecutor-general opened a series of investigations into the leaks, in the course of which Bourlet's telephone was placed under surveillance. At least one officer of the judicial police was charged, in a case said in 2000 to be under examination in the Namur judicial district. The Belgian Senate proposal of 2000 asked what the leak inquiry had found, whom it had charged, and whether the leaks had been intended to protect particular participants in the investigation.[^3]
|
In January 1998, amid a press campaign against the witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], fed by leaks from police and judicial circles, the Liège prosecutor-general opened a series of investigations into the leaks, in the course of which Bourlet's telephone was placed under surveillance. At least one officer of the judicial police was charged, in a case said in 2000 to be under examination in the Namur judicial district. The Belgian Senate proposal of 2000 asked what the leak inquiry had found, whom it had charged, and whether the leaks had been intended to protect particular participants in the investigation.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The X-Dossier
|
### The X-Dossier
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Bourlet led the team that examined the testimony of eight X-witnesses who came forward after Connerotte's appeal, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]]. It concerned orgies, hunts and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83, behind Golfpad 4, frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, in the Ardennes, and at the estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]], and snuff films at the [[ASCO Industries NV]] factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. The team matched X1's account of "Chrissie" to the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], which she described as committed by Dutroux, [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and her account of "Clo," traced through a school yearbook, to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], found in a septic tank, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze; X1 described a childbirth and a gang rape involving Nihoul, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Leopold Lippens. X2 named de Bonvoisin, Dumont and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay and described orgies at the Mirano club with Princes Philippe and Laurent; X3 described abuse at the castles of Prince Charles, King Baudouin and King Albert between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified X1's friends in pornographic films. The team examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio in Antwerp, linked to Zandvoort through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]; a list by Serge Heylens naming [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of [[CRIES]]; Dumont's representation of CRIES, whose members used basements of [[UNICEF]] for filming, with links through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]] to [[Spartacus International]]; hierarchies involving [[Paul Martens]] and Christian Social Party politicians backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]]; and the [[Abrasax Institute]], raided after a note signed "Anubis" was found in Weinstein's cabin, which included police members. Chantal Storme corroborated X1's account of the brothel. The investigation also found more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduction, financial trails to accounts in Europe, and violent pornographic tapes at Nihoul's home.[^1]
|
According to S. Dovey, Bourlet led the team that examined the testimony of eight X-witnesses who came forward after Connerotte's appeal, compiled as the [[X-Dossier]]. It concerned orgies, hunts and murders at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], at the brothel of X1's grandmother [[Cecile Beernaert]] at Elizabetlaan 83, behind Golfpad 4, frequented by [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family, in the Ardennes, and at the estates of [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]], and snuff films at the [[ASCO Industries NV]] factory owned by [[Roger Boas]]. The team matched X1's account of "Chrissie" to the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]], which she described as committed by Dutroux, [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and her account of "Clo," traced through a school yearbook, to the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]], found in a septic tank, whose autopsy found laminaria sticks and gauze; X1 described a childbirth and a gang rape involving Nihoul, [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Leopold Lippens. X2 named de Bonvoisin, Dumont and Lippens at sadomasochistic events near Chimay and described orgies at the Mirano club with Princes Philippe and Laurent; X3 described abuse at the castles of Prince Charles, King Baudouin and King Albert between 1950 and 1962; X4 identified X1's friends in pornographic films. The team examined the 1991 disappearance of [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and the X-Kiss studio in Antwerp, linked to Zandvoort through [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]; a list by Serge Heylens naming [[Beat Meier]], [[Edward Brongersma]] and [[Philippe Carpentier]] of [[CRIES]]; Dumont's representation of CRIES, whose members used basements of [[UNICEF]] for filming, with links through [[Joseph Douce]] and [[Michel Caignet]]'s [[Gaie France]] to [[Spartacus International]]; hierarchies involving [[Paul Martens]] and Christian Social Party politicians backed by the [[Societe Generale de Banque]]; and the [[Abrasax Institute]], raided after a note signed "Anubis" was found in Weinstein's cabin, which included police members. Chantal Storme corroborated X1's account of the brothel. The investigation also found more than twenty calls between Dutroux and Nihoul around Laetitia's abduction, financial trails to accounts in Europe, and violent pornographic tapes at Nihoul's home.[^3]
|
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|
|
||||||
Bourlet's team was replaced in 1997 after accusations that it had fed details to X1, and investigators were charged and cleared in 1999. The dossier was leaked to Flemish journalists and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers,* and King Albert sued in 2001. A summary of 1,235 pages, prepared for the 2004 trial, described 300 violent tapes from Nihoul's home, some with members of the elite, and was leaked through WikiLeaks in 2009. More than twenty witnesses died during the investigation, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], who had identified Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]], and Hubert Massa, by suicide in 1998. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and [[Melchior Wathelet]] sat on the European Court of Justice. The 2004 trial did not hear the X-witnesses; Bourlet criticized the acquittals and called for cases such as Dellaert's to be reopened.[^1]
|
Dovey wrote that Bourlet's team was replaced in 1997 after accusations that it had fed details to X1, and that investigators were charged and cleared in 1999. The dossier was leaked to Flemish journalists and published in 1999 as *De X-dossiers,* and King Albert sued in 2001. A summary of 1,235 pages, prepared for the 2004 trial, described 300 violent tapes from Nihoul's home, some with members of the elite, and was leaked through WikiLeaks in 2009. More than twenty witnesses died during the investigation, among them [[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]], who had identified Dutroux-linked material on [[Apollo Disks]], and Hubert Massa, by suicide in 1998. The accused were linked to [[Operation Gladio]] networks, and [[Melchior Wathelet]] sat on the European Court of Justice. The 2004 trial did not hear the X-witnesses; Bourlet criticized the acquittals and called for cases such as Dellaert's to be reopened.[^3]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998 records that Bourlet and Jean-Marc Connerotte had in the past preferred, and still preferred, direct contact between magistrates and investigators, while Judge Langlois preferred to go through the antenna head; [[Jean-Luc Duterme]]'s note of June 3, 1997 complained that an investigator maintained a direct contact with Bourlet, whom he informed unilaterally.[^4] The commission heard Bourlet on June 3 and October 14, 1997.[^5]
|
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|
|
||||||
|
The Senate proposal of October 9, 2000 states that after the January 1998 leaks the prosecutor-general of Liège opened investigations and that Bourlet's telephone was at one point placed under surveillance, and that at least one judicial police officer was charged.[^6] On September 28, 1998 the justice committee tabled motions on an interpellation by Frans Lozie on the systematic intimidation of the Neufchâteau prosecutor by the Liège prosecutor-general's office; the recommendation asked the government to do everything so that the Neufchâteau prosecutor could continue his work in full freedom and, if need be, to relieve the Liège prosecutor-general of her functions.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Arlon Trial
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[La Libre Belgique]] reported on June 1, 2004 that at the trial Bourlet spoke at length on the abduction of one of the surviving victims and called Nihoul certainly guilty, while the advocate general said nothing of Nihoul in his requisitions.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited; the underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux* (Houtekiet, 1999). It describes Bourlet as assigned to the case by Connerotte, which inverts their roles, and gives August 13, 1996, for Dutroux's arrest, contradicted by the commission's chronology.
|
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
||||||
[^3]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French.
|
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The underlying X-witness material is Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux* (Houtekiet, 1999). It describes Bourlet as assigned to the case by Connerotte, which inverts their roles, and gives August 13, 1996, for Dutroux's arrest, contradicted by the commission's chronology.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 153-154; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, hearings section, p. 34; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of September 28, 1998, Doc. 25/365-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025365.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^8]: "Au plus vif de la polémique." La Libre Belgique, June 1, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/06/01/au-plus-vif-de-la-polemique-FBRY7S2PXJCR7JBHRC5T5HWYYU/
|
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|
|
|
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58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Patrick De Baets.md
Normal file
58
10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Patrick De Baets.md
Normal file
|
|
@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
aliases:
|
||||||
|
- Patrick De Baets
|
||||||
|
- Adjudant De Baets
|
||||||
|
- Gendarme De Baets
|
||||||
|
tags:
|
||||||
|
- Person
|
||||||
|
- KeyFigure
|
||||||
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
|
- Dutroux
|
||||||
|
- Gendarmerie
|
||||||
|
- XWitnesses
|
||||||
|
category: "Law Enforcement & Legal"
|
||||||
|
summary: "Brussels gendarme of the third section of the BSR who took the first interviews of the anonymous X witnesses in 1996 and was removed from the Neufchâteau antenna in 1997."
|
||||||
|
location: "Brussels, Belgium"
|
||||||
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: participant_in
|
||||||
|
with: "[[X-Dossier]]"
|
||||||
|
start: 1996-08
|
||||||
|
end: 1997-08
|
||||||
|
role: "gendarme of the 3e SRC cell that conducted the interviews of X1"
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
created: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Patrick De Baets is a Belgian gendarme, an adjudant of the third section (3e SRC) of the [[Brussels]] criminal investigation brigade (BSR), who conducted the first interviews of the anonymous witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], in 1996 and 1997. According to a Senate proposal of October 2000, he has remained off the Neufchâteau inquiry since the summer of 1997.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The First Interviews
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
According to the Senate proposal tabled by [[Frans Lozie]] on October 9, 2000, De Baets was in the office of the [[Neufchâteau]] investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] to report on his financial inquiry into the assets of [[Marc Dutroux]] when Connerotte received a call from a Dutch-speaking woman, Tania, whose friend knew of grave abuse of children. Connerotte passed him the telephone because of the language. After some days Louf contacted De Baets, and a special cell under his direction videotaped her interviews, each summarized in French for Neufchâteau.[^1] The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 1998 records that the 3e SRC members were assigned to the related files of September 1996 on the basis of the anonymous witness's statements, that Connerotte put the caller's friend in contact with a Dutch-speaking investigator of the 3e SRC and issued a written instruction to that investigator to question her, and that the Neufchâteau antenna was set up in separate premises after November 25, 1996.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The commission listed De Baets as "adjudant - 3e SRC de la BSR de Bruxelles" among the persons heard on October 14, 1997, with [[Aimé Bille]], [[Michel Bourlet]] and others. [[Jean-Luc Duterme]], [[Jacques Langlois]] and [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]] were heard the next day.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[Michel Clippe]], a former adjudant of the Brussels BSR, told La Dernière Heure in 2020 that his work consisted of carrying out checks and verifications after Louf's statements and that he was able to verify a great deal of the information she gave, which proved accurate.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Dispute in the Antenna
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The commission records that tensions in the antenna, present by December 1996 and January 1997, concerned the value of an anonymous witness's statements and the antenna's internal organization. On June 3, 1997 the Brussels BSR commander was sent a note by the antenna's commander, Duterme, which accused one investigator of manipulating an anonymous witness's interviews and of lacking objectivity.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Senate proposal places the start of the trouble earlier: from April 1997 the tension between Duterme and De Baets rose, and Duterme ordered colleagues of De Baets to reread the interviews and report on the credibility of the witness's statements and on possible manipulation of the interviews by De Baets's team. The proposal describes the first such report as very negative for De Baets and as totally lacking credibility.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In the Chamber of Representatives, the justice committee's interpellations of October 21, 1998 included one by [[Gerolf Annemans]] on the statements of gendarme De Baets on the manipulation of justice, and one by [[Vincent Decroly]] on the astonishing circumstances of the removal of De Baets and Bille from the Neufchâteau antenna.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Removal
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Senate proposal states that Langlois ordered a complete rereading of the related files in the summer of 1997 and temporarily removed a number of gendarmes from the Brussels cell, and that De Baets and Bille have remained off the inquiry. The commission's own account describes the antenna's team as placed at rest on July 14, 1997 and temporarily withdrawn on August 26, 1997 by the Brussels BSR commander, with Langlois writing on September 2, 1997 that he opposed a definitive removal until the persons concerned could explain the grievances against them.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
According to the same Senate proposal, the inquiry into De Baets and Bille by the investigating judge Pignolet was closed without further action and a gendarmerie disciplinary inquiry acquitted them completely; the gendarmerie hierarchy stated that both had carried out their duties in an exemplary manner. They then filed more than eighty complaints for calumny, defamation and forgery against colleagues and magistrates who compiled the rereading file, and were kept from judicial police missions.[^1] The Zembla description of its second programme, broadcast March 18, 2004, states that the gendarmerie leadership judged after some months that the inquiry had not been conducted correctly, that the investigators were suspected of falsifying a procès-verbal and that a judicial procedure was started, and that three years later an internal gendarmerie commission reported that they had done their work with integrity and professionally.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 152-158; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, hearings section, p. 34; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^4]: "Régina Louf, témoin X1 dans l'affaire Dutroux, brise le silence," interview with Régina Louf and statement of Michel Clippe. *La Dernière Heure,* online, 2020; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/regina-louf-temoin-x1-dans-l-affaire-dutroux-brise-le-silence-marc-dutroux-libere-je-m-y-prepare-5e652e1e9978e2051e15c16c
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of October 21, 1998 on the interpellations of Marc Verwilghen, Frans Lozie, Gerolf Annemans, Charles Janssens and Vincent Decroly, Doc. 25/370-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025370.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^6]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel II," broadcast March 18, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-ii
|
||||||
|
|
@ -7,20 +7,25 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Belgium
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
- Dutroux
|
- Dutroux
|
||||||
summary: "Family friend of Regina Louf (witness X1) who, her parents told police, had a key to their home and access to their twelve-year-old daughter, and who admitted his relationship with her to police."
|
summary: "Family friend of Regina Louf (witness X1) whom The Observer reported in 2002 had a key to her parents' home and, by the paper's account, admitted to police a relationship with the twelve-year-old."
|
||||||
location: "Belgium"
|
location: "Belgium"
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Tony Van den Bogaert was a friend of the family of [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1 in the [[Marc Dutroux]] investigation, in Ghent. Louf's parents admitted to police that Van den Bogaert, then in his forties, had had a key to their home and unlimited access to their twelve-year-old daughter, and he admitted his relationship with her to police. In 2002 he was living on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands and had not been prosecuted.[^1] On April 23, 1998, in a confrontation with Louf, a man described as her "so-called protector" admitted that he had had sex with her when she was twelve, with her parents' knowledge, and had once lent her to others; the admission was not pursued because the acts were time-barred.[^2]
|
Tony Van den Bogaert is the name *The Observer* gave in 2002 for a friend of the family of [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1 in the [[Marc Dutroux]] investigation, in Ghent. The paper reported that Louf told investigators that from the age of twelve she had been "given" by her parents to a family friend of that name who had a key to their house; that her parents had told police that a family friend in his forties of that name had a key to their home and unlimited access to their twelve-year-old daughter; and that he "had himself admitted his relationship with Louf to police." It wrote that he was living on the border of Belgium and the Netherlands and had not been prosecuted.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
*La Dernière Heure* reported in 2020 that he had admitted sexual relations with Louf when she was twelve and he was thirty-nine, and that her mother had acknowledged that at that time he had the key to the house and came when he wished. The paper wrote that Louf presents him as her pimp between the ages of thirteen and seventeen.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Senate proposal of October 9, 2000 states that on April 23, 1998, in a confrontation with Louf, a man it calls her "so-called protector" admitted that he had had sex with her when she was twelve, with her parents' knowledge, and had once lent her to others; the admission was not pursued because the acts were time-barred. The proposal does not name him.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Louf's Account
|
### Louf's Account
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Louf said that from about the age of twelve Van den Bogaert acted as her pimp, taking her from Ghent to parties in Brussels attended by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], to the [[Le Dolo]] club and to Amsterdam, and that he was present on the night of the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^3] The prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels found on April 23, 1998, that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations."[^2]
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Louf said that from about the age of twelve Van den Bogaert acted as her pimp, taking her from Ghent to parties in Brussels attended by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], to the [[Le Dolo]] club and to Amsterdam, and that he was present on the night of the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]].[^4] The prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels found on April 23, 1998, that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
[^1]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
||||||
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000. The proposal does not name the "so-called protector."
|
[^2]: "Régina Louf, témoin X1 dans l'affaire Dutroux, brise le silence." *La Dernière Heure,* online, 2020; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/regina-louf-temoin-x1-dans-l-affaire-dutroux-brise-le-silence-marc-dutroux-libere-je-m-y-prepare-5e652e1e9978e2051e15c16c
|
||||||
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statement that he died by suicide in 1995 is contradicted by *The Observer*'s 2002 report that he was living on the Belgian-Dutch border. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^3]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000. The proposal does not name the "so-called protector."
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Its statement that he died by suicide in 1995 is contradicted by *The Observer*'s 2002 report that he was living on the Belgian-Dutch border.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,10 +9,17 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- NewMexico
|
- NewMexico
|
||||||
- USA
|
- USA
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-22
|
created: 2026-05-22
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
summary: "Zachary Dosch, alias 'Moist Nigerian,' was an Albuquerque, New Mexico leader of Greggy's Cult who pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges and faced further indictment in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York alongside four co-defendants."
|
summary: "Zachary Dosch is an Albuquerque, New Mexico leader of Greggy's Cult who pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges and was indicted in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York."
|
||||||
born: 1999
|
born: 1999
|
||||||
location: "Albuquerque, New Mexico"
|
location: "Albuquerque, New Mexico"
|
||||||
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: member_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "alleged leader"
|
||||||
|
start: 2020-01
|
||||||
|
end: 2021-01
|
||||||
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Zachary Dosch]], alias "Moist Nigerian," is a resident of [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1999 and was 26 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
[[Zachary Dosch]], alias "Moist Nigerian," is a resident of [[Albuquerque, New Mexico]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 1999 and was 26 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
||||||
|
|
@ -27,11 +34,20 @@ Greggy's Cult directed minor victims to engage in sexually explicit and degradin
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Dosch alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2]
|
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Dosch alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Camden Rodriguez]], the four co-defendants named in the Justice Department's release. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
No outcome had been publicly reported on Dosch's 2022 guilty plea sentencing or the new indictment as of May 2026.
|
No outcome had been publicly reported on Dosch's 2022 guilty plea sentencing or the new indictment as of May 2026.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Arraignment and Detention
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Dosch was arraigned in the Eastern District of New York on March 3, 2026 before Magistrate Judge [[Clay H. Kaminsky]], and entered not-guilty pleas on all counts. The court ordered him detained the same day, and the April 30, 2026 status conference recorded him as in custody.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The government's December 10, 2025 motion states that Dosch was ordered detained in the [[District of New Mexico]] and committed to the Eastern District of New York on the New Mexico matter, case number 1:25-mj-4991 (D.N.M.).[^4] The same motion states that in June 2021 Dosch was arrested and charged in the District of New Mexico with child exploitation offenses, and that Greggy's Cult is believed to have disbanded at or shortly after that time.[^4] The December 2 detention letter states that Dosch's electronic devices and home contained dozens of videos of the sexual exploitation of children.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others for alleged roles in 'monstrous' online extortion group." December 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704
|
[^1]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others for alleged roles in 'monstrous' online extortion group." December 2025. https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704
|
||||||
[^2]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
[^2]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^3]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, minute entry of March 3, 2026 (arraignment, Magistrate Judge Clay H. Kaminsky), order of detention, entry 74; minute entry of April 30, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Government's letter appealing the release order and moving to stay, ECF 26, December 10, 2025, text and footnote 3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.26.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Letter from AUSA Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills requesting a permanent order of detention, ECF 14, December 2, 2025. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.14.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,27 +9,40 @@ summary: "Brussels teenager whose burned body was found in 1984 at a disused mus
|
||||||
died: 1984
|
died: 1984
|
||||||
location: "Auderghem, Belgium"
|
location: "Auderghem, Belgium"
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Christine Van Hees was killed in February 1984 and found bound and partly burned in the disused mushroom farm (champignonnière) at Auderghem, on the outskirts of Brussels. The murder was not solved, and the file stayed with the Brussels investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]].[^2][^4] She was sixteen.[^5]
|
Christine Van Hees was killed in February 1984 and found bound and partly burned in the disused mushroom farm (champignonnière) at Auderghem, on the outskirts of Brussels. The murder was not solved, and the file stayed with the Brussels investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]].[^1][^2] She was sixteen.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The X1 Testimony
|
### The X1 Testimony
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1996 the witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], told the Neufchâteau investigators of the murder of a girl she knew as "Chrissie." "It was a sort of bondage," she later said, "so her legs and her hands and her throat were connected with the same rope, and so when she moved she strangled herself." She said that [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] took part in the killing and that [[Marc Dutroux]] watched; Nihoul denied it.[^3] She also named [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]].[^1] The farm had since been demolished, but she described its wallpaper, sinks, hooks in the ceiling and a network of stairs and adjoining rooms. She also mentioned details that had never been made public, among them a metal pin in the dead girl's wrist.[^5] Rudi Hoskens, one of the officers assigned to re-examine the case, said: "She gave us some details that made us think it's impossible to give without having been there at that place." The son of the farm's former owner said: "I have never met Regina Louf. All I know is that she could not have described the house as well as she did unless she'd been there. It was two houses joined together in a strange way." The Prosecutor General of Liège, Anne Thily, told a reporter in 2002 that Louf was a fantasist who had invented everything.[^3]
|
In 1996 the witness X1, [[Regina Louf]], told the Neufchâteau investigators of the murder of a girl she knew as "Chrissie." "It was a sort of bondage," she later said, "so her legs and her hands and her throat were connected with the same rope, and so when she moved she strangled herself." She said that [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] took part in the killing and that [[Marc Dutroux]] watched; Nihoul denied it.[^4] She also named [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]].[^5] The farm had since been demolished, but she described its wallpaper, sinks, hooks in the ceiling and a network of stairs and adjoining rooms. She also mentioned details that had never been made public, among them a metal pin in the dead girl's wrist.[^3] Rudi Hoskens, one of the officers assigned to re-examine the case, said: "She gave us some details that made us think it's impossible to give without having been there at that place." The son of the farm's former owner said: "I have never met Regina Louf. All I know is that she could not have described the house as well as she did unless she'd been there. It was two houses joined together in a strange way." The Prosecutor General of Liège, Anne Thily, told a reporter in 2002 that Louf was a fantasist who had invented everything.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Louf's account led the gendarme Aimé Bille to the old file, and he found that the earlier investigation under Van Espen had "multiple gaps."[^4] Van Hees had swum weekly at a pool above the premises of [[Radio Activité]], where Nihoul was active, and skated at Poseidon in Woluwe, which Dutroux also frequented.[^1]
|
Louf's account led the gendarme Aimé Bille to the old file, and he found that the earlier investigation under Van Espen had "multiple gaps."[^2] Van Hees had swum weekly at a pool above the premises of [[Radio Activité]], where Nihoul was active, and skated at Poseidon in Woluwe, which Dutroux also frequented.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Senate proposal of October 9, 2000 states that one of X1's accounts led the investigators to an old file on Van Hees, who had been murdered and partly burned in the former mushroom farm at Auderghem, a murder never solved, and that the gendarme Aimé Bille, assigned to the file, found that the earlier inquiry under the investigating judge Jean-Claude Van Espen presented multiple gaps.[^6] The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998 records that an anonymous witness had associated Jean-Michel Nihoul and "A. Bouty" with an unsolved murder in the Brussels region on which Van Espen had led the inquiry in the 1980s; the commission's text does not name the victim in that passage.[^7] The commission also records that the Brussels district commander wrote to Van Espen on September 2, 1997 about a division of tasks among investigators for instruction 64/85.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On October 21, 1998 the [[Chamber of Representatives]]' justice committee tabled motions after five interpellations. A recommendation signed by [[Gerolf Annemans]] asked the minister to press the college of prosecutors-general for an independent rereading of the files on the statements of the so-called X witnesses (among them Van Hees and Mazibas), separate from the Neufchâteau investigating judge and from the antenna head Duterme.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[La Libre Belgique]] reported in 2004 that on March 17, 2000 it became known that semen recovered from Van Hees's body had been analyzed and corresponded genetically neither to Nihoul nor to any known suspect in the Dutroux affair, a result the paper described as destroying the credit of X1 on the point.[^10] A [[Zembla]] programme of March 11, 2004 stated in its description that X1 had "daderkennis" (knowledge of the perpetrators) in the Van Hees and Dellaert cases and that the gendarmerie had been able to confirm much of what she said.[^11] [[Michel Clippe]], a former adjudant of the Brussels BSR, told La Dernière Heure in 2020 that he was able to verify a great deal of what she said.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Investigating Judge
|
### The Investigating Judge
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The reopened file was returned to Van Espen at the end of January 1997. The Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry recorded its astonishment at his "violent reaction" to contacts between its councillor-investigator and the Neufchâteau investigators, and his order of June 22, 1997, suspending all investigative acts by the team; it concluded that he had given "particular, in fact disproportionate, attention" to those contacts.[^2] In 2002 it was reported that a Belgian journalist had revealed his "close relationship" with Nihoul and his then wife: that as a lawyer he had represented Nihoul's wife, that his sister was godmother of Nihoul's child, and that he had resigned from the case in early 1998.[^3]
|
The reopened file was returned to Van Espen at the end of January 1997. The Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry recorded its astonishment at his "violent reaction" to contacts between its councillor-investigator and the Neufchâteau investigators, and his order of June 22, 1997, suspending all investigative acts by the team; it concluded that he had given "particular, in fact disproportionate, attention" to those contacts.[^1] In 2002 it was reported that a Belgian journalist had revealed his "close relationship" with Nihoul and his then wife: that as a lawyer he had represented Nihoul's wife, that his sister was godmother of Nihoul's child, and that he had resigned from the case in early 1998.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels found that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations" and closed the related files, among them the reopened inquiries into the murders of Van Hees, [[Carine Dellaert]], [[Veronique Dubrulle]], [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and Hanim Ayse Mazibas.[^4]
|
On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels found that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations" and closed the related files, among them the reopened inquiries into the murders of Van Hees, [[Carine Dellaert]], [[Veronique Dubrulle]], [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and Hanim Ayse Mazibas.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: "Who did not kill Christine Van Hees?" *De Morgen,* September 22, 1998.
|
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
[^2]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000.
|
||||||
[^3]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
[^3]: Smoltczyk, Alexander. "Im Netz der Dossiers." *Der Spiegel,* no. 42/2001, October 14, 2001; translated from the German. https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/im-netz-der-dossiers-a-c9fe5b47-0002-0001-0000-000020353850 *The Observer* gives her age as fifteen in its account of Louf's description.
|
||||||
[^5]: Smoltczyk, Alexander. "Im Netz der Dossiers." *Der Spiegel,* no. 42/2001, October 14, 2001; translated from the German. https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/im-netz-der-dossiers-a-c9fe5b47-0002-0001-0000-000020353850 *The Observer* gives her age as fifteen in its account of Louf's description.
|
[^4]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
||||||
[^4]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000.
|
[^5]: "Who did not kill Christine Van Hees?" *De Morgen,* September 22, 1998.
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 150; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 158; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of October 21, 1998, Doc. 25/370-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025370.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^10]: Planchar, Roland. "Des 'X' sans crédit." La Libre Belgique, February 16, 2004. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/02/16/des-x-sans-credit-LKLTKQICABBWXKFUTUJNXL6NRY/
|
||||||
|
[^11]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel I," broadcast March 11, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-i
|
||||||
|
[^12]: "Régina Louf, témoin X1 dans l'affaire Dutroux, brise le silence." La Dernière Heure, online, 2020; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/regina-louf-temoin-x1-dans-l-affaire-dutroux-brise-le-silence-marc-dutroux-libere-je-m-y-prepare-5e652e1e9978e2051e15c16c
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ relations:
|
||||||
role: "Tolpaertpolder rezoning"
|
role: "Tolpaertpolder rezoning"
|
||||||
fn: 3
|
fn: 3
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Leopold Lippens was born in 1941 into a family whose members included his father, also mayor of [[Knokke-Heist|Knokke]], and his grandfather, a politician and former governor-general of the [[Belgian Congo|Congo]] who was made a baron by [[Leopold III]] in 1936; Lippens inherited the title on his father's death in 1986. He moved into his father's old office as mayor in 1979 and held it until his death. By his own account he knew Jackie Kennedy and [[Ted Kennedy]], and he became friends with [[Donald Trump]] over golf. In 1990 he banned "frigobox tourists" who brought their own lunch to the beach. He stepped back for health reasons in November 2020, was found to have leukemia, and died on February 19, 2021, at 79, during a council meeting he could not attend. His brother is the banker [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]].[^1][^2]
|
Leopold Lippens was born in 1941 into a family whose members included his father, also mayor of [[Knokke-Heist|Knokke]], and his grandfather, a politician and former governor-general of the [[Belgian Congo|Congo]] who was made a baron by [[Leopold III]] in 1936; Lippens inherited the title on his father's death in 1986. He moved into his father's old office as mayor in 1979 and held it until his death. By his own account he knew Jackie Kennedy and [[Ted Kennedy]], and he became friends with [[Donald Trump]] over golf. In 1990 he banned "frigobox tourists" who brought their own lunch to the beach. He stepped back for health reasons in November 2020, was found to have leukemia, and died on February 19, 2021, at 79, during a council meeting he could not attend. His brother is the banker [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]].[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -45,4 +45,4 @@ In the [[X-Dossier]] investigation under Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]], the wit
|
||||||
[^1]: "Leopold Lippens, the baron-mayor of Knokke, dies at 79." *The Brussels Times,* February 20, 2021, archived March 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210302173436/https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/belgium-all-news/155873/leopold-lippens-mayor-knokke-dies-at-79-congo-baron-michelin-kennedy-trump-leukaemia/
|
[^1]: "Leopold Lippens, the baron-mayor of Knokke, dies at 79." *The Brussels Times,* February 20, 2021, archived March 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210302173436/https://www.brusselstimes.com/news/belgium-all-news/155873/leopold-lippens-mayor-knokke-dies-at-79-congo-baron-michelin-kennedy-trump-leukaemia/
|
||||||
[^2]: "Mayor Leopold Lippens of Knokke-Heist has died aged 79." *VRT NWS,* February 19, 2021, archived February 20, 2021.
|
[^2]: "Mayor Leopold Lippens of Knokke-Heist has died aged 79." *VRT NWS,* February 19, 2021, archived February 20, 2021.
|
||||||
[^3]: Goedgebeur, Helen. "Is Leopold Lippens schuldig aan belangenvermenging? Parket voert onderzoek naar burgemeester Knokke-Heist." *VRT NWS,* January 7, 2020, citing *De Standaard;* translated from the Dutch. https://web.archive.org/web/20200108234511/https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/01/07/is-leopold-lippens-schuldig-aan-belangenvermenging-parket-voert/
|
[^3]: Goedgebeur, Helen. "Is Leopold Lippens schuldig aan belangenvermenging? Parket voert onderzoek naar burgemeester Knokke-Heist." *VRT NWS,* January 7, 2020, citing *De Standaard;* translated from the Dutch. https://web.archive.org/web/20200108234511/https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2020/01/07/is-leopold-lippens-schuldig-aan-belangenvermenging-parket-voert/
|
||||||
[^4]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck, and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. *De X-dossiers.* Epo, 1999, and the leaked summary of the X-file investigation published by WikiLeaks in 2009. The witness attributions were located through the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Covert Politics compilation "Belgian X-Dossiers of the Dutroux Affair: the Accused," used as a finding aid only.
|
[^4]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck, and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux.* Antwerp: Houtekiet, 1999, 543 pp., ISBN 90-5240-536-0, and the leaked summary of the X-file investigation published by WikiLeaks in 2009.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ relations:
|
||||||
role: "brother"
|
role: "brother"
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-15
|
created: 2026-05-15
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Maurice Lippens is the brother of [[Count Leopold Lippens]], mayor of [[Knokke-Heist]] from 1979 to 2021, and was chairman of the bank [[Fortis]].[^1][^2]
|
Maurice Lippens is the brother of [[Count Leopold Lippens]], mayor of [[Knokke-Heist]] from 1979 to 2021, and was chairman of the bank [[Fortis]].[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -37,5 +37,5 @@ In the [[X-Dossier]] investigation under Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]], the wit
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: "Maurice Lippens rompt le silence." *VRT NWS,* September 19, 2009, archived October 16, 2019; translated from the French. https://web.archive.org/web/20191016073837/https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/fr/2009/09/19/maurice_lippens_romptlesilence-1-600628/
|
[^1]: "Maurice Lippens rompt le silence." *VRT NWS,* September 19, 2009, archived October 16, 2019; translated from the French. https://web.archive.org/web/20191016073837/https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/fr/2009/09/19/maurice_lippens_romptlesilence-1-600628/
|
||||||
[^2]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck, and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. *De X-dossiers.* Epo, 1999, and the leaked summary of the X-file investigation published by WikiLeaks in 2009. The witness attributions were located through the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Covert Politics compilation "Belgian X-Dossiers of the Dutroux Affair: the Accused," used as a finding aid only.
|
[^2]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck, and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux.* Antwerp: Houtekiet, 1999, 543 pp., ISBN 90-5240-536-0, and the leaked summary of the X-file investigation published by WikiLeaks in 2009.
|
||||||
[^3]: "Did Maurice Lippens deceive small investors?" *VRT NWS,* September 21, 2013, archived September 20, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190920101737/https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2013/09/21/did_maurice_lippensdeceivesmallinvestors-1-1734811/
|
[^3]: "Did Maurice Lippens deceive small investors?" *VRT NWS,* September 21, 2013, archived September 20, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190920101737/https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2013/09/21/did_maurice_lippensdeceivesmallinvestors-1-1734811/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -5,11 +5,10 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Netherlands
|
- Netherlands
|
||||||
- PedophileNetwork
|
- PedophileNetwork
|
||||||
- Dutroux
|
|
||||||
- RolodexInvestigation
|
- RolodexInvestigation
|
||||||
summary: "Karel Maasdam, operating under the alias 'Alex Privee,' ran the Bell Boys callboy service in the Netherlands during the 1980s, which provided underage male prostitutes to senior Dutch judicial and political figures; his networks were connected to international pedophile organizations and were investigated in connection with the Dutroux affair and the Dutch Rolodex Investigation."
|
summary: "Karel Maasdam, alias 'Alex Privee,' ran the Bell Boys callboy service in the Netherlands in the 1980s, which supplied underage male prostitutes to Dutch judicial and political figures, and is named in the Rolodex Investigation."
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-14
|
created: 2026-05-14
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-14
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
location: "Netherlands"
|
location: "Netherlands"
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Karel Maasdam, using the alias "Alex Privee," operated the [[Bell Boys]] callboy service in the [[Netherlands]] during the 1980s, a commercial sexual abuse enterprise that provided underage boys to clients drawn from the Dutch legal, judicial, and political establishment. Maasdam also operated the [[Festival Bar]], a venue connected to the networks documented in Dutch pedophile investigations of the period. His operations were connected to [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] through companies including [[Korper and Korver]] and [[Adonis]].[^1]
|
Karel Maasdam, using the alias "Alex Privee," operated the [[Bell Boys]] callboy service in the [[Netherlands]] during the 1980s, a commercial sexual abuse enterprise that provided underage boys to clients drawn from the Dutch legal, judicial, and political establishment. Maasdam also operated the [[Festival Bar]], a venue connected to the networks documented in Dutch pedophile investigations of the period. His operations were connected to [[John Stamford]]'s [[Spartacus Network]] through companies including [[Korper and Korver]] and [[Adonis]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -20,15 +19,13 @@ The [[Rolodex Investigation]], a Dutch police inquiry into organized boy prostit
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Henry Hans Holthuis]], who served as Chief Prosecutor of the [[International Criminal Court|International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]] from 2003 to 2007, is among the prominent Dutch officials named in connection with the Bell Boys investigation. [[Robert Jan Warmerdam]], a witness in Dutch investigations, described attending events connected to Maasdam's network and provided testimony linking the Bell Boys service to the broader international pedophile infrastructure centered on [[Amsterdam]].[^1]
|
[[Henry Hans Holthuis]], who served as Chief Prosecutor of the [[International Criminal Court|International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia]] from 2003 to 2007, is among the prominent Dutch officials named in connection with the Bell Boys investigation. [[Robert Jan Warmerdam]], a witness in Dutch investigations, described attending events connected to Maasdam's network and provided testimony linking the Bell Boys service to the broader international pedophile infrastructure centered on [[Amsterdam]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Connections to Belgian Network
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Maasdam appears in the [[X-Dossier]] material from the [[Marc Dutroux]] investigation. Witness X2 named Maasdam in describing the overlapping Belgian and Dutch networks of organized abuse that she said she had direct knowledge of from the 1980s. The witness identified connections between the Belgian networks around [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and the Dutch networks centered on Maasdam's operations.[^2]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Belgian X-Dossier witness referred to as X2 described attending events at locations connected to [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens|Maurice Lippens]]'s villa circuit and said her presence there was arranged partly through the social milieu connected to Maasdam's networks. These claimed connections between the Belgian elite abuse networks and Dutch commercial abuse operations reflected what investigators identified as a shared social infrastructure operating across national borders.[^2]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### International Connections
|
### International Connections
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Maasdam's [[Festival Bar]] and [[Bell Boys]] service intersected with the broader international pedophile network centered on [[Amsterdam]], including [[PAN Magazine]] distribution networks and the [[Pedophile Information Exchange|PIE]]-connected organizations that used Amsterdam as a publishing and organizational base. The [[G-Force nightclub]] in Amsterdam - connected through company structures to Maasdam's enterprises - was also investigated as a venue whose management had links to the [[Gero-Video]] and [[TAG Films]] production networks connected to [[Warwick Spinks]].[^1]
|
Maasdam's Festival Bar and Bell Boys service intersected with the broader international pedophile network centered on Amsterdam, including [[PAN Magazine]] distribution networks and the [[Pedophile Information Exchange|PIE]]-connected organizations that used Amsterdam as a publishing and organizational base. The [[G-Force nightclub]] in Amsterdam - connected through company structures to Maasdam's enterprises - was also investigated as a venue whose management had links to the [[Gero-Video]] and [[TAG Films]] production networks connected to [[Warwick Spinks]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Name in the X-Dossier
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A Brussels magistrate identified in X-Dossier witness statements only by the first name Karel (PV 117.535, November 19, 1996) is not identified in those statements as Karel Maasdam.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -3,16 +3,19 @@ category: "Criminals & Offenders"
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
summary: "Peter Howells conducted activities as a convicted pedophile integrated into the international child trafficking frameworks of the late 20th century, specifically within the exploitative environment of Amsterdam's red-light areas and canal networks."
|
summary: "Peter Howells is a convicted paedophile and the owner of the Bovver Boots children's theatrical agency in London and Amsterdam, and of a houseboat on Prinzengracht, according to Nick Davies."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Peter Howells conducted activities as a convicted pedophile integrated into the international child trafficking frameworks of the late 20th century, specifically within the exploitative environment of [[Amsterdam]]'s red-light areas and canal networks.
|
Peter Howells is a convicted paedophile who, according to [[Nick Davies]], owned a children's theatrical agency, [[Bovver Boots]], with offices in London and [[Amsterdam]]. S. Dovey described him as integrated into the international child trafficking frameworks of the late 20th century, within the environment of Amsterdam's red-light areas and canal networks.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Operations in Amsterdam
|
### Operations in Amsterdam
|
||||||
Howells' main venture, the apparently legitimate children's talent agency designated [[Bovver Boots]], acted as a cover for an advanced child pornography endeavor located on a houseboat anchored in central [[Amsterdam]]. This positioning permitted Howells to take advantage of the city's lenient supervision of waterways and its status as a center for illegal pursuits, aiding the creation and spread of abusive content involving susceptible boys obtained from wider European trafficking circuits. The houseboat arrangement offered both portability and privacy, allowing Howells to avoid prompt identification while coordinating with providers who supplied children for recording and other abusive objectives.
|
Nick Davies described Howells as one of the friends of [[Warwick Spinks]] in Amsterdam, and wrote that Howells is a convicted paedophile who has also been named in police statements by children from Hackney in north London who say that they were abused, photographed and filmed. Dutch police who visited Howells's houseboat on Prinzengracht in Amsterdam found the walls papered with obscene photographs of young boys.[^2] S. Dovey wrote that Bovver Boots acted as a cover for an advanced child pornography endeavor located on a houseboat anchored in central Amsterdam, that the position permitted Howells to take advantage of the city's lenient supervision of waterways and its status as a center for illegal pursuits, and that the houseboat offered both portability and privacy, allowing him to avoid prompt identification while coordinating with providers who supplied children.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Howells' endeavors connected directly with notable individuals in the pedophile subculture, particularly via commercial pacts with [[Warwick Spinks]], a major operator in [[Spartacus Club|Spartacus International]]'s escort offerings. Spinks, utilizing his array of canal boats beyond central [[Amsterdam]] as secluded spots for client meetings, regularly leased boys to Howells for employment in his pornography fabrication. [^1]
|
S. Dovey wrote that Howells's dealings with Spinks, whom Dovey described as a major operator in [[Spartacus Club|Spartacus International]]'s escort offerings, included commercial arrangements under which Spinks leased boys to Howells for use in pornography, with Spinks's boats outside central Amsterdam serving as meeting places for clients.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Nick Davies, "A paedophile ring in Amsterdam," The Guardian, April 5, 1997, https://www.nickdavies.net/1997/04/05/a-paedophile-ring-in-amsterdam/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -19,26 +19,42 @@ relations:
|
||||||
role: "witness X1"
|
role: "witness X1"
|
||||||
fn: 1
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Regina Louf, born in Ghent in 1969, was the witness known as X1 in the investigation opened at Neufchâteau after the arrest of [[Marc Dutroux]] in August 1996. The investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] had set up a free telephone line for information on child abuse; a Dutch-speaking caller, Tania, a friend of Louf's, reached the gendarme Patrick De Baets, who was in Connerotte's office at the time, and after some days Louf herself contacted him. A special cell of the Brussels BSR under De Baets questioned her, with every interview videotaped and summarized in French for Neufchâteau, while senior gendarmerie officers and magistrates watched from behind glass. Her statements opened a series of "related files," the [[X-Dossier]].[^1]
|
Regina Louf, born in Ghent in 1969, was the witness known as X1 in the investigation opened at Neufchâteau after the arrest of [[Marc Dutroux]] in August 1996. The investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] had set up a free telephone line for information on child abuse; a Dutch-speaking caller, Tania, a friend of Louf's, reached the gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]], who, according to the Senate proposal of 2000, was in Connerotte's office at the time, and after some days Louf herself contacted him. A special cell of the Brussels BSR under De Baets questioned her, with every interview videotaped and summarized in French for Neufchâteau, while senior gendarmerie officers and magistrates watched from behind glass. Her statements opened a series of "related files," the [[X-Dossier]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Her Account
|
### Her Account
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
She was questioned at length thirteen times under the code name X1. She summarized her family background in two sentences: "My mother was abused by her father, a police commissioner in Knokke. I was rented out by my mother, with my father's knowledge."[^2] Louf said that from early childhood she had been prostituted by her grandmother, [[Cecile Beernaert]], at a villa in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], that at about twelve she was handed to a pimp, [[Tony Van den Boggaert|Tony Van den Bogaert]], who took her to parties in Brussels attended by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], and that the parties moved from sex to torture and murder. Among those she named as clients or participants were the former prime minister [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and members of the Lippens family, [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. She said she had witnessed the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]] in the abandoned mushroom farm at Auderghem, naming Dutroux, Nihoul, [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]] after childbirth. She described a factory site that investigators connected to [[ASCO Industries NV]], a villa at Faulx-les-Tombes and parties on the Avenue Louise.[^3] She published her account as *Zwijgen is voor daders* in 1998.[^3]
|
She was questioned at length thirteen times under the code name X1. She summarized her family background in two sentences: "My mother was abused by her father, a police commissioner in Knokke. I was rented out by my mother, with my father's knowledge."[^2] The writer S. Dovey wrote that Louf said that from early childhood she had been prostituted by her grandmother, [[Cecile Beernaert]], at a villa in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], that at about twelve she was handed to a pimp, [[Tony Van den Boggaert|Tony Van den Bogaert]], who took her to parties in Brussels attended by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], and that the parties moved from sex to torture and murder. Among those she named as clients or participants were the former prime minister [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and members of the Lippens family, [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Count Maurice Auguste Lippens]]. She said she had witnessed the 1984 murder of [[Christine Van Hees]] in the abandoned mushroom farm at Auderghem, naming Dutroux, Nihoul, [[Bernard Weinstein]] and the lawyer [[Michel Vander Elst]], and the 1983 death of [[Carine Dellaert]] after childbirth. She described a factory site that investigators connected to [[ASCO Industries NV]], a villa at Faulx-les-Tombes and parties on the Avenue Louise.[^3] She published her account as *Zwijgen is voor daders* in 1998.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Investigation of Her Testimony
|
### The Investigation of Her Testimony
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Her account of Van Hees led the Brussels gendarme Aimé Bille to the unsolved file, and he found that the earlier investigation under the investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]] had "multiple gaps." Her statements led to the reopening of the murders of Van Hees, Dellaert, [[Veronique Dubrulle]], [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and Hanim Ayse Mazibas. A psychiatric report on her by Professor Igodt of the Catholic University of Leuven was read so differently by others that its author publicly urged "extreme caution" about the concrete details of her testimony while calling them "useful data" for further investigation.[^1]
|
Her account of Van Hees led the Brussels gendarme Aimé Bille to the unsolved file, and he found that the earlier investigation under the investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]] had "multiple gaps." Her statements led to the reopening of the murders of Van Hees, Dellaert, [[Veronique Dubrulle]], [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and Hanim Ayse Mazibas. A psychiatric report on her by Professor Igodt of the Catholic University of Leuven was read so differently by others that its author publicly urged "extreme caution" about the concrete details of her testimony while calling them "useful data" for further investigation.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
After Connerotte was removed from the Dutroux case in October 1996 and replaced by Judge Jacques Langlois, the cell came under a Mr. Duterme, who from April 1997 had De Baets's colleagues reread the interviews and report on her credibility and on possible manipulation by De Baets's team; the first report, very negative for De Baets, "totally lacked credibility," and a second was ordered. In the summer of 1997 Langlois ordered a complete rereading of all the related files and removed De Baets and Bille from the investigation. A criminal investigation of the two gendarmes by Judge Pignolet was dropped and a gendarmerie disciplinary inquiry acquitted them completely; they then filed more than eighty complaints alleging that reports in the rereading had been falsified.[^1]
|
The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998 gives a different account of the first contact. It records that a friend of the Dutch-speaking anonymous witness telephoned Judge Connerotte, who put her in contact with a Dutch-speaking investigator of the Brussels 3e SRC and then issued a written instruction to that investigator to question her. The same passage records that the 3e SRC investigators were assigned to the related files of September 1996 on the basis of this witness's statements, under files 109/96, 110/96, 111/96, 136/96 and 139/96.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In January 1998 Louf gave up her anonymity, in part to protest the stalling of the inquiry, amid a press campaign against her fed by leaks from police and judicial circles. On April 23, 1998, the day Dutroux briefly escaped, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels decided that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations" and closed the related files. The same day, in a confrontation with Louf, the man described as her "so-called protector" admitted that he had had sex with her when she was twelve, with her parents' knowledge, and had once lent her to others; the admission was not pursued, the acts being time-barred.[^1] Her parents had told police that a family friend in his forties, Tony Van den Bogaert, had a key to their home and unlimited access to their twelve-year-old daughter, and he admitted his relationship with her to police; the RTBF program *Au Nom de la Loi* presented the parents as victims of a fantasist without mentioning either admission.[^4]
|
After Connerotte was removed from the Dutroux case in October 1996 and replaced by Judge Jacques Langlois, the cell came under a Mr. Duterme, who from April 1997 had De Baets's colleagues reread the interviews and report on her credibility and on possible manipulation by De Baets's team; the first report, very negative for De Baets, totally lacked credibility, and a second was ordered. In the summer of 1997 Langlois ordered a complete rereading of all the related files and removed De Baets and Bille from the investigation. A criminal investigation of the two gendarmes by Judge Pignolet was dropped and a gendarmerie disciplinary inquiry acquitted them completely; they then filed more than eighty complaints alleging that reports in the rereading had been falsified.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In January 1998 Louf gave up her anonymity, in part to protest the stalling of the inquiry, amid a press campaign against her fed by leaks from police and judicial circles. On April 23, 1998, the day Dutroux escaped, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels decided that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations" and closed the related files. According to the Senate proposal, the same day, in a confrontation with Louf, the man it describes as her "so-called protector" admitted that he had had sex with her when she was twelve, with her parents' knowledge, and had once lent her to others; the admission was not pursued, the acts being time-barred.[^1] *The Observer* reported in 2002 that her parents had told police that a family friend in his forties, Tony Van den Bogaert, had a key to their home and unlimited access to their twelve-year-old daughter, that he had himself admitted his relationship with Louf to police, and that the RTBF program *Au Nom de la Loi* presented the parents as victims of a fantasist without mentioning either.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On July 11, 1997 the Neufchâteau investigating judge ordered a general rereading of all the related files except file 110/96. His service note for file 109 prescribed, among other steps, a reread on an adversarial basis and a list of steps aimed at making the X witnesses credible (visant à crédibiliser les X).[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On June 3, 1997 the antenna head [[Jean-Luc Duterme]] told the commander of the Brussels BSR that he could no longer work with the team that had conducted the interviews of an anonymous witness. The commission records that his note said the five victims heard so far had yielded little that could objectify their statements, despite all the investigative measures taken.[^7] A [[Zembla]] programme description of March 18, 2004 states that the gendarmerie leadership judged after some months that the inquiry had been wrongly conducted and that the investigators were suspected of falsifying a procès-verbal, and that three years later an internal gendarmerie commission reported that they had done their work with integrity and professionally.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[La Libre Belgique]] reported in 2004 that her account was recorded over more than 1,500 pages, that magistrates in Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Neufchâteau stated at a press conference on January 30, 1998 that no element of proof supported the witnesses' statements, and that on March 17, 2000 it became known that semen recovered from Van Hees's body matched neither Nihoul nor any known suspect, which the paper described as destroying the credit of X1 on the point; it adds that the chambre du conseil at Neufchâteau removed the Louf file from the prosecutor's office on October 30, 2003.[^9] A Zembla programme description of March 11, 2004 states that X1 had "daderkennis" (knowledge of the perpetrators) in the Van Hees and Dellaert cases and that the gendarmerie confirmed much of what she said; it states also that Dutroux's lawyer asked that she be heard at the Arlon trial.[^10] [[Michel Clippe]], a former adjudant of the Brussels BSR, told La Dernière Heure in 2020 that he was able to verify a great deal of what she said.[^11] On November 27, 2002 the [[Chamber of Representatives]]' justice committee tabled motions on an interpellation by [[Vincent Decroly]] on statements by the Liège prosecutor-general [[Anne Thily]] to BBC journalists about Louf; Decroly's recommendation called the statements mendacious and disqualifying and asked for a disciplinary file against Thily over her BBC statements of January 16, 2002.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements. https://www.senate.be
|
[^1]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements. https://www.senate.be
|
||||||
[^2]: Smoltczyk, Alexander. "Im Netz der Dossiers." *Der Spiegel,* no. 42/2001, October 14, 2001; translated from the German. https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/im-netz-der-dossiers-a-c9fe5b47-0002-0001-0000-000020353850
|
[^2]: Smoltczyk, Alexander. "Im Netz der Dossiers." *Der Spiegel,* no. 42/2001, October 14, 2001; translated from the German. https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/im-netz-der-dossiers-a-c9fe5b47-0002-0001-0000-000020353850
|
||||||
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited; the underlying accounts are Louf, Regina, *Zwijgen is voor daders* (1998), and Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux* (Houtekiet, 1999).
|
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The underlying accounts are Louf, Regina, *Zwijgen is voor daders. De getuigenis van X1,* Houtekiet / Linkeroever Uitgevers, 1998, 310 pp., ISBN 90-5240-487-9, and Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux,* Antwerp: Houtekiet, 1999, 543 pp., ISBN 90-5240-536-0.
|
||||||
[^4]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 152; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Frenkiel, Olenka. "Belgium's silent heart of darkness." *The Observer,* May 5, 2002. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/05/dutroux.featuresreview
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 157; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts, rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 154-155; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^8]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel II," broadcast March 18, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-ii
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Planchar, Roland. "Des 'X' sans crédit." La Libre Belgique, February 16, 2004. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/02/16/des-x-sans-credit-LKLTKQICABBWXKFUTUJNXL6NRY/
|
||||||
|
[^10]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel I," broadcast March 11, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-i
|
||||||
|
[^11]: "Régina Louf, témoin X1 dans l'affaire Dutroux, brise le silence." La Dernière Heure, online, 2020; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/regina-louf-temoin-x1-dans-l-affaire-dutroux-brise-le-silence-marc-dutroux-libere-je-m-y-prepare-5e652e1e9978e2051e15c16c
|
||||||
|
[^12]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of November 27, 2002, DOC 50 0025/415; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/Pdf/50/0025/50K0025415.pdf
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,39 +13,43 @@ relations:
|
||||||
with: "[[The Church of New Revelation]]"
|
with: "[[The Church of New Revelation]]"
|
||||||
role: "president"
|
role: "president"
|
||||||
start: 1974
|
start: 1974
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
- type: head_of
|
- type: head_of
|
||||||
with: "[[Ocean Living Institute]]"
|
with: "[[Ocean Living Institute]]"
|
||||||
role: "president"
|
role: "president"
|
||||||
start: 1974
|
start: 1974
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
- type: founded
|
- type: founded
|
||||||
with: "[[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]"
|
with: "[[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]"
|
||||||
role: "primary incorporator"
|
role: "primary incorporator"
|
||||||
start: 1975
|
start: 1975
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
- type: founded
|
- type: founded
|
||||||
with: "[[Trust Company of the Virgin Islands]]"
|
with: "[[Trust Company of the Virgin Islands]]"
|
||||||
role: "founder and original owner"
|
role: "founder and original owner"
|
||||||
fn: 3
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Adam Starchild, a name [[New Jersey]] authorities described as an alias, was listed in the Kearny, New Jersey, telephone book. Incorporation papers in three states showed him as president of [[The Church of New Revelation|the Church of the New Revelation]] and of the [[Ocean Living Institute]], both incorporated in Delaware in 1974 with principal places of business in New Jersey, as primary incorporator of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]] and as a trustee of the Educational Foundation for Youth of Illinois. The Internal Revenue Service granted the church and the institute tax exemption without investigating their claims to be charitable organizations. [[Gerald Richards]] told police that all four organizations were fronts for the production of child pornography. Starchild told the *Traverse City Record-Eagle* they had not been set up as fronts but might have been "used" for that purpose by [[Dyer Grossman]], who held offices in all three.[^2]
|
Adam Starchild, a name [[New Jersey]] authorities described as an alias, was listed in the Kearny, New Jersey, telephone book. Incorporation papers in three states showed him as president of [[The Church of New Revelation|the Church of the New Revelation]] and of the [[Ocean Living Institute]], both incorporated in Delaware in 1974 with principal places of business in New Jersey, as primary incorporator of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]] and as a trustee of the Educational Foundation for Youth of Illinois. The Internal Revenue Service granted the church and the institute tax exemption without investigating their claims to be charitable organizations. [[Gerald Richards]] told police that all four organizations were fronts for the production of child pornography. Starchild told the *Traverse City Record-Eagle* they had not been set up as fronts but might have been "used" for that purpose by [[Dyer Grossman]], who held offices in all three.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Shelden Trust
|
### The Shelden Trust
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On September 18, 1976, [[Francis Shelden]], who by 1978 was being sought by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] under a fugitive warrant, established a revocable trust with the Trust Company of the Virgin Islands, Ltd., organized in the British Virgin Islands, as trustee, and delivered to Starchild, "founder and original owner" of the trust company, securities he valued at about two million dollars, including all the stock of FDS Land Company of Michigan and Windigo Ranch, Inc., of Colorado. When Starchild failed for months to provide an accounting of the 1977 dividends, Shelden, on the advice of a Dutch tax lawyer, Antoon Kasdorp, removed the trust company by a document notarized in Amsterdam on April 13, 1978, and named as successor trustee [[Edward Brongersma]], a member of the Dutch Senate, who accepted the same day. The litigation over who controlled the trust ran through the federal courts into the mid-1980s; in 1985 Starchild, of Tarpon Springs, Florida, appeared as counsel for the defendants.[^3][^4] Federal cases of 1988 to 1990 were captioned *[[United States]] v. Starchild (Adam Aristotle), a/k/a McConahy (Malcolm).*[^5]
|
In his deposition in the litigation over the trust, [[Francis Shelden]] testified that in July 1976 Dyer Grossman suggested that he contact Starchild, "an investment counseler specializing in offshore investments," whom Shelden had never met. Shelden telephoned Starchild in New Jersey, and Starchild recommended that he bring his stock certificates to New Jersey. Shelden testified that Starchild convinced him of his "alleged expertise in establishing tax shelters" and recommended that he form an offshore trust. The certificates were lodged in a vault at the Mid-Atlantic Bank of New Jersey, and two bank accounts of between 30,000 and 40,000 dollars were opened, one in Shelden's name and one in Starchild's, which Shelden said was "so he would have some money for administering my affairs."[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
At a meeting at Shelden's house in Antigua, attended by Shelden, his brother Alger Shelden, Jr., L. Bennett Young and Starchild, Starchild stated that a trust was essential and recommended an irrevocable trust; at Young's insistence a revocable trust was decided on. The instrument was signed on September 28, 1976, by Shelden and by the Trust Company of the Virgin Islands, Ltd. "by Adam Starchild," and Starchild, as director of the trust company, acknowledged the appointment of Young as protector, which Shelden had made on October 9, 1976. In December 1976, Shelden testified, Starchild told him by telephone that Michigan had issued criminal warrants for his arrest and that Starchild was coming under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
According to the opinion's introduction, on September 18, 1976, Shelden, who by 1978 was being sought by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] under a fugitive warrant, established a revocable trust with the Trust Company of the Virgin Islands, Ltd., organized in the British Virgin Islands, as trustee, and delivered to Starchild, "founder and original owner" of the trust company, securities he valued at about two million dollars, including all the stock of FDS Land Company of Michigan and Windigo Ranch, Inc., of Colorado. When Starchild failed for months to provide an accounting of the 1977 dividends, Shelden, on the advice of a Dutch tax lawyer, Antoon Kasdorp, removed the trust company by a document notarized in Amsterdam on April 13, 1978, and named as successor trustee [[Edward Brongersma]], a member of the Dutch Senate, who accepted the same day. Shelden testified that Starchild had promised quarterly financial statements and that none arrived throughout 1977; that Starchild's 1978 list of 1977 dividends was in his view grossly in error; and that Starchild kept telling him, "Oh, the accountants are working on it."[^2] The litigation over who controlled the trust ran through the federal courts into the mid-1980s; in 1985 Starchild, of Tarpon Springs, Florida, appeared as counsel for the defendants.[^2][^3] On August 24, 1982, Judge Charles W. Joiner received a mailgram from Starchild, sent from Tarpon Springs, Florida, attacking L. Bennett Young and charging that "he will resort to any method to illegally obtain the funds to which he knows he has no entitlement, and no money should be handed over to him." The judge ordered the parties to respond and, on October 4, 1982, denied the Trust Company of the Virgin Islands' motion for rehearing. The Sixth Circuit affirmed on March 8, 1984.[^2] Federal cases of 1988 to 1990 were captioned *[[United States]] v. Starchild (Adam Aristotle), a/k/a McConahy (Malcolm).*[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The McConahy Identity
|
### The McConahy Identity
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Starchild was Malcolm Willis McConahy, an offshore tax attorney who faked his death in 1975, that he had been expelled as a scoutmaster in Minneapolis in 1965, and that he had been charged with possession of child pornography in Wisconsin before his association with Shelden. Dovey also wrote that he structured the transfer of Shelden's assets to the Virgin Islands trust to protect them from investigation, and described the church as the vehicle through which Brother Paul's could receive court-ordered juvenile delinquents on [[North Fox Island]]. He was linked through these networks to [[John David Norman]].[^1]
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Starchild was Malcolm Willis McConahy, an offshore tax attorney who faked his death in 1975, that he had been expelled as a scoutmaster in Minneapolis in 1965, and that he had been charged with possession of child pornography in Wisconsin before his association with Shelden. Dovey also wrote that he structured the transfer of Shelden's assets to the Virgin Islands trust to protect them from investigation, and described the church as the vehicle through which Brother Paul's could receive court-ordered juvenile delinquents on [[North Fox Island]]. He was linked through these networks to [[John David Norman]].[^5] The federal court record shows Starchild as owner of the Virgin Islands trust company in 1976 to 1978 and as counsel in 1985, after the 1975 date Dovey gave for his death.[^2][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The claim that he faked his death in 1975 is contradicted by the court record of his ownership of the Virgin Islands trust company in 1976 to 1978 and his appearance as counsel in 1985. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 82-83. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 86-87. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^2]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/
|
||||||
[^3]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/
|
[^3]: *Detroit Bank v. Trust Co. of Virgin Islands, Ltd.,* 644 F. Supp. 444 (D.P.R. 1985); *Shelden v. Trust Co. of the Virgin Islands, Ltd.,* 535 F. Supp. 667 (D.P.R. 1982). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1559036/detroit-bank-v-trust-co-of-virgin-islands-ltd/
|
||||||
[^4]: *Detroit Bank v. Trust Co. of Virgin Islands, Ltd.,* 644 F. Supp. 444 (D.P.R. 1985); *Shelden v. Trust Co. of the Virgin Islands, Ltd.,* 535 F. Supp. 667 (D.P.R. 1982). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1559036/detroit-bank-v-trust-co-of-virgin-islands-ltd/
|
[^4]: CourtListener case captions, *United States v. Starchild,* 1988-1990.
|
||||||
[^5]: CourtListener case captions, *United States v. Starchild,* 1988-1990.
|
[^5]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,22 +9,40 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Colorado
|
- Colorado
|
||||||
- USA
|
- USA
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-22
|
created: 2026-05-22
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
summary: "Camden Rodriguez, aliases 'oHare' and 'carroteater,' was a Longmont, Colorado leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants."
|
summary: "Camden Rodriguez, aliases 'oHare' and 'carroteater,' was a Longmont, Colorado leader of Greggy's Cult charged in December 2025 in the Eastern District of New York with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise alongside four co-defendants."
|
||||||
born: 2003
|
born: 2003
|
||||||
location: "Longmont, Colorado"
|
location: "Longmont, Colorado"
|
||||||
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: member_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "alleged leader"
|
||||||
|
start: 2020-01
|
||||||
|
end: 2021-01
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Camden Rodriguez]], aliases "oHare" and "carroteater," is a resident of [[Longmont, Colorado]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 2003 and was 22 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
[[Camden Rodriguez]], aliases "oHare" and "carroteater," is a resident of [[Longmont, Colorado]] and a named leader of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the Cult of Greg), the online child exploitation network that operated on [[Discord]] from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. He was born approximately 2003 and was 22 at the time of his December 2025 indictment.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
### Federal Charges (United States v. Bermudez, 1:25-cr-00361)
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Rodriguez alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], and [[David Brilhante]]. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]], conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^1]
|
A federal grand jury in the [[Eastern District of New York]] returned an indictment unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Rodriguez alongside [[Hector Bermudez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[Rumaldo Valdez]], and [[David Brilhante]], the four co-defendants named in the Justice Department's release. The case number is 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC). The 10-count indictment charged: engaging in a child exploitation enterprise under [[18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g)]], conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, and conspiracy to communicate interstate threats. The alleged criminal conduct covered January 2020 through January 2021.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Rodriguez was identified in one local news report as an "alleged leader" of Greggy's Cult. The group recruited minor victims through gaming platforms and social media and coerced them into producing [[CSAM]], using that material to compel continuing compliance including self-harm. Members of Greggy's Cult later became "prominent members" of the [[764 Network]], per DOJ's characterization in the December 2025 press release.[^1]
|
Rodriguez was identified in one local news report as an "alleged leader" of Greggy's Cult. The group recruited minor victims through gaming platforms and social media and coerced them into producing [[CSAM]], using that material to compel continuing compliance including self-harm. Members of Greggy's Cult later became "prominent members" of the [[764 Network]], per DOJ's characterization in the December 2025 press release.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Rodriguez was publicly reported as of May 2026.
|
No guilty plea or sentencing outcome for Rodriguez was publicly reported as of May 2026.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Arraignment, Detention and Release
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The docket records Rodriguez's arrest in the District of Colorado on December 2, 2025.[^2] The government's December 10 motion states that his detention hearing in Colorado was scheduled for that day.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Rodriguez was arraigned in the Eastern District of New York on March 3, 2026 before Magistrate Judge [[Clay H. Kaminsky]], with not-guilty pleas entered on all counts. The government opposed bail on the record, and the court reserved its decision.[^2] After a detention hearing on March 6, 2026, the court set a $400,000 secured bond with two sureties, secured by one property, and Rodriguez was released.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The December 2 detention letter states that, based on the investigation, Rodriguez was responsible for the technical aspects of taking over victims' computers, including developing and sending malicious code used to extort victims or to spam Discord servers with child sexual abuse material through bots. The letter states that one minor victim told investigators Rodriguez made money from computer hacking.[^4] The April 3, 2025 CyberTip described in the same letter states that a tipster reported Rodriguez, using the alias "oHare," was known for selling bots and login information and had developed video game malware that infected over 3,000 victim computers within an hour of its release online. The tipster's statements are unverified.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; KDVR. "Longmont man, alleged leader of 'Greggy's Cult,' charged with sexually exploiting children." December 2025. https://kdvr.com/news/local/longmont-man-alleged-leader-of-greggys-cult-charged-with-sexually-exploiting-children/; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
[^1]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." December 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet; KDVR. "Longmont man, alleged leader of 'Greggy's Cult,' charged with sexually exploiting children." December 2025. https://kdvr.com/news/local/longmont-man-alleged-leader-of-greggys-cult-charged-with-sexually-exploiting-children/; United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^2]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, entry dated December 2, 2025 (arrest in District of Colorado), arraignment minute entry of March 3, 2026 (entry 77), detention hearing minute entry of March 6, 2026 (entry 79), and sealed order setting conditions of release (entry 80). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Government's letter appealing the release order and moving to stay, ECF 26, December 10, 2025, footnote 3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.26.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Letter from AUSA Antoinette N. Rangel and Trial Attorney Gwendelynn Bills requesting a permanent order of detention, ECF 14, December 2, 2025, pages 5 and 6. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.14.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -23,11 +23,16 @@ relations:
|
||||||
with: "[[Father Bud's Boys Farm]]"
|
with: "[[Father Bud's Boys Farm]]"
|
||||||
role: "listed sponsor"
|
role: "listed sponsor"
|
||||||
fn: 1
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: funded
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Trust Company of the Virgin Islands]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "settlor of revocable trust, about two million dollars in securities"
|
||||||
|
start: 1976-09
|
||||||
|
fn: 3
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Francis Duffield Shelden, the bachelor heir of a prominent Detroit-area family, was a part-time university professor, a former director of the Cranbrook Institute of Science, and a board member of [[Boys Republic]], a residential center for troubled boys in Farmington Hills; a 1975 newspaper interview described him as devoting much of his time to Big Brothers, which later denied he had been connected with it. He was the sole owner of [[North Fox Island]], 835 acres in Leelanau County off Grand Traverse Bay, assessed at 312,000 dollars.[^1] His great-grandfather was [[Russell A. Alger]], governor of [[Michigan]] and Secretary of War.[^2]
|
Francis Duffield Shelden, the bachelor heir of a prominent Detroit-area family, was a part-time university professor, a former director of the Cranbrook Institute of Science, and a board member of [[Boys Republic]], a residential center for troubled boys in Farmington Hills; a 1975 newspaper interview described him as devoting much of his time to Big Brothers, which later denied he had been connected with it. He was the sole owner of [[North Fox Island]], 835 acres in Leelanau County off Grand Traverse Bay, assessed at 312,000 dollars.[^1] The writer S. Dovey wrote that his great-grandfather was [[Russell A. Alger]], governor of [[Michigan]] and Secretary of War.[^2] In a deposition taken in Amsterdam in 1982 in litigation over his trust, Shelden testified that he was born in Detroit on September 5, 1928, the son of Alger Shelden; that he received a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University, served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, received a master of science degree in geology from Wayne State University and completed the course work for a doctorate at the University of Michigan without finishing the thesis; and that he inherited considerable wealth from his father and from his grandfathers, Henry D. Shelden and Russell A. Alger.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Brother Paul's Children's Mission
|
### Brother Paul's Children's Mission
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -37,7 +42,15 @@ After Richards's arrest in July 1976, in possession of pornographic films, he to
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Wider Network
|
### The Wider Network
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Richards's films led Tennessee authorities to raid Boys Farm Inc. near Alto, the [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] of the Episcopal priest Claudius I. "Bud" [[Claudius Vermilye|Vermilye]] Jr., who was indicted on sixteen counts; its list of more than 270 "active sponsors" included Shelden. Vermilye's eldest son had disappeared on July 5, 1974. In [[New Orleans]], the leader of Boy Scout [[Troop 137]], Richard Halverson, and twelve other men, including the Massachusetts industrialist [[Richard C. Jacobs]] of Jet Spray Corporation and the realtor Hugh Scott Mellor, were charged with conspiracy; Halverson, a volunteer probation officer, had drawn up applications for state and federal money for homes for boys, and the Louisiana and Tennessee welfare departments had paid for children placed with the groups. "It seems to be like spider webs strung out all over the nation," said the New Orleans juvenile detective Mason Spong. Correspondence and films seized in the raids came "from Australia and Canada and virtually every state in the Union."[^1]
|
Richards's films led Tennessee authorities to raid Boys Farm Inc. near Alto, the [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] of the Episcopal priest Claudius I. "Bud" [[Claudius Vermilye|Vermilye]] Jr., who was indicted on sixteen counts; its list of more than 270 "active sponsors" included Shelden.[^4][^5] Vermilye's eldest son had disappeared on July 5, 1974. In [[New Orleans]], the leader of Boy Scout [[Troop 137]], Richard Halverson, and twelve other men, including the Massachusetts industrialist [[Richard C. Jacobs]] of Jet Spray Corporation and the realtor Hugh Scott Mellor, were charged with conspiracy; Halverson, a volunteer probation officer, had drawn up applications for state and federal money for homes for boys, and the Louisiana and Tennessee welfare departments had paid for children placed with the groups. "It seems to be like spider webs strung out all over the nation," said the New Orleans juvenile detective Mason Spong. Correspondence and films seized in the raids came "from Australia and Canada and virtually every state in the Union."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Departure and the Virgin Islands Trust
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In a deposition taken in Amsterdam in 1982 in litigation over his trust, Shelden testified that in July 1976 he received a telephone call from Dyer Grossman, who told him that Gerald Richards was having severe "difficulties," that Richards might involve Shelden in them, and that Shelden might become the subject of blackmail by Richards. Shelden testified that Grossman "suggested that it might be wise for me to leave the country for awhile ... to await events." Grossman suggested that Shelden contact Adam Starchild, an offshore investment counselor in New Jersey, whom Shelden had never met. Shelden took his securities, which he valued at about two million dollars, from his bank safety deposit box to New Jersey, where they were lodged in a vault at the Mid-Atlantic Bank of New Jersey; a loan was obtained against some of the shares, and two bank accounts of between 30,000 and 40,000 dollars were opened, one in Shelden's name and one in Starchild's, which Shelden said was "so he would have some money for administering my affairs." Shelden then flew to Europe by way of Canada and the Bahamas.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A meeting at Shelden's house in Antigua was attended by Shelden, his brother Alger Shelden, Jr., L. Bennett Young and Starchild. The trust instrument was signed on September 28, 1976, by Shelden as settlor and by the Trust Company of the Virgin Islands, Ltd., through Starchild, as trustee.[^3] In December 1976, Shelden testified, Starchild told him by telephone that the State of Michigan had issued criminal warrants for his arrest and that Starchild was coming under scrutiny by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The opinion records the complaint's averment that Shelden was being sought by the FBI under a fugitive warrant and that his whereabouts were unknown to the National Bank of Detroit.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Amsterdam
|
### Amsterdam
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -46,4 +59,7 @@ Shelden settled in [[Amsterdam]], became a Dutch citizen, and was not extradited
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," "Porn Ring Finds Gaps in Child Camp Laws" and "Porno Ring Weaves International 'Web'." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," "Porn Ring Finds Gaps in Child Camp Laws" and "Porno Ring Weaves International 'Web'." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984) (Nos. 82-1737, 82-1905). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Marilyn Wright, *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 88. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
[^5]: "How Ruses Lure Victims to Child Pornographers," *Chicago Tribune,* May 17, 1977, Exhibit D-8, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 440. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,29 +10,35 @@ relations:
|
||||||
- type: employed_by
|
- type: employed_by
|
||||||
with: "[[St. Joseph's Catholic School]]"
|
with: "[[St. Joseph's Catholic School]]"
|
||||||
role: "physical education teacher"
|
role: "physical education teacher"
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
- type: founded
|
- type: founded
|
||||||
with: "[[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]"
|
with: "[[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]"
|
||||||
role: "organizer and president"
|
role: "organizer and president"
|
||||||
fn: 3
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Gerald S. Richards, of Port Huron, Michigan, taught physical education at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Port Huron, was a businessman in the town and had been a candidate for local political office. He was president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]] and director of its nature camp, and told police he was its organizer.[^2][^3] He was arrested in July 1976, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and by 1977 was serving a two-to-ten-year term at the State Prison of Southern Michigan at Jackson.[^2][^4]
|
Gerald S. Richards, of Port Huron, Michigan, taught physical education at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Port Huron, was a businessman in the town and had been a candidate for local political office. He was president of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]] and director of its nature camp, and told police he was its organizer.[^1][^2] He was arrested in July 1976, pleaded guilty to criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, and by 1977 was serving a two-to-ten-year term at the State Prison of Southern Michigan at Jackson.[^1][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Testimony to the Senate
|
### Testimony to the Senate
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On May 27, 1977, Richards testified under oath in Chicago before the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. He said his first contact with pornography came while he was in college, working nights in an adult bookstore from September 1969 to March 1972. In January 1973 he met a neighbor boy of 13 or 14, whom he filmed for two years without selling the material, and in January 1975 he began producing and selling child pornography, until about February 1976. Through an organization he met other men who swapped pictures and boys; he said he had access to about 30 boys, only two or three of them from Port Huron and the rest obtained from Pontiac and the Detroit area. He said he had pleaded guilty "to protect my models and exposure of my affair" with the boy, then 15, who was his partner in the operation. He described Better Life, "a philosophical group" run through the mail, as "the main organization in the [[United States]]" for the trade, and said that [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee "sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process." He named among the customers he ended up with "Sheldon, Grossman, Keller," and said of [[Francis Shelden]]: "He was a friend of mine. He paid for my office."[^4]
|
On May 27, 1977, Richards testified under oath in Chicago before the Senate Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. He said his first contact with pornography came while he was in college, working nights in an adult bookstore from September 1969 to March 1972. In January 1973 he met a neighbor boy of 13 or 14, whom he filmed for two years without selling the material, and in January 1975 he began producing and selling child pornography, until about February 1976. Through an organization he met other men who swapped pictures and boys; he said he had access to about 30 boys, only two or three of them from Port Huron and the rest obtained from Pontiac and the Detroit area. He said he had pleaded guilty "to protect my models and exposure of my affair" with the boy, then 15, who was his partner in the operation. He described Better Life, "a philosophical group" run through the mail, as "the main organization in the [[United States]]" for the trade, and said that [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee "sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process." He named among the customers he ended up with "Sheldon, Grossman, Keller," and said of [[Francis Shelden]]: "He was a friend of mine. He paid for my office."[^3] Asked by Senator [[John Culver]] about the organizations of another witness before the subcommittee, Richards said the only one he knew of was "a movie film business," and that "It's now called F & F Distributors." Asked who led Better Life, he said that the name he knew the leader by "may be an alias" and that he believed the same man ran the Mail-O-Matic operations in Rocky Mount.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1975 Richards answered an advertisement in the pedophile newsletter *Better Life Monthly,* of which Shelden was named by Richards as a staff writer, and [[Dyer Grossman]] came to Port Huron from [[New Jersey]] to help set up Brother Paul's. At his arrest police found a letter from Grossman proposing sites for "child care" organizations in Michigan, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Oregon and the District of Columbia, noting that counties would pay up to 150 dollars a month per boy, state agencies up to 400 and federal agencies up to 700. Richards told police that the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], the Ocean Living Institute, the Educational Foundation for Youth and Brother Paul's were all fronts.[^3]
|
In 1975 Richards answered an advertisement in the pedophile newsletter *Better Life Monthly,* of which Shelden was named by Richards as a staff writer, and [[Dyer Grossman]] came to Port Huron from [[New Jersey]] to help set up Brother Paul's. At his arrest police found a letter from Grossman proposing sites for "child care" organizations in Michigan, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Texas, Vermont, Washington, Oregon and the District of Columbia, noting that counties would pay up to 150 dollars a month per boy, state agencies up to 400 and federal agencies up to 700. Richards told police that the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], the Ocean Living Institute, the Educational Foundation for Youth and Brother Paul's were all fronts.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The North Fox Island Trip
|
### The North Fox Island Trip
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Richards was also described as a masseuse, magician and hypnotist, a Republican candidate, the operator of a naturopathy clinic in a commercial basement, and the driver of an orange Pinto marked "Jerry the Magician," and as having set up Brother Paul's Educational Entertainment Missions in 1970. The writer S. Dovey wrote that on July 12, 1976, he took four students aged 8 to 14 to a private airstrip from which Shelden flew them to [[North Fox Island]] for two nights; after one boy reported abuse, Richards was arrested on July 23, 1976, with photographs of naked boys and a letter warning Shelden to move files to the island. Dovey also wrote that he was sentenced on September 13, 1976, that he handed over the Grossman letter, dated July 19, 1976, in August 1976, and that he drew a diagram of a coast-to-coast network from prison. According to Dovey, he identified [[Claudius Vermilye]] as sending films for processing, and the scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]] of [[Troop 137]], whose files were linked to Vermilye's farm and to [[John David Norman]]'s [[Delta Project]] by index cards on boys' sexual preferences, and described the exchange of boys as a "Cadet racket." [[Adam Starchild]], who incorporated Brother Paul's and the [[Ocean Living Institute]], was identified as [[Malcolm Willis McConahy]].[^1]
|
Richards was also described as a masseuse, magician and hypnotist, a Republican candidate, the operator of a naturopathy clinic in a commercial basement, and the driver of an orange Pinto marked "Jerry the Magician," and as having set up Brother Paul's Educational Entertainment Missions in 1970. The writer S. Dovey wrote that on July 12, 1976, he took four students aged 8 to 14 to a private airstrip from which Shelden flew them to [[North Fox Island]] for two nights; after one boy reported abuse, Richards was arrested on July 23, 1976, with photographs of naked boys and a letter warning Shelden to move files to the island. Dovey also wrote that he was sentenced on September 13, 1976, that he handed over the Grossman letter, dated July 19, 1976, in August 1976, and that he drew a diagram of a coast-to-coast network from prison. According to Dovey, he identified [[Claudius Vermilye]] as sending films for processing, and the scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]] of [[Troop 137]], whose files were linked to Vermilye's farm and to [[John David Norman]]'s [[Delta Project]] by index cards on boys' sexual preferences, and described the exchange of boys as a "Cadet racket." [[Adam Starchild]], who incorporated Brother Paul's and the [[Ocean Living Institute]], was identified as [[Malcolm Willis McConahy]].[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Dovey gave his sentence as two to twenty years, described him as a high school gym teacher and described a grant of immunity, while Richards testified that he pleaded guilty and contemporaneous reports gave a two-to-ten-year term.[^1][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In a deposition taken in Amsterdam in 1982, Francis Shelden testified that in July 1976 Dyer Grossman telephoned him to say that Richards was having severe "difficulties," that Richards might involve Shelden in them, and that Shelden might become the subject of blackmail by Richards.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It gives his sentence as two to twenty years, contradicted by contemporaneous reports of a two-to-ten-year term, and describes him as a high school gym teacher; its account of immunity is contradicted by his own testimony that he pleaded guilty. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn, *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* and *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, both reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, and in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 1977.
|
||||||
[^3]: Wright, Marilyn, *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* and *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, both reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, and in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 1977.
|
[^3]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977, pp. 34-46. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
[^4]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977, pp. 34-41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
[^4]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977, pp. 43-44. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
[^6]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984) (Nos. 82-1737, 82-1905). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -14,14 +14,14 @@ relations:
|
||||||
- type: partner_of
|
- type: partner_of
|
||||||
with: "[[Marleen De Cokere]]"
|
with: "[[Marleen De Cokere]]"
|
||||||
role: "companion"
|
role: "companion"
|
||||||
fn: 5
|
fn: 4
|
||||||
- type: director_of
|
- type: director_of
|
||||||
with: "[[Achats Services Commerces]]"
|
with: "[[Achats Services Commerces]]"
|
||||||
start: 1994
|
start: 1994
|
||||||
role: "de facto manager"
|
role: "de facto manager"
|
||||||
fn: 1
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Michel Nihoul, a Brussels businessman and fraudster, was arrested in August 1996 in the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] and for years was held to be the man who connected Dutroux to a protected network. The Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Dutroux affair devoted a section of its 1998 report to "the relational network of M. Nihoul."[^1]
|
Michel Nihoul, a Brussels businessman and fraudster, was arrested in August 1996 in the investigation of [[Marc Dutroux]] and for years was held to be the man who connected Dutroux to a protected network. The Belgian parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Dutroux affair devoted a section of its 1998 report to "the relational network of M. Nihoul."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -40,17 +40,17 @@ In 1995 and 1996 Nihoul was an informant of the gendarmerie's BSR in Dinant; the
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### ASCO and the Dutroux Case
|
### ASCO and the Dutroux Case
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO) was founded on July 2, 1991, at Wasmes by the operator of Le Dolo, Nihoul's companion and a third Dolo client, went into voluntary liquidation on June 23, 1995, and was declared bankrupt by the commercial court of Mons on October 9, 1995; Nihoul was at least its de facto manager in 1994, and the commission linked the company to the reports of white Mercedes cars.[^1] He had met Dutroux a year before his arrest through Lelièvre, to whom he sold drugs. [[Michelle Martin]] told investigators that Dutroux had been in frequent contact with Nihoul around the abduction of Laetitia Delhez, and Dutroux said Nihoul was looking for girls for a Belgian prostitution network. Nihoul was led from the courthouse at Neufchâteau on August 16, 1996, to shouts of "à mort." His companion [[Marleen De Cokere]] was arrested in late September. His warrant in the Dutroux case was lifted in January 1997.[^3][^5] In an interview with *Der Spiegel* in 2001, in his two-room flat in Jette with De Cokere beside him, Nihoul said of children, "I never did anything with children. I love children," and that Dutroux had taken the girls "for his own consumption." The magazine reported that the investigation files showed Dutroux had asked his advice on getting into the trade in girls and that Nihoul had advised him to organize sadomasochistic parties, which Nihoul said he had understood to mean adults. He spoke of the group-sex parties he and De Cokere had organized, "but with style," attended by influential politicians and officials at Le Dolo and Faulx-les-Tombes, and said: "Ich habe die Regierung in der Hand" (I have the government in hand). For 20,000 marks more he offered "a sitting minister who is involved in a murder," and, for a six-figure sum, a photograph of the then Prince Albert with a naked sixteen-year-old taken on the second floor of the Mirano club twenty years earlier.[^6] [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1, alleged that he organized parties at which children were abused; the prosecutors-general closed the files opened on her testimony in April 1998.[^7]
|
[[Achats Services Commerces]] (ASCO) was founded on July 2, 1991, at Wasmes by the operator of Le Dolo, Nihoul's companion and a third Dolo client, went into voluntary liquidation on June 23, 1995, and was declared bankrupt by the commercial court of Mons on October 9, 1995; Nihoul was at least its de facto manager in 1994, and the commission linked the company to the reports of white Mercedes cars.[^1] He had met Dutroux a year before his arrest through Lelièvre, to whom he sold drugs. [[Michelle Martin]] told investigators that Dutroux had been in frequent contact with Nihoul around the abduction of Laetitia Delhez, and Dutroux said Nihoul was looking for girls for a Belgian prostitution network. Nihoul was led from the courthouse at Neufchâteau on August 16, 1996, to shouts of "à mort." His companion [[Marleen De Cokere]] was arrested in late September. His warrant in the Dutroux case was lifted in January 1997.[^3][^4] In an interview with *Der Spiegel* in 2001, in his two-room flat in Jette with De Cokere beside him, Nihoul said of children, "I never did anything with children. I love children," and that Dutroux had taken the girls "for his own consumption." The magazine reported that the investigation files showed Dutroux had asked his advice on getting into the trade in girls and that Nihoul had advised him to organize sadomasochistic parties, which Nihoul said he had understood to mean adults. He spoke of the group-sex parties he and De Cokere had organized, "but with style," attended by influential politicians and officials at Le Dolo and Faulx-les-Tombes, and said: "Ich habe die Regierung in der Hand" (I have the government in hand). For 20,000 marks more he offered "a sitting minister who is involved in a murder," and, for a six-figure sum, a photograph of the then Prince Albert with a naked sixteen-year-old taken on the second floor of the Mirano club twenty years earlier.[^5] [[Regina Louf]], the witness X1, alleged that he organized parties at which children were abused; the prosecutors-general closed the files opened on her testimony in April 1998.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
At the trial in Arlon in 2004, Dutroux accused Nihoul of being his link to a ring kidnapping girls for prostitution, which Nihoul denied. Véronique Laurent, convicted of ordering the killing of her husband, [[Michel Piro]], testified that Nihoul had come to their bar, La Terrasse, four or five times.[^8] Only seven of the twelve jurors found him guilty of the abductions, and the professional judges acquitted him of every charge connected with the children; on June 22, 2004, he was sentenced to five years for drug trafficking and criminal association. He left Saint-Gilles prison on parole on April 28, 2006, and retired with his companion to the Belgian coast, where he died on October 23, 2019.[^3][^4]
|
At the trial in Arlon in 2004, Dutroux accused Nihoul of being his link to a ring kidnapping girls for prostitution, which Nihoul denied. Véronique Laurent, convicted of ordering the killing of her husband, [[Michel Piro]], testified that Nihoul had come to their bar, La Terrasse, four or five times.[^7] Only seven of the twelve jurors found him guilty of the abductions, and the professional judges acquitted him of every charge connected with the children; the court had returned the jury to consider a lesser charge of complicity in the kidnappings, on which it acquitted him, and the jury convicted him of membership of a gang that smuggled drugs and people into Belgium.[^8] On June 22, 2004, he was sentenced to five years for drug trafficking and criminal association. He left Saint-Gilles prison on parole on April 28, 2006, and retired with his companion to the Belgian coast, where he died on October 23, 2019.[^3][^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, section 4, "Le réseau relationnel de M. Nihoul," pp. 126-145, and the list of indications from the report of April 14, 1997 (Doc. 713/6-96/97, pp. 186-188). https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, section 4, "Le réseau relationnel de M. Nihoul," pp. 126-145, and the list of indications from the report of April 14, 1997 (Doc. 713/6-96/97, pp. 186-188). https://www.dekamer.be/kvvcr/pdf_sections/comm/dutroux/49K0713008.pdf
|
||||||
[^2]: "Michel Nihoul: Lügner, Betrüger, Frauenheld, aber kein Pädophiler." dpa, *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,* FAZ.NET, May 17, 2004.
|
[^2]: "Michel Nihoul: Lügner, Betrüger, Frauenheld, aber kein Pädophiler." dpa, *Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung,* FAZ.NET, May 17, 2004.
|
||||||
[^3]: "Michel Nihoul est décédé." *La Libre Belgique,* October 23, 2019.
|
[^3]: "Michel Nihoul est décédé." *La Libre Belgique,* October 23, 2019; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/societe/michel-nihoul-est-decede-5db04ec39978e218e36b29be
|
||||||
[^4]: "Arlon, 22 juin 2004, l'épilogue." *La Libre Belgique,* June 22, 2005; "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." Associated Press via NBC News, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/5233011
|
[^4]: "Belgian pedophile case." United Press International, September 24, 1996. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/09/24/Belgian-pedophile-case/1297843537600/
|
||||||
[^5]: "Belgian pedophile case." United Press International, September 24, 1996. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1996/09/24/Belgian-pedophile-case/1297843537600/
|
[^5]: Smoltczyk, Alexander. "Im Netz der Dossiers." *Der Spiegel,* no. 42/2001, October 14, 2001; quotations translated from the German. https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/im-netz-der-dossiers-a-c9fe5b47-0002-0001-0000-000020353850
|
||||||
[^6]: Smoltczyk, Alexander. "Im Netz der Dossiers." *Der Spiegel,* no. 42/2001, October 14, 2001; quotations translated from the German. https://www.spiegel.de/panorama/im-netz-der-dossiers-a-c9fe5b47-0002-0001-0000-000020353850
|
[^6]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000.
|
||||||
[^7]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000.
|
[^7]: Hovine, Annick. "La cour d'assises fait la tournée des bars de Charleroi." *La Libre Belgique,* April 28, 2004.
|
||||||
[^8]: Hovine, Annick. "La cour d'assises fait la tournée des bars de Charleroi." *La Libre Belgique,* April 28, 2004.
|
[^8]: Associated Press. "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/5233011 ; "'Most hated' Belgian in jail for life." Al Jazeera, June 22, 2004. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/6/22/most-hated-belgian-in-jail-for-life
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,50 +6,59 @@ tags:
|
||||||
summary: "Manuel Schadwald was a 12-year-old German boy who disappeared from Berlin in July 1993, becoming one of Europe's most infamous missing child cases and a pivotal figure in exposing international child trafficking networks."
|
summary: "Manuel Schadwald was a 12-year-old German boy who disappeared from Berlin in July 1993, becoming one of Europe's most infamous missing child cases and a pivotal figure in exposing international child trafficking networks."
|
||||||
born: 1981
|
born: 1981
|
||||||
location: "Berlin, Germany"
|
location: "Berlin, Germany"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Manuel Schadwald was a 12-year-old German boy who disappeared from Berlin in July 1993, becoming one of Europe's most infamous missing child cases and a pivotal figure in exposing international child trafficking networks. Born in 1981, Schadwald lived in Berlin with his family until his mysterious disappearance, which would eventually reveal connections between German, Dutch, and British child trafficking operations and implicate senior government officials in these criminal networks.[^1]
|
Manuel Schadwald was a 12-year-old German boy who disappeared from Berlin on July 24, 1993,[^1] becoming one of Europe's most infamous missing child cases and a pivotal figure in exposing international child trafficking networks. Born in 1981, Schadwald lived in Berlin with his family until his mysterious disappearance, which would eventually reveal connections between German, Dutch, and British child trafficking operations and implicate senior government officials in these criminal networks.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Initial Investigation and Police Response
|
### Initial Investigation and Police Response
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
When Manuel Schadwald was first reported missing in July 1993, German authorities initially treated him as a runaway, a common response that delayed serious investigation for over a year.[^1]
|
When Manuel Schadwald was first reported missing in July 1993, German authorities initially treated him as a runaway, a common response that delayed serious investigation for over a year.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The case gained traction in 1994 when three teenagers came forward to Dutch police with stories of being trafficked into the Rotterdam sex trade. These teenagers, who had been prostituting themselves on the streets of Hamburg, reported being approached by two Dutchmen who offered them large sums of money to travel to Rotterdam to film pornography. Upon arrival, their passports were seized, and they were forced to work off exorbitant travel costs in a brothel owned by [[Lothar Glandorf]]. While working there, they met a boy who identified himself as Manuel Schadwald.[^2]
|
The case gained traction in 1994 when three teenagers came forward to Dutch police with stories of being trafficked into the Rotterdam sex trade. These teenagers, who had been prostituting themselves on the streets of Hamburg, reported being approached by two Dutchmen who offered them large sums of money to travel to Rotterdam to film pornography. Upon arrival, their passports were seized, and they were forced to work off exorbitant travel costs in a brothel owned by [[Lothar Glandorf]]. While working there, they met a boy who identified himself as Manuel Schadwald.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Witness Testimony and Identification
|
### Witness Testimony and Identification
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Multiple witnesses provided consistent testimony about seeing Manuel Schadwald in Glandorf's Rotterdam brothels. The teenagers from Hamburg were not the only witnesses; a third teenager from Berlin also came forward with a similar story, confirming he had been taken to Rotterdam and forced to work in Glandorf's brothel, where he identified Schadwald among the children being exploited there.[^2]
|
Multiple witnesses provided consistent testimony about seeing Manuel Schadwald in Glandorf's Rotterdam brothels. The teenagers from Hamburg were not the only witnesses; a third teenager from Berlin also came forward with a similar story, confirming he had been taken to Rotterdam and forced to work in Glandorf's brothel, where he identified Schadwald among the children being exploited there.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The HIK Investigation and Surveillance Evidence
|
### The HIK Investigation and Surveillance Evidence
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Schadwald case became the focus of the [[HIK Investigation]] launched by Dutch authorities in September 1994. This investigation placed wiretaps on Glandorf's phone and assigned surveillance teams to monitor his movements. The surveillance produced crucial evidence when team members observed Glandorf in the company of a boy they identified as Manuel Schadwald but inexplicably took no action. This observation was never reported to German authorities and was deliberately omitted from the final HIK report.[^3]
|
The Schadwald case became the focus of the [[HIK Investigation]] launched by Dutch authorities in September 1994. This investigation placed wiretaps on Glandorf's phone and assigned surveillance teams to monitor his movements. The surveillance produced crucial evidence when team members observed Glandorf in the company of a boy they identified as Manuel Schadwald but inexplicably took no action. This observation was never reported to German authorities and was deliberately omitted from the final HIK report.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### International Trafficking Network Connections
|
### International Trafficking Network Connections
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The investigation into Schadwald's disappearance revealed extensive connections between different trafficking networks operating across Europe. Evidence emerged that Glandorf was not acting alone but was part of a larger network that included British traffickers like [[Warwick Spinks]], who operated boy brothels in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district.[^4]
|
The investigation into Schadwald's disappearance revealed extensive connections between different trafficking networks operating across Europe. [[The Guardian]] reported on July 31, 1998 that [[Warwick Spinks]]'s name had been found among details of child pornography customers in a police raid on the Amsterdam flat of [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and among the possessions of [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]; Spinks, who managed the [[Gay Palace]] on Spuistraat in the late 1980s,[^5] told the paper he had known two men called Robbie and denied involvement.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Government Connections and Official Protection
|
### Government Connections and Official Protection
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Wiretap evidence from the [[HIK Investigation]] captured conversations between Glandorf and a senior Dutch government official referred to as "Joris." In these conversations, "Joris" sought Glandorf's advice on smuggling children across borders and inquired about the availability of boys for sexual exploitation.[^5]
|
Wiretap evidence from the HIK Investigation captured conversations between Glandorf and a senior Dutch government official referred to as "Joris." In these conversations, "Joris" sought Glandorf's advice on smuggling children across borders and inquired about the availability of boys for sexual exploitation.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Subsequent Developments and Theories
|
### Subsequent Developments and Theories
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
As the investigation continued, various theories emerged about Schadwald's ultimate fate. Some witnesses suggested that Schadwald had been sold to British child pornographers in Amsterdam, specifically to [[Warwick Spinks]]' operation. A former boy prostitute of Glandorf's named [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], who later became an exploiter himself, claimed that Glandorf had sold Schadwald to Spinks in Amsterdam.[^6]
|
As the investigation continued, various theories emerged about Schadwald's ultimate fate. Some witnesses suggested that Schadwald had been sold to British child pornographers in Amsterdam, specifically to Warwick Spinks' operation. [[Nick Davies]] found that, in an unbroadcast section of his interview with Dutch television, Robbie Van Der Plancken, a former boy prostitute of Glandorf's who later became an exploiter himself, had claimed that some time after being taken from Berlin by Lothar Glandorf, Manuel had been sold to Warwick Spinks in Amsterdam.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Intelligence agencies from various countries began providing information about Schadwald's case, though much of this information appeared to be conflicting or potentially disinformation. German intelligence sources suggested connections to Stasi operations, while Dutch intelligence provided specific details about Schadwald allegedly being killed on a yacht called "der Apollo" owned by [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] and his business partner Leo Van Gasselt.[^7]
|
Dutch and German police later set about finding him, some four years after his disappearance, and failed. Davies wrote that Manuel Schadwald has never been found.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Davies reported that a bar owner on Spuistraat told him he was "pretty sure he had seen Manuel once with the Englishman Warwick Spinks," and then said he could easily have been mistaken.[^1] Davies wrote that Frank said Spinks had once hinted to him that a German boy named Manny had been murdered, and that Frank told police of Spinks's monthly trips to Berlin, often with boys from Amsterdam.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On May 2, 1998 the [[Algemeen Dagblad]] reported that the boy, who had disappeared in Berlin in 1993 aged 12, was thought to have reached the boys' brothel of Lothar G. and Henk S. in Rotterdam through a German identified as Ludwig A. (44) and a Briton identified as Warwick S.[^8] The paper gave no surname for either man. The records found do not establish whether Warwick S. is Warwick Spinks.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Intelligence agencies from various countries began providing information about Schadwald's case, though much of this information appeared to be conflicting or potentially disinformation. German intelligence sources suggested connections to Stasi operations, while Dutch intelligence provided specific details about Schadwald allegedly being killed on a yacht called "der Apollo" owned by Gerrit-Jan Ulrich and his business partner Leo Van Gasselt.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Zandvoort Connection and Apollo Network
|
### The Zandvoort Connection and Apollo Network
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Schadwald case became further complicated by its connection to the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] investigation in Zandvoort. [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]], who administered this major child pornography distribution network, was found murdered in Italy in June 1998. The discovery of the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] and its connections to various trafficking operations suggested that Schadwald may have been exploited through this extensive distribution network for child pornography.[^8]
|
The Schadwald case became further complicated by its connection to the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] investigation in Zandvoort. Gerrit-Jan Ulrich, who administered this major child pornography distribution network, was found murdered in Italy in June 1998. The discovery of the Apollo Bulletin Board Service and its connections to various trafficking operations suggested that Schadwald may have been exploited through this extensive distribution network for child pornography.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Apollo investigation revealed a list of 300 names described as "an international Who's Who of suspected paedophiles."[^8]
|
The Apollo investigation revealed a list of 300 names described as "an international Who's Who of suspected paedophiles."[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: 'Paedophile network trafficks young boys across Europe', Nick Davies, Previously unpublished, October 1 1998; Dutch police investigation files on HIK case, 1994-1995
|
[^1]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
||||||
[^2]: 'When sex abuse can lead to murder', The Guardian, November 27 2000; HIK investigation witness testimony, 1994
|
[^2]: 'Paedophile network trafficks young boys across Europe', Nick Davies, Previously unpublished, October 1 1998; Dutch police investigation files on HIK case, 1994-1995
|
||||||
[^3]: Dutch police surveillance reports and HIK investigation files, 1994-1995; 'Dutch Joris Demmink Affair Reveals Heroin, Cocaine and Pedophile Entrapment Affairs', ISGP-Studies, October 31 2014
|
[^3]: 'When sex abuse can lead to murder', The Guardian, November 27 2000; HIK investigation witness testimony, 1994
|
||||||
[^4]: International trafficking network connections, HIK investigation files, 1994-1995; 'Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at witch-hunt from Prague refuge', The Guardian, July 31 1998
|
[^4]: Dutch police surveillance reports and HIK investigation files, 1994-1995; 'Dutch Joris Demmink Affair Reveals Heroin, Cocaine and Pedophile Entrapment Affairs', ISGP-Studies, October 31 2014
|
||||||
[^5]: Wiretap transcripts from HIK investigation, 1994; 'When sex abuse can lead to murder', The Guardian, November 27 2000
|
[^5]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," The Guardian, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||||
[^6]: 'Morkhoven houdt kroongetuige in zaak-Schadwald achter de hand'('Morkhoven keeps a key witness in the Schadwald case in reserve'), De Morgen, 21 september 1998
|
[^6]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," The Guardian, July 31, 1998, page 15.
|
||||||
[^7]: Intelligence agency information on Schadwald case, 1998-2015; 'Die verlorenen Kinder'('The Lost Children'), Welt, July 12 2015
|
[^7]: Wiretap transcripts from HIK investigation, 1994; 'When sex abuse can lead to murder', The Guardian, November 27 2000
|
||||||
[^8]: 'No kind of Hero', Tim Hulse, The Independent, September 13 1998; Apollo investigation files, 1998
|
[^8]: Algemeen Dagblad, "Politie onderzoekt 'politieschandaal'," May 2, 1998, Delpher KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051, https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051 Original: "Vermoed wordt dat de scholier daar terecht is gekomen via de Duitser Ludwig A. (44) en de Brit Warwick S." [It is suspected that the schoolboy ended up there via the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.]; "Diverse getuigen hebben hem kort daarna gezien in het jongensbordeel van Lothar G. en Henk S." [Several witnesses saw him shortly afterwards in the boys' brothel of Lothar G. and Henk S.]
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Intelligence agency information on Schadwald case, 1998-2015; 'Die verlorenen Kinder'('The Lost Children'), Welt, July 12 2015
|
||||||
|
[^10]: 'No kind of Hero', Tim Hulse, The Independent, September 13 1998; Apollo investigation files, 1998
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,16 +6,17 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Belgium
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
- Dutroux
|
- Dutroux
|
||||||
summary: "Robbie Van Der Plancken was a Belgian national who began as a child prostitute working for Lothar Glandorf and later 'graduated to become an exploiter himself' in the European child trafficking and pornography network."
|
summary: "Robbie Van Der Plancken was a Belgian national who began as a child prostitute working for Lothar Glandorf and later 'graduated to become an exploiter himself' in the European child trafficking and pornography network."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Robbie Van Der Plancken was a Belgian national who began as a child prostitute working for [[Lothar Glandorf]] and later "graduated to become an exploiter himself" in the European child trafficking and pornography network. He emerged as a central figure connecting multiple major investigations during the 1990s, including the [[Marc Dutroux]] case and the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]]. Van Der Plancken operated across various European countries, maintaining connections to key figures in the international pedophile network while establishing himself as both a victim turned perpetrator and a crucial witness to systemic child exploitation operations spanning [[Belgium]], [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], and [[Italy]].[^1]
|
Robbie Van Der Plancken was a Belgian national who began as a child prostitute working for [[Lothar Glandorf]] and later "graduated to become an exploiter himself" in the European child trafficking and pornography network. He emerged as a central figure connecting multiple major investigations during the 1990s, including the [[Marc Dutroux]] case and the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]]. Van Der Plancken operated across various European countries, maintaining connections to key figures in the international pedophile network while establishing himself as both a victim turned perpetrator and a crucial witness to systemic child exploitation operations spanning [[Belgium]], [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], and [[Italy]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Van Der Plancken's criminal activities began under the tutelage of Lothar Glandorf, who operated a sophisticated child trafficking operation targeting vulnerable boys from [[Berlin]]. His progression from victim to perpetrator exemplified the cycle of abuse within these networks, where former victims often became recruiters and abusers themselves. This pattern was common in the European child trafficking scene, where established networks leveraged the trauma and dependency of their victims to ensure continued participation and silence. His position within multiple overlapping networks made him a valuable asset for trafficking operations while simultaneously making him a target for both law enforcement and rival criminal elements seeking to eliminate potential witnesses.[^1]
|
Van Der Plancken's criminal activities began under the tutelage of Lothar Glandorf, who operated a sophisticated child trafficking operation targeting vulnerable boys from [[Berlin]]. His progression from victim to perpetrator exemplified the cycle of abuse within these networks, where former victims often became recruiters and abusers themselves. This pattern was common in the European child trafficking scene, where established networks leveraged the trauma and dependency of their victims to ensure continued participation and silence. His position within multiple overlapping networks made him a valuable asset for trafficking operations while simultaneously making him a target for both law enforcement and rival criminal elements seeking to eliminate potential witnesses.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Zandvoort network investigation in 1998 revealed Van Der Plancken as "a central figure" in what was then "the world's largest online distributor of sadomasochist child pornography, served from a website called [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]] hosted in the Dutch seaside resort town of Zandvoort." This operation represented a significant evolution in child exploitation, moving from physical distribution to digital platforms that could reach global audiences while maintaining relative anonymity for the operators.[^1]
|
The Zandvoort network investigation in 1998 revealed Van Der Plancken as "a central figure" in what was then "the world's largest online distributor of sadomasochist child pornography, served from a website called Apollo Bulletin Board Service hosted in the Dutch seaside resort town of Zandvoort." This operation represented a significant evolution in child exploitation, moving from physical distribution to digital platforms that could reach global audiences while maintaining relative anonymity for the operators.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Key Criminal Activities and Major Cases
|
### Key Criminal Activities and Major Cases
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Van Der Plancken admitted to helping Lothar Glandorf transport [[Manuel Schadwald]] from Berlin to Rotterdam, then stated in an unaired interview with Dutch reporters that "the boy had then been sold to [[Warwick Spinks]] in Amsterdam." Warwick Spinks' name was later found in an address book belonging to Robbie Van Der Plancken, confirming the business relationship between these key figures in the European child exploitation scene.[^1]
|
Van Der Plancken admitted to helping Lothar Glandorf transport [[Manuel Schadwald]] from Berlin to Rotterdam, then, according to [[Nick Davies]], who found the passage in an unbroadcast section of the interview with Dutch television, claimed that some time after being taken from Berlin by Lothar Glandorf, Manuel had been sold to the Englishman [[Warwick Spinks]] in Amsterdam.[^2] The Guardian reported on July 31, 1998 that Spinks's name appeared among the possessions of Robbie Van Der Plancken. Spinks denied involvement and said he had known two men called Robbie, one a Belgian he used to meet in Amsterdam.[^3] S. Dovey wrote that the name was found in an address book and that this confirmed a business relationship.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The murder investigation of [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] in June 1998 further exposed Van Der Plancken's criminal connections. Ulrich, a 49-year-old German computer technician who owned a computer store called [[Cube Hardware]], was found "shot multiple times" in an Italian forest. Van Der Plancken was arrested by Italian police as a suspect in this murder, which occurred shortly after Ulrich had been observed during a television interview with Van Der Plancken conducted by Belgian public broadcaster RTBF. The timing of Ulrich's death, coming just days after his exposure during the investigation, suggested a possible connection to efforts to silence witnesses or eliminate loose ends within the trafficking network.[^1]
|
The murder investigation of [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] in June 1998 further exposed Van Der Plancken's criminal connections. Ulrich, a 49-year-old German computer technician who owned a computer store called [[Cube Hardware]], was found "shot multiple times" in an Italian forest. Van Der Plancken was arrested by Italian police as a suspect in this murder, which occurred shortly after Ulrich had been observed during a television interview with Van Der Plancken conducted by Belgian public broadcaster RTBF. The timing of Ulrich's death, coming just days after his exposure during the investigation, suggested a possible connection to efforts to silence witnesses or eliminate loose ends within the trafficking network.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -23,12 +24,15 @@ Van Der Plancken maintained regular presence at the [[G-Force nightclub]] in [[A
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Legal Consequences and Potential Witness Testimony
|
### Legal Consequences and Potential Witness Testimony
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Following his arrest for the murder of Gerrit-Jan Ulrich, Van Der Plancken faced imprisonment in [[Italy]] while potentially possessing explosive information about broader criminal networks. His father made dramatic statements to the media, claiming: "If Robby spoke, the Dutroux case wouldn't be anything against it." This statement suggested that Van Der Plancken possessed knowledge that could significantly impact one of Europe's most notorious child abuse and murder cases, potentially implicating higher-level figures or revealing connections between seemingly disparate criminal operations. The father further alleged that "There is a snuff video in which a boy from Berlin dies. I saw it and recognized my son as the actor in it," suggesting Van Der Plancken's possible involvement in the production of extreme child abuse material.[^1]
|
Following his arrest for the murder of Gerrit-Jan Ulrich, Van Der Plancken faced imprisonment in Italy while potentially possessing explosive information about broader criminal networks. His father made dramatic statements to the media, claiming: "If Robby spoke, the Dutroux case wouldn't be anything against it." This statement suggested that Van Der Plancken possessed knowledge that could significantly impact one of Europe's most notorious child abuse and murder cases, potentially implicating higher-level figures or revealing connections between seemingly disparate criminal operations. The father further alleged that "There is a snuff video in which a boy from Berlin dies. I saw it and recognized my son as the actor in it," suggesting Van Der Plancken's possible involvement in the production of extreme child abuse material.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
German authorities reported that "the alleged child molester Robby van der Plancken, who is imprisoned in Italy because he is said to have shot his partner Gerrit Jan Ulrich, can be seen in at least five Gero films." This connection to Gero-Video, a known producer of child pornography, further established Van Der Plancken's role in the commercial exploitation of children across multiple production and distribution networks. The international scope of these operations - spanning Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and Italy - demonstrated the challenges faced by law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting cross-border criminal enterprises that exploited jurisdictional boundaries and legal differences between countries.[^1]
|
German authorities reported that "the alleged child molester Robby van der Plancken, who is imprisoned in Italy because he is said to have shot his partner Gerrit Jan Ulrich, can be seen in at least five Gero films." [[Der Spiegel]] reported in August 1998 that investigators had found nothing punishable at [[Gero-Video]] Produktions GmbH, a Düsseldorf distributor, that several proceedings against it had been discontinued, and that the firm's owner said it bought the films in 1993 from a Dutch production company.[^4] The international scope of these operations, spanning Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy, demonstrated the challenges faced by law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting cross-border criminal enterprises that exploited jurisdictional boundaries and legal differences between countries.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In February 2001, investigators tracked down a transvestite in [[Amsterdam]] named Robert Jan Warmerdam, who "claimed to have known not only Robbie Van Der Plancken, but also Marc Dutroux." [^1]
|
In February 2001, investigators tracked down a transvestite in Amsterdam named Robert Jan Warmerdam, who "claimed to have known not only Robbie Van Der Plancken, but also Marc Dutroux." [^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," The Guardian, July 31, 1998, page 15.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: "Nur die kleinen Fische," Der Spiegel 32/1998, August 2, 1998, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/nur-die-kleinen-fische-a-fc226181-0002-0001-0000-000007956187
|
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|
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@ -6,37 +6,133 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
- ChildTrafficking
|
- ChildTrafficking
|
||||||
- Amsterdam
|
- Amsterdam
|
||||||
summary: "British procurer who ran the Gay Palace on Amsterdam's Spuistraat, was jailed in 1995 for abducting a London runaway and selling him to a brothel, and told an undercover officer about snuff films."
|
- Prague
|
||||||
|
- Extradition
|
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|
aliases:
|
||||||
|
- "Warwick Spinks"
|
||||||
|
- "Warwick Andrew Spinks"
|
||||||
|
- "Spinks"
|
||||||
|
- "Willem"
|
||||||
|
- "Willem Van Wijk"
|
||||||
|
- "William Spinks"
|
||||||
|
summary: "British procurer who managed the Gay Palace on Amsterdam's Spuistraat, was convicted at Lewes in 1995 of offences against boys, went missing in 1997, and was arrested in Prague in 2012."
|
||||||
relations:
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: head_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Gay Palace]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "managed the Amsterdam club in the late 1980s"
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: investigated
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Metropolitan Police]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
start: 1990
|
||||||
|
role: "Obscene Publications Squad inquiry from October 1990; Paedophilia Unit raid of his Hastings flat in 1993"
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: investigated
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
end: 2012
|
||||||
|
role: "traced to Prague; arrested at Heathrow Airport on November 15, 2012"
|
||||||
|
fn: 3
|
||||||
- type: subject_of
|
- type: subject_of
|
||||||
with: "[[Operation Framework]]"
|
with: "[[Operation Framework]]"
|
||||||
role: "principal target of the Scotland Yard and Dutch inquiry into alleged snuff films"
|
role: "principal target of the Scotland Yard and Dutch inquiry into alleged snuff films"
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: head_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Prague Connections]]"
|
||||||
|
start: 1998
|
||||||
|
role: "accommodation agency for foreign visitors in Prague, per The Guardian"
|
||||||
|
fn: 6
|
||||||
|
- type: head_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Toucan Apartments]]"
|
||||||
|
end: 2012
|
||||||
|
role: "rental service in Prague before his arrest, per James Kirchick"
|
||||||
|
fn: 10
|
||||||
|
- type: relative_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Terry Spinks]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "described by The Guardian in 1998 as a nephew of the Olympic boxer"
|
||||||
|
fn: 6
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Warwick Spinks, a Londoner who had run a mail-order pornography business from [[Brighton]], managed the [[Gay Palace]] at 44 Spuistraat in [[Amsterdam]] in the late 1980s, across the road from [[Boys Club 21]], run by the Welsh paedophile [[Alan Williams]]. Both clubs offered adult male prostitutes legally. Spinks also trafficked boys as young as ten into the city's sex industry, first homeless boys from [[London]] and, after the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]], boys from [[East Germany]], [[Poland]], the Czech Republic and Slovakia, whom he used himself, sold to brothels and escort agencies, and filmed.[^1][^2] In his flat police later found lists headed "Klantenlyst" and "Jongenlyst," clients and boys.[^1]
|
Warwick Spinks, a Londoner who had run a mail-order pornography business from [[Brighton]], managed the [[Gay Palace]] at 44 Spuistraat in [[Amsterdam]] in the late 1980s, across the road from [[Boys Club 21]], run by the Welsh paedophile [[Alan Williams]]. Both clubs offered adult male prostitutes legally.[^1] A Brighton mail-order company, Magic Moments (Mail Order) Limited, was incorporated on January 13, 1992. Spinks is not among its officers, whose recorded birth dates (January 1957, April 1968, September 1971) do not fit the ages reported for him (34 in July 1998, 48 in November 2012), and the company's first director gave a [[Hastings]] address, the town where Spinks's flat was raided in 1993. The records establish no connection between the company and Spinks's business.[^2] Spinks also trafficked boys as young as ten into the city's sex industry, first homeless boys from [[London]] and, after the collapse of the [[Soviet Union]], boys from [[East Germany]], [[Poland]], the [[Czech Republic]] and [[Slovakia]], whom he used himself, sold to brothels and escort agencies, and filmed, according to [[Nick Davies]].[^1] The [[Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre]] (CEOP) gave his age as 48 when he was arrested in November 2012.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Blue Boy Case
|
### Amsterdam clubs
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On the night of August 2, 1993, a fourteen-year-old boy from the north east of England, called "Gary" in the press, climbed out of a toilet window of the [[Blue Boy]] club on Spuistraat and found a policeman; the British Embassy repatriated him the next day and alerted [[Scotland Yard]]. He said that Spinks had earlier taken him and a friend to his flat in [[Hastings]], given them [[LSD]] and, at knifepoint, photographed and raped them, and that at the end of July Spinks had drugged him again, taken him by Jetfoil from Dover to Ostend on a false identity card in the name of Michael Samuels, and sold him to the Blue Boy. The Paedophilia Unit found the photographs and the mugshot used for the false card in Spinks's flat in George Street, Hastings. Spinks was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court in 1995 to seven years for abduction and buggery, cut on appeal to five.[^1][^2] He absconded from a London probation hostel before completing the sentence, defrauded several credit card companies on a spending spree in the boy bars of Fuggerstrasse in [[Berlin]], and settled in [[Prague]].[^2]
|
Davies wrote that both clubs ran a bar and offered the services of adult male prostitutes who could take customers upstairs to bedrooms.[^1] He also wrote that men over 18 could legally work in Amsterdam's sex industry, and that in the late 1980s Spinks managed the Gay Palace, "where he sold alcohol and young men to tourists".[^4] Davies's 1998 article, which carries the note "Previously unpublished" and is dated October 1, 1998, places Spinks at a club called the Boys for Men Club at 44b Spuistraat, across from the Boys Club 21, and says he worked there.[^5] The 2000 article places him running the Gay Palace at number 44.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Davies wrote that Spinks owned flats in Amsterdam, [[Prague]] and [[Tenerife]] which he rented to tourists, and that he decided to open his own brothels on boats outside the city.[^4] He pimped boys through his own escort agency. In his Hastings flat police found two lists headed "Klantenlyst" (clients) and "Jongenlyst" (boys). The lists recorded clients by name, telephone number and sexual preference, and boys by age.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[The Guardian]] reported in 1998 that Spinks, then 34 and described as a nephew of the Olympic boxer [[Terry Spinks]], was "unashamed of having employed male prostitutes on canal boats in Amsterdam". He told the paper: "All I was doing was running a legally licensed brothel which was controlled by the state and underwent regular checks." He said the youths were 18.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Blue Boy case
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On the evening of August 2, 1993, a fourteen-year-old boy from the north east of England, called "Gary" in the press, climbed out of a toilet window of the [[Blue Boy]] club on Spuistraat and found a policeman. The Dutch police called the [[British Embassy]] in Amsterdam the next morning. The Embassy repatriated the boy and alerted [[Scotland Yard]].[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
He said that Spinks had earlier taken him and a friend to his flat in Hastings, given them [[LSD]] and, at knifepoint, photographed and sexually assaulted them, and that at the end of July Spinks had given him LSD again, taken him by [[Jetfoil]] from [[Dover]] to [[Ostend]] on a false identity card in the name of Michael Samuels, and sold him to the Blue Boy.[^4] The [[Paedophilia Unit]] found the photographs and the mugshot used for the false card in Spinks's flat in Hastings.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Spinks was tried at [[Lewes Crown Court]] in 1995, on charges of abduction and buggery.[^4] Davies gave the month as March in the 1997 article and February in the 2000 article.[^1][^4] CEOP described the convictions as numerous child sexual offences against boys, gave the sentence as seven years, and said it was reduced to five years on appeal in 1996.[^3] The [[BBC]] reported the same sentence and appeal year, and located the offences in Hastings.[^7] The Guardian reported in 1998 that he had served 40 months of the five-year term.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Release, absconding and Prague
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
CEOP and the BBC both reported that Spinks was released on licence on condition that he did not leave the [[United Kingdom]] without permission. He breached the condition in 1997, was recalled to prison, and went missing.[^3][^7] The Guardian reported in July 1998 that he had been on the run since refusing to sign the sex offenders' register after his release from prison in [[Kent]] a year earlier, and that the [[Home Office]] confirmed he had breached the terms of his parole.[^6] Davies wrote that he absconded from a London probation hostel before the end of the five-year sentence, defrauded several credit card companies on a spending spree in the boy bars of [[Fuggerstrasse]] in [[Berlin]], and then settled in Prague.[^1] A Czech newspaper report from November 2012 said he had been released after serving more than half of the five-year term, and that British police suspected only that he had settled somewhere in Europe.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Guardian found him in Prague in July 1998 running an accommodation agency for foreign visitors called [[Prague Connections]]. Spinks said he rented rooms to "heterosexual yuppies, occasional gay couples and even policemen", that contacts in the Czech Republic had let him start a new life there with a flat and a business, and that he had also been in [[Moscow]], Berlin, [[Casablanca]] and [[Johannesburg]]. "Never again will I return to Britain," he said. The [[Czech Police]] told the paper they were not aware of his presence in the country.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The same article reported that his name had been found among details of child pornography customers in a police raid on the Amsterdam flat of [[Gerrit-Jan Ulrich]] (given in the article as "Gary Ulrich"), described as a member of the ring who had been murdered a few weeks earlier, and among the possessions of the Belgian [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]]. Spinks denied involvement. He said: "I think I've known two Robbies", one of whom "owned a business in central Amsterdam" and the other "was a Belgian guy I used to meet with in Amsterdam". He described the reported snuff movies as "a figment of police imagination" and said he had not been in Amsterdam for six years.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Operation Framework
|
### Operation Framework
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In 1990 informants told the Obscene Publications Squad that videos of boys aged eleven to fourteen being raped by masked men were being shown at the Gay Palace; one said he had seen Spinks selling a video of an eight- or nine-year-old boy being tortured for 4,000 pounds. A drug dealer called "Frank" told Scotland Yard in 1993 that Spinks had shown him, in a bar in the Canary Islands, a video in which a boy of about twelve was attacked with needles, castrated and cut open in what looked like a Dutch barn. Scotland Yard and the Dutch police then set up [[Operation Framework]], in which an undercover officer befriended Spinks in England.[^2] Told that friends had been offered a snuff film for 6,000 pounds, Spinks said: "They're not six grand. I know, well I knew some people who were involved in making snuff movies and how they did it was, they only sold them in limited editions, made ten copies or something, ten very rich customers in America, who paid $5,000 each or something like that." He went on: "I know the person who made the film. I felt sorry for this boy, it was a German boy." Asked how old, he replied: "About 13, 15. He thought he was going to make 200 guilders and ended up being dead."[^1] He produced no film, and the operation ended with his arrest on the Blue Boy charges.[^2]
|
In October 1990 detectives on the old [[Obscene Publications Squad]] at Scotland Yard received reports from informants about Alan Williams trafficking boys into Amsterdam. One informant who had visited the Gay Palace said he had watched videos of boys aged eleven to fourteen being abused by masked men there.[^1] Another informant, close to Williams, said he had seen Spinks selling a special video for £4,000, showing a boy he thought was eight or nine being abused and tortured by two men.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A Birmingham man called "Edward" told Dutch and British police that he had seen five videos made by Spinks and Frank's circle in which boys were abused and killed, one on a boat, and took them to a house in [[Hoofddorp]] and to a lake where he said bodies had been dumped; Dutch police confirmed that Spinks had lived at one of the houses he identified, and said they found no evidence to support the claims.[^1][^2] A later informant for the Avon and Somerset police described a similar video shot in a flat.[^2]
|
In 1993 a convicted drug dealer called "Frank" told Scotland Yard that Spinks had shown him, in a bar in the [[Canary Islands]], a video in which a boy of about twelve was attacked with needles, castrated and cut open in what looked like a Dutch barn.[^1][^4] After negotiations with the Dutch police, Scotland Yard set up [[Operation Framework]] and recruited an undercover officer to pose as a child abuser and befriend Spinks in England.[^1] Davies wrote in 1997 that the tapes of Spinks had been secretly recorded by an undercover police officer in Holland.[^4] Told that friends had been offered a snuff film for 6,000 pounds, Spinks said: "They're not six grand," and continued: "I know, well I knew some people who were involved in making snuff movies and how they did it was, they only sold them in limited editions, made ten copies or something, ten very rich customers in America, who paid $5,000 each or something like that". He added: "which is a lot of money to watch some kids being snuffed." He went on: "I know the person who made the film. I felt sorry for this boy, it was a German boy." Asked how old, he replied: "About 13, 15. He thought he was going to make 200 guilders and ended up being dead."[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Manuel Schadwald and the Elm Guest House
|
Davies reported that the operation ended in frustration. Spinks produced no copy of the video, and the detectives could not justify keeping the undercover officer or sending officers to Amsterdam, where they had no police powers. They arrested Spinks in Hastings on the Blue Boy charges.[^1] Davies quoted Spinks telling the officer: "I know I'm a fat old queen, but I get away with it. I get away with murder."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], who had worked in the Rotterdam brothels of [[Lothar Glandorf]], claimed in an unbroadcast part of a Dutch television interview that the missing Berlin boy [[Manuel Schadwald]] had been sold to Spinks in Amsterdam; a bar owner told the journalist [[Nick Davies]] he thought he had once seen the boy with Spinks, then said he could easily have been mistaken. A joint Dutch and Berlin police inquiry found no sign of the boy, and Frank said Spinks had hinted that a German boy named Manny had been murdered.[^2][^3]
|
A [[Birmingham]] man called "Edward", a customer of the Gay Palace, told the [[Network First]] documentary that he had seen five videos made by Spinks, Frank and Frank's partner, in which boys were abused and killed, one of them on a boat. He identified a house in [[Hoofddorp]] where, he said, some of the videos were made, and a second house where he said Spinks lived with Frank and Frank's partner. He also took police to a lake where, he said, Frank's partner had told him the bodies were dumped.[^4] Davies wrote that British and Dutch police, after examining the programme's information, decided to launch a murder inquiry, that police in London and Amsterdam confirmed Edward was a known associate of Spinks and Frank, and that Dutch police confirmed Spinks had lived at one of the houses Edward identified.[^4] Davies later reported that the Dutch police said they found no evidence to support the claims.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
On December 6, 2014, *The Sun* reported, from confidential sources, that the [[Metropolitan Police]] had been told by two informants that a boy had died while being abused in the Blue Boy with a Member of Parliament present, that Spinks had arranged the MP's trip, and that police were re-examining his files amid claims that he had visited the [[Elm Guest House]]. Spinks complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that he had never run the Blue Boy, never given an MP tours of Amsterdam, was not a suspect and had never visited the guest house. The complaint was not upheld; the newspaper offered to add his denial.[^4]
|
The [[Bristol]] detectives produced a further informant who said that in 1989 he had found, in a flat belonging to one of the key figures on the Amsterdam scene, a video showing a murder similar to the one described by Frank. [[Avon and Somerset Police]] had neither the funds nor the legal power to run their own inquiry in Holland.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Manuel Schadwald and Robbie Van Der Plancken
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[Manuel Schadwald]], aged twelve, disappeared on July 24, 1993 in Berlin.[^5] Van Der Plancken, who had worked in the Rotterdam brothels of [[Lothar Glandorf]], claimed in an unbroadcast section of a Dutch television interview that Manuel had been sold to Spinks in Amsterdam, and Davies reported the claim.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A bar owner told Davies he thought he had once seen the boy with Spinks, and then said he could easily have been mistaken.[^5] Frank said that Spinks had hinted that a German boy named Manny had been murdered, and Frank told police of Spinks's monthly trips to Berlin, often with boys from Amsterdam.[^1] The Dutch and German police later set about finding the boy, and failed. Davies wrote that Manuel Schadwald has never been found.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On May 2, 1998 the [[Algemeen Dagblad]] reported that the boy was thought to have reached a boys' brothel in [[Rotterdam]] through a German identified as Ludwig A. (44) and a Briton identified as Warwick S. The paper gave no surname for either man. The records found do not establish whether Warwick S. is Spinks.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Prague and the name Willem
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
British newspapers reported that Spinks was running sex tourism packages for gay men in Prague under the alias "Willem", posing as a Dutch national.[^10] [[James Kirchick]] wrote in May 2013 that "Toucan Apartments", the rental service Spinks ran prior to his arrest, had registered a [[Facebook]] page on April 12 of that year, and that a friend in Prague had told him Willem had been in Prague since March.[^10] A Czech report from November 2012 said he had run an unofficial network of accommodation for homosexuals in flats and houses, and that he had appeared under the names Willem Van Wijk and William Spinks.[^8] CEOP listed the same aliases.[^3] [[Companies House]] lists a Toucan Serviced Apartments Limited, registered in [[Maidstone]], incorporated on November 18, 2019 and dissolved on December 23, 2025. Its two directors were born in 1977 and Spinks is not among its officers. It was formed seven years after his arrest and is a different entity from the Prague rental service he ran in 2012.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The 2012 arrest, extradition and release
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
CEOP said that Spinks was arrested by Czech police in August 2012, following intelligence linking him to the country and cooperation with Czech police specialist units tasked with finding wanted criminals, and that the arrest followed an international investigation involving CEOP, the [[Metropolitan Police]] and the [[Serious Organised Crime Agency]].[^3] The Czech police spokesman [[Tomáš Hulan]] told the press that officers had detained the wanted man on August 22 in a flat in Prague, after working through several possible addresses, and that Spinks resisted and was handcuffed after a short scuffle.[^8] According to [[Deník]], officers of the Czech police targeted-search department, nicknamed "lovci lebek" (skull hunters), had located his residence in central Prague at the end of August.[^12] The headline of [[Novinky.cz]] uses the same nickname.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
CEOP said Spinks was arrested at [[Heathrow Airport]] on his arrival from Prague, in a release dated November 16, 2012 that put the arrival on the previous day.[^3] The BBC placed the flight on Thursday, which was November 15.[^7] The Deník report said British officers collected him from Václav Havel Airport Prague under a European arrest warrant issued by British justice for breach of licence conditions.[^12] CEOP and the BBC both reported that, following extradition, he would serve the 18 remaining months of his sentence.[^3][^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Kirchick, who was unable to get the release date from officials, wrote that Spinks "could have been released after having served less than half of his remaining sentence".[^10] The [[Ministry of Justice]] told him: "We do not comment on individuals. Any convicted sex offender who breaches their licence conditions faces spending the duration of their sentence in prison."[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The 2014 Sun report and IPSO complaint
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On December 6, 2014, [[The Sun]] published an article headlined "MP 'was at snuff film lad's murder'".[^13] As summarised by IPSO, the article said informants had told police that an unnamed Member of Parliament was present at a "vice club" when a boy sold for sex died after being tortured, and that the MP had gone to Amsterdam for sex with boys "supplied by paedo fixer Warwick Spinks". The article quoted a source saying "Spinks knew the MP and arranged a tour to Amsterdam. While there he went to the Blue Boy bar, where Spinks was running a brothel." It also said police were re-examining files on Spinks amid claims that he was a regular visitor to [[Elm Guest House]]. A later passage of the IPSO summary gives the boy's death as suffocation.[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Spinks complained to the [[Independent Press Standards Organisation]]. He said he had not run a brothel in Amsterdam called Blue Boy, although he had run other brothels, that he had never given an MP a tour of Amsterdam, that he was not a suspect, and that he had never visited the guest house, which had closed while he was still at school. He also said he had been wrongly convicted and "framed for political and homophobic reasons".[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Sun said that the police had refused to confirm or deny the allegations at the time. It said the 1995 trial judge had accepted the evidence of the boy who said he had been sold, and had said he "had no doubt that the boy spoke the truth". The paper offered to amend the online article to include Spinks's denial, and IPSO welcomed the offer.[^13] The committee did not uphold the complaint. Its ruling of April 28, 2015 found that the paper had been entitled to report the conviction, and recorded that Spinks "maintains that he was wrongly convicted".[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Davies, Nick. "A paedophile ring in Amsterdam." *The Guardian,* April 5, 1997, mirrored at nickdavies.net.
|
[^1]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," *The Guardian*, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||||
[^2]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart." *The Guardian,* November 27, 2000, mirrored at nickdavies.net.
|
[^2]: Companies House, company 02676915, Magic Moments (Mail Order) Limited, Brighton, incorporated January 13, 1992 (SIC 47910), officers page, https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/02676915/officers (six officers and five resignations listed; the 1992 first director and secretary resigned February 11, 2013; Spinks does not appear).
|
||||||
[^3]: Davies, Nick. "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe." *The Guardian,* October 1, 1998, mirrored at nickdavies.net.
|
[^3]: Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, "Child sexual offender who went on the run for 15 years is now back behind bars," press release, November 16, 2012, Wayback Machine capture of January 30, 2013 of the ceop.police.uk Media Centre, 2012 press releases, https://web.archive.org/web/20130130112106/http://ceop.police.uk/Media-Centre/Press-releases/2012/
|
||||||
[^4]: Independent Press Standards Organisation. *Spinks v The Sun,* ruling 02292-14, April 28, 2015. https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/02292-14/
|
[^4]: Nick Davies, "A paedophile ring in Amsterdam," *The Guardian*, April 5, 1997, https://www.nickdavies.net/1997/04/05/a-paedophile-ring-in-amsterdam/.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," *The Guardian*, July 31, 1998, page 15.
|
||||||
|
[^7]: BBC News, "Warwick Spinks arrest: Child sex attacker back in prison," November 16, 2012, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20355257 ("Warwick Spinks, 48, was arrested at Heathrow after being flown from Prague on Thursday"; image caption: "Warwick Spinks was convicted in 1995 of offences committed in Hastings").
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Novinky.cz, "Uprchlého britského pedofila zatkli čeští lovci lebek, provozoval v ČR ubytovnu," November 16, 2012, https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/zahranicni-evropa-uprchleho-britskeho-pedofila-zatkli-cesti-lovci-lebek-provozoval-v-cr-ubytovnu-172991 Original: "Hledaného muže zadrželi dvaadvacátého srpna v bytě [...] v Praze" [The wanted man was detained on the twenty-second of August in a flat [...] in Prague]; "provozoval neoficiální síť ubytování pro homosexuály v podobě bytů a domů" [he ran an unofficial network of accommodation for homosexuals in the form of flats and houses]; "Vystupoval například jako Willem Van Wijk a William Spinks" [He appeared, for example, as Willem Van Wijk and William Spinks]; "Nicméně jeho agresivita mu nebyla nic platná a po krátké šarvátce skončil s pouty na rukou" [However his aggression was of no use to him and after a short scuffle he ended up in handcuffs]. The headline's "lovci lebek" is the nickname of the Czech police targeted-search detectives, as Deník explains.
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Algemeen Dagblad, "Politie onderzoekt 'politieschandaal'," May 2, 1998, Delpher KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051, https://resolver.kb.nl/resolve?urn=KBPERS01:003153002:mpeg21:a00051 Original: "Vermoed wordt dat de scholier daar terecht is gekomen via de Duitser Ludwig A. (44) en de Brit Warwick S." [It is suspected that the schoolboy ended up there via the German Ludwig A. (44) and the Briton Warwick S.], following "Diverse getuigen hebben hem kort daarna gezien in het jongensbordeel van Lothar G. en Henk S." [Several witnesses saw him shortly afterwards in the boys' brothel of Lothar G. and Henk S.].
|
||||||
|
[^10]: James Kirchick, "The British paedophile who's still on the run," *The Spectator*, May 24, 2013, https://spectator.com/article/the-british-paedophile-who-s-still-on-the-run/
|
||||||
|
[^11]: Companies House, company 12319297, Toucan Serviced Apartments Ltd, Maidstone, incorporated November 18, 2019, dissolved December 23, 2025, officers page, https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/12319297/officers
|
||||||
|
[^12]: Milan Holakovský, "Chlípný Brit sloužil v Praze homosexuálům. Domů se vrátil v poutech," *Deník (Praha)*, November 18, 2012, https://prazsky.denik.cz/krimi/chlipny-brit-slouzil-v-praze-homosexualum-domu-se-vratil-v-poutech/ Original: "detektivové, jimž se přezdívá lovci lebek - kriminalisté z oddělení cíleného pátrání" [detectives nicknamed skull hunters, officers of the targeted search department]; "Ti prý jeho bydliště v širším centru Prahy vypátrali již na konci srpna" [They reportedly traced his residence in the wider centre of Prague as early as the end of August]; "Česká strana tak naplnila evropský zatýkací rozkaz, vydaný britskou justicí pro porušení podmínek podmínečného propuštění z věznice" [The Czech side thereby executed a European arrest warrant issued by British justice for breach of the conditions of release on licence from prison]; "Po odsezení více než poloviny pětiletého trestu byl propuštěn na podmínku" [After serving more than half of the five-year sentence he was released on licence]; "britská policie pouze tušila, že se usadil někde v Evropě" [British police only suspected that he had settled somewhere in Europe].
|
||||||
|
[^13]: Independent Press Standards Organisation, ruling 02292-14, *Spinks v The Sun*, published April 28, 2015, https://www.ipso.co.uk/rulings/02292-14/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -4,37 +4,40 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- OrganizedCrime
|
- OrganizedCrime
|
||||||
summary: "Alan Williams, known as 'The Welsh Witch,' was a British child trafficker who operated in Amsterdam during the 1980s and 1990s."
|
summary: "Alan Williams, known as 'The Welsh Witch,' was a British child trafficker who operated in Amsterdam during the 1980s and 1990s."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Alan Williams, known as "The Welsh Witch," was a British child trafficker who operated in [[Amsterdam]] during the 1980s and 1990s. Williams managed [[Boys Club 21]], a venue in [[Amsterdam]]'s Spuistraat district that served as a front for child prostitution and pornography production. He worked closely with [[Warwick Spinks]], who managed the [[Gay Palace]] nightclub in the same district, forming a partnership that facilitated extensive child trafficking operations across Europe.[^1]
|
Alan Williams, known as "The Welsh Witch," was a British child trafficker who operated in [[Amsterdam]] during the 1980s and 1990s. Williams managed [[Boys Club 21]], a venue in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district that served as a front for child prostitution and pornography production. [[Nick Davies]] wrote that Williams arrived in Amsterdam in 1988 and soon set himself up as the manager of Boys Club 21 at 21 Spuistraat, and that [[Warwick Spinks]] ran a similar club, the [[Gay Palace]], across the road at number 44. Both clubs had a lawful business of a bar and adult male prostitutes, and Davies wrote that Williams and Spinks "had much wider and crueller interests."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Williams earned his nickname "The Welsh Witch" due to his reputation for brutality and his ability to manipulate both victims and associates within the trafficking network. His operation in Amsterdam exploited the city's relatively permissive attitude toward the adult sex industry, using legitimate business fronts as cover for illegal activities involving minors. The Spuistraat district, where Williams operated, became a hub for international child trafficking under his influence and that of his associates.[^1]
|
Williams earned his nickname "The Welsh Witch" due to his reputation for brutality and his ability to manipulate both victims and associates within the trafficking network. His operation in Amsterdam exploited the city's relatively permissive attitude toward the adult sex industry, using legitimate business fronts as cover for illegal activities involving minors. The Spuistraat district, where Williams operated, became a hub for international child trafficking under his influence and that of his associates.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### TAG Films and Production Operations
|
### TAG Films and Production Operations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Along with two other Welsh pedophiles, [[John Gay]] and [[Lee Tucker]], Williams established TAG Films, a video production company linked to the production and distribution of child pornography. This company was connected to a German distribution company named [[Gero-Video]] based in Dusseldorf. The connection between these British producers and German distributors suggested an international network for the production and distribution of extreme child pornography, including alleged snuff films.[^1]
|
Along with two other Welsh pedophiles, [[John Gay]] and [[Lee Tucker]], Williams established TAG Films, a video production company linked to the production and distribution of child pornography. Davies wrote that TAG Films sold its films through distributors in the United States and Germany, and that the Bristol detectives, following Tucker and Gay, led German police to raid a video distributor in Dusseldorf.[^1] [[Der Spiegel]] reported in August 1998 that investigators had found nothing punishable at [[Gero-Video]] Produktions GmbH, a Düsseldorf distributor, that several proceedings against it had been discontinued, and that [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] appears in at least five Gero-Video films, which the firm's owner said it bought in 1993 from a Dutch production company.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
TAG Films represented a sophisticated approach to child pornography production, combining legitimate business structures with criminal activities. The company's connection to [[Gero-Video]] in Germany demonstrated the international scope of these operations and their ability to distribute materials across multiple countries, exploiting differences in legal systems and enforcement priorities.[^1]
|
TAG Films represented a sophisticated approach to child pornography production, combining legitimate business structures with criminal activities.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Operation Framework Investigation
|
### Operation Framework Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Williams became a primary target of [[Operation Framework]], a joint investigation between Scotland Yard and Dutch authorities conducted between 1992 and 1993. The investigation targeted suspected snuff pornography produced by British nationals operating in Amsterdam, with Williams and his associates being central figures in the inquiry. The investigation revealed the extensive nature of their operations and their connections to other trafficking networks across Europe.[^2]
|
Williams became a primary target of [[Operation Framework]], a joint investigation between Scotland Yard and Dutch authorities conducted between 1992 and 1993. The investigation targeted suspected snuff pornography produced by British nationals operating in Amsterdam, with Williams and his associates being central figures in the inquiry. The investigation revealed the extensive nature of their operations and their connections to other trafficking networks across Europe.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Operation Framework]] faced significant challenges due to the nature of the alleged crimes and the international scope of the investigation. Traditional law enforcement methods were complicated by jurisdictional issues and the extreme nature of the alleged offenses, including the production of snuff films. Despite these challenges, the investigation gathered substantial evidence about Williams' activities and his connections to other traffickers.[^2]
|
Operation Framework faced significant challenges due to the nature of the alleged crimes and the international scope of the investigation. Traditional law enforcement methods were complicated by jurisdictional issues and the extreme nature of the alleged offenses, including the production of snuff films. Despite these challenges, the investigation gathered substantial evidence about Williams' activities and his connections to other traffickers.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Network Connections and Associates
|
### Network Connections and Associates
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Williams maintained extensive connections within the international child trafficking network. His partnership with [[Warwick Spinks]] was particularly significant, as it connected their respective operations and facilitated the movement of both victims and materials across international borders. The Spuistraat district operations, managed by Williams and Spinks, became synonymous with child trafficking in Amsterdam during this period.[^1]
|
Williams maintained extensive connections within the international child trafficking network. An informant called "Edward" told Davies he had mixed with Spinks and Williams and their friends, and an informant close to Williams told [[Scotland Yard]] he had seen Spinks selling a special video for £4,000.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Welsh connection represented by Williams, [[John Gay]], and [[Lee Tucker]] suggested a coordinated effort by British traffickers to establish operations in Amsterdam. Their ability to work together and establish legitimate business fronts demonstrated the sophisticated nature of their criminal enterprise. The connection to German distributors through [[Gero-Video]] further expanded their operational reach across Europe.[^1]
|
The Welsh connection represented by Williams, John Gay, and Lee Tucker suggested a coordinated effort by British traffickers to establish operations in Amsterdam. Their ability to work together and establish legitimate business fronts demonstrated the sophisticated nature of their criminal enterprise.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Criminal Methods and Victim Recruitment
|
### Criminal Methods and Victim Recruitment
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Williams employed sophisticated methods in his trafficking operations, targeting vulnerable boys from broken homes, runaways, and impoverished backgrounds. His process typically involved luring boys with promises of money, adventure, or employment, then systematically breaking down their resistance through drugs, violence, and psychological manipulation. Once under his control, victims would be forced into prostitution and pornography production.[^1]
|
Williams employed sophisticated methods in his trafficking operations, targeting vulnerable boys from broken homes, runaways, and impoverished backgrounds. His process typically involved luring boys with promises of money, adventure, or employment, then systematically breaking down their resistance through drugs, violence, and psychological manipulation. Once under his control, victims would be forced into prostitution and pornography production.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The use of legitimate business fronts like Boys Club 21 provided Williams with cover for his criminal activities. These establishments served as both recruitment centers and operational hubs for his trafficking network, allowing him to process, exploit, and distribute children to clients across Europe. The business structure also provided a veneer of respectability that helped evade law enforcement scrutiny.[^1]
|
The use of legitimate business fronts like Boys Club 21 provided Williams with cover for his criminal activities. These establishments served as both recruitment centers and operational hubs for his trafficking network, allowing him to process, exploit, and distribute children to clients across Europe. The business structure also provided a veneer of respectability that helped evade law enforcement scrutiny.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: 'A terraced street in suburbia that shrouded a guilty secret', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 25 2000; Operation Framework investigation files, 1992-1993
|
[^1]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," The Guardian, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||||
[^2]: 'Nur die kleinen Fische'(Only the small fish), Der Spiegel, August 2 1998; Scotland Yard investigation reports on British traffickers in Amsterdam, 1992-1993
|
[^2]: 'A terraced street in suburbia that shrouded a guilty secret', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 25 2000; Operation Framework investigation files, 1992-1993
|
||||||
|
[^3]: "Nur die kleinen Fische," Der Spiegel 32/1998, August 2, 1998, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/nur-die-kleinen-fische-a-fc226181-0002-0001-0000-000007956187
|
||||||
|
[^4]: 'Nur die kleinen Fische'(Only the small fish), Der Spiegel, August 2 1998; Scotland Yard investigation reports on British traffickers in Amsterdam, 1992-1993
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -15,36 +15,74 @@ relations:
|
||||||
with: "[[Father Bud's Boys Farm]]"
|
with: "[[Father Bud's Boys Farm]]"
|
||||||
start: 1971
|
start: 1971
|
||||||
end: 1976
|
end: 1976
|
||||||
fn: 2
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
- type: prosecuted
|
- type: prosecuted
|
||||||
with: "[[J. William Pope]]"
|
with: "[[J. William Pope]]"
|
||||||
reverse: true
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
start: 1976
|
start: 1976
|
||||||
end: 1977-06-03
|
end: 1977-06-03
|
||||||
fn: 3
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
|
- type: employed_by
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "deacon in charge of Christ Church, Alto"
|
||||||
|
start: 1958
|
||||||
|
end: 1962
|
||||||
|
fn: 5
|
||||||
|
- type: head_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Franklin County Mental Health Association]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "president"
|
||||||
|
fn: 15
|
||||||
|
- type: member_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Tennessee Corrections Association]]"
|
||||||
|
fn: 15
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Rev. Claudius I. (Bud) Vermilye Jr., known as Father Bud, was an ordained Episcopal priest and formerly the rector of the Episcopal church at Alto, Tennessee. In 1971 he founded Boys Farm, Inc. ([[Father Bud's Boys Farm]]), in the Roarks Cove community near Alto, as a rehabilitation center for wayward boys; the boys were sent there by the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies, and the farm was partly financed with state and county funds.[^2][^3][^4] After an appearance on the *Today* show by the investigator [[Kenneth Wooden]], author of *Weeping in the Playtime of Others,* Vermilye contacted him and asked for his help in obtaining a boy from the State of Tennessee.[^5]
|
The Rev. Claudius I. (Bud) Vermilye Jr., known as Father Bud, was an ordained Episcopal priest and formerly the rector of the Episcopal church at Alto, Tennessee. In 1971 he founded Boys Farm, Inc. ([[Father Bud's Boys Farm]]), in the Roarks Cove community near Alto, as a rehabilitation center for wayward boys; the boys were sent there by the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies, and the farm was partly financed with state and county funds.[^1][^2][^3] After an appearance on the *Today* show by the investigator [[Kenneth Wooden]], author of *Weeping in the Playtime of Others,* Vermilye contacted him and asked for his help in obtaining a boy from the State of Tennessee.[^4] [[The Living Church]] of August 3, 1958, listed Claudius I. Vermilye, Jr. among the Tennessee deacons ordained on June 24, 1958, "in charge, Christ Church, Alto."[^5] The Washington Post gave his tenure as pastor of the Alto parish as 1958 to 1962.[^6] Wooden's testimony placed the farm at Monteagle, and a federal court order of January 10, 1978, in a civil-rights suit filed on February 25, 1977 against Vermilye, quoted the complaint's description of juveniles in the custody of the Tennessee department of corrections placed with Vermilye "at Boy's Farm, Inc., Monteagle, Tennessee, for rehabilitation," and recorded the defendants' interrogatory answers that four juveniles had been transferred to Boy's Farm, Inc. from the Tennessee department of corrections.[^4][^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Vermilye was divorced and the father of five sons. His eldest son, aged 22, disappeared on July 5, 1974; his car was found several days later behind the student union building of the seminary at Sewanee and his empty wallet on Alto Road. Vermilye told the authorities he was "absolutely certain" his son had been killed and buried in the Roarks Cove area and ran newspaper advertisements offering a reward. After the charges against him, Tennessee investigators said they regarded the disappearance "with a different light," although they could establish no link; "To us he's still just a missing person," said Pete Bouldin of the district attorney general's office.[^3]
|
Vermilye was divorced and the father of five sons. His eldest son, aged 22, disappeared on July 5, 1974; his car was found several days later behind the student union building of the seminary at Sewanee and his empty wallet on Alto Road. Vermilye told the authorities he was "absolutely certain" his son had been killed and buried in the Roarks Cove area and ran newspaper advertisements offering a reward. After the charges against him, Tennessee investigators said they regarded the disappearance "with a different light," although they could establish no link; "To us he's still just a missing person," said Pete Bouldin of the district attorney general's office.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Raid and the Trial
|
### The Raid and the Trial
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Films found in the possession of the Michigan photographer [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976, and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]], led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after they recognized some of the "actors." The police had also found Vermilye's name in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]]. The raid produced pictures and films of sexual acts between boys at the farm and a list of more than 270 "active sponsors," among them [[Francis Shelden]], the owner of [[North Fox Island]]. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the boys were shown obscene films and given liquor before orgies that were filmed with a hidden camera, and that films were sold to sponsors to raise money and some sponsors came to the farm to have sex with the boys. Half a dozen Illinois men had bought films from Vermilye, one of whom paid more than 4,000 dollars. Richards testified to the Senate that the farm "sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process."[^3][^4][^6]
|
Films found in the possession of the Michigan photographer [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976, and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]], led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after they recognized some of the "actors." The police had also found Vermilye's name in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]]. The raid produced pictures and films of sexual acts between boys at the farm and a list of more than 270 "active sponsors," among them [[Francis Shelden]], the owner of [[North Fox Island]]. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the boys were shown obscene films and given liquor before orgies that were filmed with a hidden camera, and that films were sold to sponsors to raise money and some sponsors came to the farm to have sex with the boys. Half a dozen Illinois men had bought films from Vermilye, one of whom paid more than 4,000 dollars. Richards testified to the Senate that the farm "sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process."[^2][^3][^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Vermilye was indicted on 16 counts: three of crimes against nature, eight of aiding and abetting crimes against nature, four of contributing to the delinquency of minors and one of using minors in the production of pornography. On June 3, 1977, at Winchester, a jury of ten men and two women convicted him, then 48 and defrocked, on all charges: three counts of crimes against nature on boys in his care and nine counts of aiding and abetting, after four days of testimony involving boys as young as eleven and sponsors of the farm. Circuit Judge Thomas Greer deferred sentence.[^2][^3]
|
The [[Chicago Tribune]] reported that Vermilye was indicted on 16 counts: three of crimes against nature, eight of aiding and abetting crimes against nature, four of contributing to the delinquency of minors and one of using minors in the production of pornographic materials.[^3] [[United Press International]] reported on the day of the verdict that he was "attempting to clear himself of nine felony counts" and could receive up to 135 years in prison.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On June 3, 1977, at Winchester, a jury of ten men and two women returned its verdict after four days of testimony, and Circuit Judge [[Thomas Greer]] said he would pronounce sentence later. The United Press International report in [[The New York Times]] described Vermilye as a defrocked Episcopal priest, 48, and said he was found guilty of all charges against him, "three counts of crimes against nature upon boys in his care and nine counts of aiding and abetting instances of specific homosexual acts."[^1] The Tribune and the [[Traverse City Record-Eagle]] gave his age as 47.[^2][^3] The [[Washington Post]] reported that Greer "consolidated the 12 sentences against Vermilye (totaling 105-165 years) into three groups, to run 25 to 40 years."[^6] The [[Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals]] described the convictions as three charges of crime against nature and five charges of aiding and abetting crime against nature, with eight sentences (three of five to ten years and five of ten to fifteen years) divided into three groups to run consecutively, for "an effective total sentence of not less than 25 nor more than 40 years imprisonment," and noted that the trial judge had directed a verdict on the count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor before the case went to the jury.[^10][^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The court described the farm as "not church-sponsored or related," and as maintained largely from funds raised by Vermilye from the sale of photographs and slides of the children to some 200 or more "sponsors." The search warrant was executed by an investigator from the local district attorney's office, and the seized items included card catalogs with several hundred names of past and present financial contributors from across the country. Agents of the [[Tennessee Bureau of Investigation]] and local investigators conducted out-of-state interviews with a large number of sponsors, several of whom testified at trial in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution in Tennessee.[^10] In 1987 the court wrote that "The vast majority of the information used at the trial of this cause was furnished to law enforcement officials by the sponsors of the home."[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Under cross-examination Pope asked Vermilye, "Wasn't this a house of lust rather than a house of love?" and Vermilye answered, "No," and "I'd call it a house of damaged children from broken homes."[^9] The appellate court recorded that Vermilye testified that the farm had been infiltrated by agents of a national "child porn" ring, offered the testimony of one former resident of the farm to corroborate his own, and presented two character witnesses.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Distribution Network
|
### The Distribution Network
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Vermilye's films went to Richards for development and distribution through networks including MAIL-O-MATIC in [[North Carolina]] and F&S Distributors in California as early as July 1976, and that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and described by the *Detroit Free Press* the next day as a national pornography hub. Dovey also wrote that the farm was incorporated under [[The Church of New Revelation]] and that Vermilye wrote to Halvorsen inviting him to visit.[^1]
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Vermilye's films went to Richards for development and distribution through networks including MAIL-O-MATIC in [[North Carolina]] and F&S Distributors in California as early as July 1976, and that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and described by the *Detroit Free Press* the next day as a national pornography hub. Dovey also wrote that the farm was incorporated under [[The Church of New Revelation]] and that Vermilye wrote to Halvorsen inviting him to visit.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In his Senate testimony Gerald Richards described [[Better Life]] as "a philosophical group," said that its leader's name, as he knew it, "may be an alias," and said he believed the same man ran the Mail-O-Matic operations in Rocky Mount. Asked about the organizations of another witness, Richards said the only one he knew of was "a movie film business," and that "It's now called F & F Distributors."[^13] The Record-Eagle listed "Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, Tenn." among three "charitable" organizations that police had pinpointed as "fronts," alongside Boy Scout Troop 137 and Brother Paul's Children's Mission, and described the Church of the New Revelation, the Ocean Living Institute and the Educational Foundation for Youth as three other corporations set up as "tax dodges."[^14] A police search of Halvorsen's files turned up Vermilye's name.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Appeal and Later Proceedings
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Vermilye appealed. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed on February 26, 1979, rejecting his challenges to the search warrant, the denial of a continuance, the sufficiency of the proof and the consecutive sentences. The court described the consecutive sentences as resting on a "four or five year course of dealing" by a "persistent and repeated offender, who derived most (if not all) of his livelihood from the sexual exploitation of these children." The Tennessee Supreme Court denied certiorari on July 2, 1979.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On August 8, 1984, Vermilye filed a petition for post-conviction relief, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court dismissed it after an evidentiary hearing. The Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed on September 4, 1987, and the Tennessee Supreme Court denied permission to appeal on December 28, 1987.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
His obituary in the [[Coastland Times]] stated that he was ordained in 1948, that he directed the Boy's Farm of Roarks Cove in Tennessee while serving the [[Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee|Diocese of Tennessee]], that he was a member of the [[Tennessee Corrections Association]] and president of the [[Franklin County Mental Health Association]], and that he taught at River Bend High School in Nashville until 1987. It stated that he died at his home on June 22, 2018, at the age of 89, having retired in 1997. A death notice in The Daily Advance of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, placed the death at Kill Devil Hills.[^15]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The Record-Eagle lists Boys Farm, Inc., as a separate entity from the Church of the New Revelation, and the hearing record shows only that his name was found in Halvorsen's files; Richards's testimony names "Mail-O-Matic operations in Rocky Mount" and "F & F Distributors" in other connections. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^1]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards." United Press International, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
|
||||||
[^2]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards." United Press International, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
|
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 87-88. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^3]: Wright, Marilyn. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^3]: "How Ruses Lure Victims to Child Pornographers," *Chicago Tribune,* May 17, 1977, Exhibit D-8, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 439-440, and in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
[^4]: Moseley, Ray, with Michael Sneed and George Bliss. *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, and in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
[^4]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, Director, National Coalition for Children's Justice, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 202-203. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^5]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, Director, National Coalition for Children's Justice, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977. Wooden places the farm at Monteagle, Tennessee.
|
[^5]: *The Living Church,* August 3, 1958, vol. 137, no. 5, ordinations (Tennessee, deacons). https://archive.org/details/living-church_1958-08-03_137_5
|
||||||
[^6]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
[^6]: Kirk Loggins and James Branscome, "Boys Farm Scandal," *Washington Post,* June 5, 1977, Exhibit D-10, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 442-443. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
[^7]: [ex-ward] v. Vermilye, 78 F.R.D. 68 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 10, 1978) (No. CIV-4-77-5). https://cite.case.law/frd/78/68/
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^9]: "Priest on trial denies sex charges," United Press International, *Columbia Missourian,* June 4, 1977. https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/colmo7/id/77557
|
||||||
|
[^10]: *Vermilye v. State,* 584 S.W.2d 226 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 26, 1979), cert. denied, July 2, 1979. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/584/226/
|
||||||
|
[^11]: *Vermilye v. State,* 754 S.W.2d 82 (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 4, 1987), permission to appeal denied, Dec. 28, 1987. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/754/82/
|
||||||
|
[^12]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
[^13]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, May 27, 1977, in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977, pp. 37, 43, 44. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^14]: Marilyn Wright, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 82. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
[^15]: "Claudius I. 'Bud' Vermilye," *The Coastland Times,* June 27, 2018, https://www.thecoastlandtimes.com/2018/06/27/claudius-i-bud-vermilye/; death notice, *The Daily Advance* (Elizabeth City, N.C.), June 2018, via Legacy.com.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Person
|
- Person
|
||||||
- Belgium
|
- Belgium
|
||||||
summary: "Gerrit-Jan Ulrich was a German computer technician and child trafficker who played a pivotal role in the international child pornography distribution network known as the Apollo Bulletin Board Service."
|
summary: "Gerrit-Jan Ulrich was a German computer technician and child trafficker who played a pivotal role in the international child pornography distribution network known as the Apollo Bulletin Board Service."
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Gerrit-Jan Ulrich was a German computer technician and child trafficker who played a pivotal role in the international child pornography distribution network known as the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]]. Operating from the Dutch seaside resort town of Zandvoort, Ulrich administered one of the world's largest online distributors of sadomasochistic child pornography during the mid-1990s, representing the intersection of traditional trafficking networks with emerging digital technology.[^1]
|
Gerrit-Jan Ulrich was a German computer technician and child trafficker who played a pivotal role in the international child pornography distribution network known as the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]]. Operating from the Dutch seaside resort town of Zandvoort, Ulrich administered one of the world's largest online distributors of sadomasochistic child pornography during the mid-1990s, representing the intersection of traditional trafficking networks with emerging digital technology.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +14,7 @@ Ulrich owned and operated a computer store called Cube Hardware, which served as
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Discovery by Marcel Vervloesem
|
### Discovery by Marcel Vervloesem
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ulrich came to the attention of authorities in June 1998 when [[Marcel Vervloesem]], a private investigator working with the Morkhoven Workgroup, was investigating the disappearance of [[Manuel Schadwald]]. During his investigation, Vervloesem traced connections to [[Lothar Glandorf]]'s operation and eventually to Ulrich. The circumstances of their initial contact remain unclear, but Ulrich voluntarily invited Vervloesem to his apartment, where he revealed his role as administrator of the [[Apollo Bulletin Board Service]].[^3]
|
Ulrich came to the attention of authorities in June 1998 when [[Marcel Vervloesem]], a private investigator working with the Morkhoven Workgroup, was investigating the disappearance of [[Manuel Schadwald]]. During his investigation, Vervloesem traced connections to [[Lothar Glandorf]]'s operation and eventually to Ulrich. The circumstances of their initial contact remain unclear, but Ulrich voluntarily invited Vervloesem to his apartment, where he revealed his role as administrator of the Apollo Bulletin Board Service.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
During this meeting, Ulrich handed Vervloesem a collection of encoded disks containing thousands of images and videos of violent child abuse. Ulrich claimed to have heart disease and not long to live, suggesting he feared for his life and sought some form of protection against the network of child pornographers whose materials he distributed. This revelation would prove to be one of the most significant breaks in exposing international child trafficking networks of the era.[^3]
|
During this meeting, Ulrich handed Vervloesem a collection of encoded disks containing thousands of images and videos of violent child abuse. Ulrich claimed to have heart disease and not long to live, suggesting he feared for his life and sought some form of protection against the network of child pornographers whose materials he distributed. This revelation would prove to be one of the most significant breaks in exposing international child trafficking networks of the era.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -25,21 +26,24 @@ Ulrich's apartment contained multiple running computers connected to five phone
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Network Connections and Murder
|
### Network Connections and Murder
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ulrich maintained connections to other major figures in international child trafficking. Evidence discovered during the investigation revealed that his operation was connected to the networks of [[Warwick Spinks]] and [[Lothar Glandorf]], both of whom were major traffickers operating in the Netherlands. These connections suggested that the Apollo BBS served as a crucial distribution hub for materials produced by various trafficking operations across Europe.[^4]
|
Ulrich maintained connections to other major figures in international child trafficking. [[The Guardian]] reported on July 31, 1998 that [[Warwick Spinks]]'s name had been found among details of child pornography customers in a police raid on Ulrich's Amsterdam flat, and that Spinks denied involvement.[^4] S. Dovey wrote that Ulrich's operation was connected to the networks of Spinks and Lothar Glandorf, both of whom Dovey described as major traffickers operating in the Netherlands, and that the Apollo BBS served as a crucial distribution hub for materials produced by various trafficking operations across Europe.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Ulrich was closely associated with [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], a Belgian national who would later be arrested for Ulrich's murder. Van Der Plancken had connections to multiple trafficking operations and had worked with both Glandorf and Spinks. The relationship between Ulrich and Van Der Plancken represented the interconnected nature of European child trafficking networks during this period.[^4]
|
Ulrich was closely associated with [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]], a Belgian national who would later be arrested for Ulrich's murder. [[Nick Davies]] wrote that Van Der Plancken had worked in Glandorf's brothels in Rotterdam,[^6][^7] and reported Van Der Plancken's claim, in an unbroadcast section of a Dutch television interview, that Manuel Schadwald had been sold to Spinks in Amsterdam.[^7] S. Dovey wrote that Van Der Plancken had connections to multiple trafficking operations and had worked with both Glandorf and Spinks.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In a dramatic turn of events, Ulrich fled the Netherlands shortly after his meeting with Vervloesem and called the investigator from Italy. During this phone call, Ulrich stated that he was frightened and did not have long to live. He revealed to Vervloesem that he had hidden a cache of digital disks beneath a floorboard in his apartment, containing information on his network of associates and clients. On June 20, 1998, just days after this phone call, Ulrich's body was discovered in an Italian forest. He had been shot multiple times, and the murder appeared to be professionally executed. Italian police quickly arrested [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] as a suspect.[^5]
|
In a dramatic turn of events, Ulrich fled the Netherlands shortly after his meeting with Vervloesem and called the investigator from Italy. During this phone call, Ulrich stated that he was frightened and did not have long to live. He revealed to Vervloesem that he had hidden a cache of digital disks beneath a floorboard in his apartment, containing information on his network of associates and clients. On June 20, 1998, just days after this phone call, Ulrich's body was discovered in an Italian forest. He had been shot multiple times, and the murder appeared to be professionally executed. Italian police quickly arrested Robbie Van Der Plancken as a suspect.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Apollo Disks and Investigation Evidence
|
### Apollo Disks and Investigation Evidence
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The disks Ulrich had hidden beneath his floorboard became crucial evidence in the investigation. When Dutch police were notified of Ulrich's death, they inspected his apartment and discovered obvious signs of a child pornography operation. A surveillance team was assigned to monitor the apartment, and within a few days, Vervloesem was caught breaking in to retrieve the disks Ulrich had described. These disks, along with hundreds of others found in Ulrich's apartment, contained tens of thousands of images and videos showing extremely violent sexual abuse of children, including infants. The list of 300 names discovered during the investigation was described by media reports as "an international Who's Who of suspected paedophiles."[[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] identified a perpetrator linked to the [[Marc Dutroux]] network in materials from the Apollo disks before her death in 1998.[^6]
|
The disks Ulrich had hidden beneath his floorboard became crucial evidence in the investigation. When Dutch police were notified of Ulrich's death, they inspected his apartment and discovered obvious signs of a child pornography operation. A surveillance team was assigned to monitor the apartment, and within a few days, Vervloesem was caught breaking in to retrieve the disks Ulrich had described. These disks, along with hundreds of others found in Ulrich's apartment, contained tens of thousands of images and videos showing extremely violent sexual abuse of children, including infants. The list of 300 names discovered during the investigation was described by media reports as "an international Who's Who of suspected paedophiles."[[Gina Pardaens-Bernaer]] identified a perpetrator linked to the [[Marc Dutroux]] network in materials from the Apollo disks before her death in 1998.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: 'No kind of Hero', Tim Hulse, The Independent, September 13 1998; Dutch police investigation reports on Apollo BBS, 1998
|
[^1]: 'No kind of Hero', Tim Hulse, The Independent, September 13 1998; Dutch police investigation reports on Apollo BBS, 1998
|
||||||
[^2]: Technical details of Apollo BBS operation and Ulrich's computer expertise; Dutch forensic analysis reports, 1998
|
[^2]: Technical details of Apollo BBS operation and Ulrich's computer expertise; Dutch forensic analysis reports, 1998
|
||||||
[^3]: 'Paedophile network trafficks young boys across Europe', Nick Davies, The Observer, October 1 1998; Vervloesem investigation notes, 1998
|
[^3]: 'Paedophile network trafficks young boys across Europe', Nick Davies, The Observer, October 1 1998; Vervloesem investigation notes, 1998
|
||||||
[^4]: Network connections to Warwick Spinks and Lothar Glandorf; Apollo investigation client and associate lists
|
[^4]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," The Guardian, July 31, 1998, page 15.
|
||||||
[^5]: Ulrich's flight to Italy and murder circumstances; Italian police reports and witness statements, June 1998
|
[^5]: Dovey, S. Eye of the Chickenhawk. Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
[^6]: Child psychiatrist's statement to Dutch police, 1998; Apollo disks evidence analysis
|
[^6]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," The Guardian, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||||
|
[^7]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Ulrich's flight to Italy and murder circumstances; Italian police reports and witness statements, June 1998
|
||||||
|
[^9]: Child psychiatrist's statement to Dutch police, 1998; Apollo disks evidence analysis
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -12,21 +12,24 @@ relations:
|
||||||
role: "judge"
|
role: "judge"
|
||||||
start: 1995
|
start: 1995
|
||||||
end: 2003
|
end: 2003
|
||||||
fn: 3
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Melchior Wathelet, of the Christian Social Party, was Belgium's minister of justice when, on April 6, 1992, he signed the ministerial order granting [[Marc Dutroux]] conditional release. On April 26, 1989, the Court of Appeal of Mons had sentenced Dutroux to terms of ten years, three years and six months for the rape of children and minors and the sequestration of five young girls. The prosecutor-general of Mons, Demanet, had given a negative opinion, writing that granting such clemency "at a time when rape and assaults on elderly people are denounced as a social scourge would go against the imperatives of repression and the needs of public safety and would be likely to discredit the work of justice."[^2]
|
Melchior Wathelet, of the Christian Social Party, was Belgium's minister of justice when, on April 6, 1992, he signed the ministerial order granting [[Marc Dutroux]] conditional release. On April 26, 1989, the Court of Appeal of Mons had sentenced Dutroux to terms of ten years, three years and six months for the rape of children and minors and the sequestration of five young girls. The prosecutor-general of Mons, Demanet, had given a negative opinion, writing that granting such clemency "at a time when rape and assaults on elderly people are denounced as a social scourge would go against the imperatives of repression and the needs of public safety and would be likely to discredit the work of justice."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Dutroux affair, which heard Wathelet in 1997 as "judge at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, former minister of justice," found that while the files on the conditional release of [[Michelle Martin]] and Dutroux appeared to have been prepared in the usual way, their follow-up had been wholly inadequate, and that "the responsibility of the minister of justice of the time, Mr. Wathelet, must be retained"; it attributed to the prosecutor's office of Charleroi the failure to inform the minister on three occasions of facts that could have led to the release being revoked.[^2] Dutroux abducted [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] on June 24, 1995.[^2] Wathelet was a judge of the European Court of Justice from 1995 to 2003.[^3]
|
The parliamentary commission of inquiry into the Dutroux affair, which heard Wathelet in 1997 as "judge at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, former minister of justice," found that while the files on the conditional release of [[Michelle Martin]] and Dutroux appeared to have been prepared in the usual way, their follow-up had been wholly inadequate, and that "the responsibility of the minister of justice of the time, Mr. Wathelet, must be retained"; it attributed to the prosecutor's office of Charleroi the failure to inform the minister on three occasions of facts that could have led to the release being revoked.[^1] Dutroux abducted [[Julie Lejeune]] and [[Melissa Russo]] on June 24, 1995.[^1] Wathelet was a judge of the European Court of Justice from 1995 to 2003.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Accusations in the X-Dossier
|
### Accusations in the X-Dossier
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In the [[X-Dossier]], compiled under Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and Prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]], the witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1) accused Wathelet of raping her as a child at parties organized by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and at sadomasochistic events on the estates of [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], and identified him from photographs; the writer S. Dovey wrote that X2 placed him at events near Chimay. Dovey also wrote that the dossier linked him with [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family through the Christian Social Party and its backers at the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and with parties filmed for blackmail. Dovey further linked the allegations to [[Operation Gladio]] stay-behind networks and wrote that prison reports had warned against Dutroux's release. Wathelet denied the accusations, attributing them to political rivals. He was never charged, and the X-witnesses were not heard at the 2004 trial.[^1]
|
In the [[X-Dossier]], compiled under Judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] and Prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]], the witness [[Regina Louf]] (X1) accused Wathelet of raping her as a child at parties organized by [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] and at sadomasochistic events on the estates of [[Count Leopold Lippens]] and [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]] and at villas in [[Knokke-Heist]] near the [[Royal Zoute Golf Club]], and identified him from photographs; the writer S. Dovey wrote that X2 placed him at events near Chimay. Dovey also wrote that the dossier linked him with [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]] and the Lippens family through the Christian Social Party and its backers at the [[Societe Generale de Banque]], and with parties filmed for blackmail. Dovey further linked the allegations to [[Operation Gladio]] stay-behind networks and wrote that prison reports had warned against Dutroux's release. Wathelet denied the accusations, attributing them to political rivals. He was never charged, and the X-witnesses were not heard at the 2004 trial.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On April 28, 1997 the [[Chamber of Representatives]]' justice committee tabled motions after interpellations addressed to the Prime Minister by [[Frans Lozie]] (on the follow-up to the Dutroux commission's report concerning a former Minister of Justice), by [[Gerolf Annemans]] (on the renewal of a former minister's mandate as a European judge) and by Geert Versnick (on the possible extension of a former minister's mandate as a judge at the European court in Luxembourg). A recommendation motion signed by Annemans and B. Laeremans asked that the government not propose the renewal of the mandate of "l'ancien ministre Wathelet" at the Court of Justice in Luxembourg.[^4] The document does not state the reason for the request.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It describes Wathelet as minister of the interior from 1988 to 1995 under Prime Minister Vanden Boeynants, which the commission's description of him as former minister of justice contradicts, and dates his European Court judgeship from 1999, contradicted by the commission's description of him as a sitting judge in 1997. Its birth year, 1951, is not repeated. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^1]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, list of persons heard, conclusions on the Julie and Melissa file, and tables 3 and 4; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
||||||
[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 18, 1997, list of persons heard, conclusions on the Julie and Melissa file, and tables 3 and 4; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
|
[^2]: Court of Justice of the European Communities, *Annual Report,* list of former members: "Melchior Wathelet, Judge (1995-2003)."
|
||||||
[^3]: Court of Justice of the European Communities, *Annual Report,* list of former members: "Melchior Wathelet, Judge (1995-2003)."
|
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It describes Wathelet as minister of the interior from 1988 to 1995 under Prime Minister Vanden Boeynants, which the commission's description of him as former minister of justice contradicts, and dates his European Court judgeship from 1999, contradicted by the commission's description of him as a sitting judge in 1997. Its birth year, 1951, is not repeated.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of April 28, 1997, Doc. 25/243-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025243.pdf
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,10 +9,17 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- USA
|
- USA
|
||||||
- Military
|
- Military
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-21
|
created: 2026-05-21
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-21
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
summary: "Rumaldo Valdez was a U.S. Navy petty officer stationed in Hawaii and Greggy's Cult member, sentenced to 97 months for child pornography possession in March 2026, with additional EDNY charges pending."
|
summary: "Rumaldo Valdez was a U.S. Navy petty officer stationed in Hawaii and Greggy's Cult member, sentenced to 97 months for child pornography possession in March 2026, with additional EDNY charges pending."
|
||||||
born: 2004
|
born: 2004
|
||||||
location: "Wahiawa, Hawaii"
|
location: "Wahiawa, Hawaii"
|
||||||
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: member_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Greggy's Cult]]"
|
||||||
|
role: "alleged member"
|
||||||
|
start: 2020-01
|
||||||
|
end: 2021-01
|
||||||
|
fn: 4
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Rumaldo Valdez]], known online as "Duck," was a [[U.S. Navy]] Petty Officer 3rd Class (E-4) stationed at Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific in [[Wahiawa, Hawaii]], a Department of Defense installation. He was a member of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg"), an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021 and is documented as a direct predecessor to the [[764 Network]]. The FBI arrested Valdez in May 2025 at the Wahiawa installation. He pleaded guilty on October 24, 2025, to possession of child pornography committed on a U.S. military base, and was sentenced in March 2026 to 97 months (approximately eight years) in federal prison plus 10 years of supervised release and $33,000 in restitution to 11 identified victims, by a federal judge in the [[District of Hawaii]]. Separate charges were pending against him in the [[Eastern District of New York]] as of that date.[^1]
|
[[Rumaldo Valdez]], known online as "Duck," was a [[U.S. Navy]] Petty Officer 3rd Class (E-4) stationed at Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station Pacific in [[Wahiawa, Hawaii]], a Department of Defense installation. He was a member of [[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg"), an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021 and is documented as a direct predecessor to the [[764 Network]]. The FBI arrested Valdez in May 2025 at the Wahiawa installation. He pleaded guilty on October 24, 2025, to possession of child pornography committed on a U.S. military base, and was sentenced in March 2026 to 97 months (approximately eight years) in federal prison plus 10 years of supervised release and $33,000 in restitution to 11 identified victims, by a federal judge in the [[District of Hawaii]]. Separate charges were pending against him in the [[Eastern District of New York]] as of that date.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -29,9 +36,14 @@ State and federal investigators brought Valdez's case as possession of violent c
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Eastern District of New York Indictment
|
### Eastern District of New York Indictment
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York unsealed an indictment on December 3, 2025, charging Valdez alongside four co-defendants on 10 counts including engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, producing child pornography, and making interstate threats. The co-defendants were [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado), [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, [[New Mexico]] - who had separately pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges but remained unsentenced), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Hector Bermudez]] (29, New York). The EDNY case was pending as of Valdez's March 2026 Hawaii sentencing.[^1]
|
A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York returned an indictment that was unsealed on December 2, 2025, charging Valdez alongside four co-defendants named in the Justice Department's release on 10 counts including engaging in a child exploitation enterprise, producing child pornography, and making interstate threats. The co-defendants were [[Camden Rodriguez]] (22, Longmont, Colorado), [[Zachary Dosch]] (26, Albuquerque, [[New Mexico]]; he had separately pleaded guilty in 2022 to cyberstalking and child pornography charges but remained unsentenced), [[David Brilhante]] (28, San Diego, California), and [[Hector Bermudez]] (29, New York). The EDNY case was pending as of Valdez's March 2026 Hawaii sentencing.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The docket records the order to unseal and the redacted indictment on December 2, 2025, and the Justice Department's December 2 release gives the same date and describes Valdez as "of Honolulu, Hawaii."[^3][^4] The docket's count list places him in Counts One through Ten.[^3] His counsel moved for appointment of counsel on December 15, 2025, and a protective order covering discovery as to Valdez was updated on February 2, 2026 and endorsed on February 4, 2026.[^3] The May 8, 2026 government letter on the first global Rule 16 production names Valdez among the five defendants then in the case.[^3] The government's December 10, 2025 motion describes him as in custody awaiting sentencing in the District of Hawaii following a guilty plea to possession of child pornography, in case 1:25-cr-112.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704; KITV. "Former Navy petty officer sentenced to over 8 years in federal prison in child pornography case." https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/former-navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-over-8-years-in-federal-prison-in-child-pornography/article_125297e0-b011-49d5-82ff-3b75d615a6d6.html
|
[^1]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704; KITV. "Former Navy petty officer sentenced to over 8 years in federal prison in child pornography case." https://www.kitv.com/news/crime/former-navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-over-8-years-in-federal-prison-in-child-pornography/article_125297e0-b011-49d5-82ff-3b75d615a6d6.html
|
||||||
[^2]: Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "Navy petty officer sentenced to prison in sextortion case." March 2026. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2026/03/02/breaking-news/navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-prison-in-sextortion-case/
|
[^2]: Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "Navy petty officer sentenced to prison in sextortion case." March 2026. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2026/03/02/breaking-news/navy-petty-officer-sentenced-to-prison-in-sextortion-case/
|
||||||
|
[^3]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, entries 8 and 9 (December 2, 2025), entry 36 (December 15, 2025), entries 61 and 62 (February 2 and 4, 2026), entry 91 (May 8, 2026). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71984626/united-states-v-bermudez/
|
||||||
|
[^4]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." Press release 25-1131, December 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Government's letter appealing the release order and moving to stay, ECF 26, December 10, 2025, footnote 3. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.26.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,19 +10,32 @@ start: 2020
|
||||||
end: 2021
|
end: 2021
|
||||||
location: Online (United States)
|
location: Online (United States)
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-21
|
created: 2026-05-21
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-21
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
summary: Greggy's Cult was an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord from January 2020 to January 2021, using blackmail and CSAM coercion methods that directly informed the founding of 764.
|
summary: Greggy's Cult was an online child exploitation network that operated on Discord from January 2020 to January 2021, using blackmail and CSAM coercion methods that directly informed the founding of 764.
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg") was an online child exploitation network that operated primarily on [[Discord]] and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. It recruited minor victims through gaming servers and social media, coerced them into producing [[CSAM]] (child sexual abuse material) through blackmail and psychological manipulation, and demanded ongoing self-harm through the same coercive mechanisms. These methods became the operational template for the [[764 Network]], which emerged in late 2020 and early 2021. [[NCITE]] (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha) tracked 31 individuals publicly charged with federal crimes across Greggy's Cult, [[CVLT]], and 764 as of December 2025, treating the three as a connected prosecutorial and organizational lineage.[^1]
|
[[Greggy's Cult]] (also called the "Cult of Greg") was an online child exploitation network that operated primarily on [[Discord]] and gaming platforms from approximately January 2020 through January 2021. It recruited minor victims through gaming servers and social media, coerced them into producing [[CSAM]] (child sexual abuse material) through blackmail and psychological manipulation, and demanded ongoing self-harm through the same coercive mechanisms. These methods became the operational template for the [[764 Network]], which emerged in late 2020 and early 2021. [[NCITE]] (National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha) reports that 31 individuals had been publicly charged with federal crimes related to 764 and its precursor groups [[CVLT]] and Greggy's Cult, and that as of December 20, 2025 thirty-three individuals had been publicly charged in the United States in total. It treats the three groups as a connected prosecutorial and organizational lineage.[^1][^2][^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### 764 Founding Lineage
|
### 764 Founding Lineage
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Bradley Chance Cadenhead|Bradley Cadenhead]], who founded 764 as a 15-year-old in Stephenville, Texas, was connected to Greggy's Cult before building 764. The operational model Cadenhead established for 764 - recruitment through gaming platforms, CSAM coercion, blackmail, demands for self-harm - directly mirrored Greggy's Cult's methods. Law enforcement and researchers describe Greggy's Cult as one of the "predecessor groups" that "helped spawn" 764, alongside [[CVLT]].
|
[[Bradley Chance Cadenhead|Bradley Cadenhead]], who founded 764 as a 15-year-old in Stephenville, Texas, was connected to Greggy's Cult before building 764. The operational model Cadenhead established for 764 - recruitment through gaming platforms, CSAM coercion, blackmail, demands for self-harm - directly mirrored Greggy's Cult's methods. Law enforcement and researchers describe Greggy's Cult as one of the "predecessor groups" that "helped spawn" 764, alongside CVLT. NCITE states that Cadenhead had previously interacted with members of the precursor groups CVLT and Greggy's Cult, and that his practices for 764, which he founded in January 2021, drew heavily on the tactics of both groups.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[[Rumaldo Valdez]], a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Wahiawa, Hawaii, was a documented Greggy's Cult member. His devices contained CSAM described in federal sentencing documents as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence." Valdez was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison in March 2026 and faces additional charges in the [[Eastern District of New York]] alongside four co-defendants including [[Camden Rodriguez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[David Brilhante]], and [[Hector Bermudez]].[^2]
|
[[Rumaldo Valdez]], a U.S. Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class stationed in Wahiawa, Hawaii, was a documented Greggy's Cult member. His devices contained CSAM described in federal sentencing documents as among "the most extreme child-abuse images in existence." Valdez was sentenced to 97 months in federal prison in March 2026 and faces additional charges in the [[Eastern District of New York]], where the indictment (1:25-cr-00361) names six defendants: Valdez, [[Camden Rodriguez]], [[Zachary Dosch]], [[David Brilhante]], [[Hector Bermudez]] and [[Austin Yatco]], also known as "Hairy Lips." The docket's count list places Yatco as defendant six in Counts One through Eight. An order of January 23, 2026 granted an amended arrest warrant as to Yatco, and an order of February 27, 2026 unsealed the indictment and arrest warrant as to him.[^4][^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Federal Charges Across the Three Networks
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The indictment filed November 18, 2025 charges six individuals; the Department of Justice's December 2, 2025 release describes the five defendants it names as leaders of Greggy's Cult.[^6][^7] The indictment states that the enterprise "operated in or about and between 2019 and 2021," and its counts charge conduct from January 2020 through January 2021.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
NCITE reports that 157 federal charges related to 20 criminal offenses had been filed against 764, CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants, and that 100 percent of the CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants were charged under 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(g), the child exploitation enterprise statute.[^3] The report states that every defendant who received that charge across the three groups was identified as a leader or administrator.[^2] NCITE states that all federal indictments of CVLT and Greggy's Cult defendants occurred between January and December 2025, although their primary activity occurred between 2019 and 2021.[^2][^3] As of December 20, 2025, NCITE counted four federally charged defendants as sentenced, all of them 764 members.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
NCITE states that the court records identify a crossover in membership among 764, CVLT and Greggy's Cult, and that CVLT and Greggy's Cult were among the earliest known networks to systematically target minors.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: NCITE. "Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism: An Examination of Federal and State Charges Against 764 and Related Networks." University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
[^1]: NCITE. "Prosecuting Nihilistic Violent Extremism: An Examination of Federal and State Charges Against 764 and Related Networks." University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
||||||
[^2]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704
|
[^2]: NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," University of Nebraska Omaha, December 2025, report text (structure and ideology; federal charges sections), data as of December 20, 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/img/prosecuting-nve-report.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^3]: NCITE, "Prosecuting 764: An Examination of Federal and State Charges," landing page, December 2025. https://www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2025/12/764-landing-page.php
|
||||||
|
[^4]: ABC News. "DOJ charges former Navy petty officer, 4 others in child exploitation case." https://abcnews.com/US/doj-charges-former-navy-petty-officer-4-alleged/story?id=128072704
|
||||||
|
[^5]: United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), CourtListener docket 71984626, entry 1 (count list), January 23, 2026 order for amended arrest warrant, and order to unseal, ECF 71, February 27, 2026. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957/gov.uscourts.nyed.538957.71.0.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^6]: Indictment, United States v. Bermudez et al., 1:25-cr-00361 (PKC) (E.D.N.Y.), ECF 8, introduction paragraph 1 and Count One. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956/gov.uscourts.nyed.538956.8.0_1.pdf
|
||||||
|
[^7]: DOJ OPA. "Five Leaders of 'Greggy's Cult' Charged with Sexually Exploiting Children on the Internet." Press release 25-1131, December 2, 2025. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/five-leaders-greggys-cult-charged-sexually-exploiting-children-internet
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- "Boys Farm, Inc."
|
- "Boys Farm, Inc."
|
||||||
|
- "Boys' Farm"
|
||||||
|
- "Boys' Farm of Roarks Cove"
|
||||||
|
- "Boys Farm"
|
||||||
|
- "Boy's Farm, Inc."
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Organization
|
- Organization
|
||||||
- FosterHome
|
- FosterHome
|
||||||
|
|
@ -10,27 +14,125 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- ChurchOfNewRevelation
|
- ChurchOfNewRevelation
|
||||||
- NorthFoxIsland
|
- NorthFoxIsland
|
||||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||||
summary: "Home for wayward boys near Alto, Tennessee, founded in 1971 by Claudius Vermilye and partly financed with state and county funds, where boys were filmed for more than 270 sponsors."
|
summary: "Home for wayward boys near Alto, Tennessee, founded in 1971 by Claudius Vermilye and partly financed with state and county funds, whose seized photographs and sponsor list led to a 1977 conviction."
|
||||||
location: "Roarks Cove, near Alto, Tennessee"
|
location: "Roarks Cove, near Alto, Tennessee"
|
||||||
start: 1971
|
start: 1971
|
||||||
end: 1976
|
end: 1976
|
||||||
relations:
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: founded
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Claudius Vermilye]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
start: 1971
|
||||||
|
fn: 3
|
||||||
|
- type: funded
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Tennessee]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
role: "state and county funds"
|
||||||
|
start: 1971
|
||||||
|
fn: 2
|
||||||
|
- type: funded
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Francis Shelden]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
role: "listed sponsor"
|
||||||
|
start: 1976
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: investigated
|
||||||
|
with: "[[J. William Pope]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
start: 1976
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: investigated
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Tennessee Bureau of Investigation]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
role: "out-of-state interviews of sponsors"
|
||||||
|
fn: 5
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
Boys Farm, Inc., known as Father Bud's Boys Farm, was founded in 1971 by the Rev. [[Claudius Vermilye]], formerly rector of the Episcopal church at Alto, Tennessee, as a rehabilitation center for wayward boys in the Roarks Cove community near Alto; national wire reports placed it at Winchester and the investigator [[Kenneth Wooden]] at Monteagle. The boys were sent there by the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies, and the farm was partly financed with state and county funds.[^1][^2][^3][^4]
|
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Films found on the Michigan photographer [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976 and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]] led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after they recognized some of the "actors"; Vermilye's name had also turned up in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]]. The raid produced films of sexual acts between boys at the farm and a list of more than 270 "active sponsors," among them [[Francis Shelden]], owner of [[North Fox Island]]. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the boys were shown obscene films and given liquor before orgies filmed with a hidden camera, that films were sold to sponsors to raise money for the farm, and that some sponsors came to the farm to have sex with the boys. Half a dozen Illinois men had bought films from Vermilye, one for more than 4,000 dollars. Richards testified that the farm "sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process." An investigator for the district attorney general, Pete Bouldin, described the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], one of the network's fronts, as a "referral agency which distributes pornography around the country"; Boys Farm, Inc., was listed as a separate organization from the church. Vermilye was convicted on June 3, 1977.[^1][^2][^3][^5]
|
Boys Farm, Inc., known as Father Bud's Boys Farm, was a home for wayward boys in the Roarks Cove community near Alto, [[Tennessee]], founded in 1971 by the Rev. [[Claudius Vermilye]], formerly rector of the [[Episcopal Church|Episcopal]] church at Alto. District Attorney General [[J. William Pope]] said the state correction department, juvenile authorities and welfare agencies sent boys to the farm, and the [[Chicago Tribune]] reported that it was partly financed with state and county funds.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Founding and Operation
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Vermilye had been pastor of the Alto parish from 1958 to 1962, when he was known locally as "Bud." He established the farm in 1971, and it ran for about five years.[^3] [[The Living Church]] of August 3, 1958, listed him among the Tennessee deacons ordained on June 24 of that year, "in charge, Christ Church, Alto."[^4] The [[Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals]] later described him as a seminary graduate and ordained Episcopal priest who had run Boys Farm, Inc., "supposedly a home for wayward and homeless boys," for "some four or five years" before his arrest. The court found that the home "was not church-sponsored or related," and that it "seems to have been maintained largely from funds raised by Vermilye from the sale of photographs and slides of the children to some 200 or more 'sponsors.'"[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Some of the boys were placed at the farm by "various courts and welfare agencies," and others were "placed" there by their parents, the court wrote.[^5] The Tribune placed the home at [[Winchester, Tennessee]], the [[Franklin County, Tennessee|Franklin County]] seat.[^2] [[Kenneth Wooden]], an author and investigative reporter for [[CBS]]'s 60 Minutes, testified that the farm was at [[Monteagle, Tennessee|Monteagle]].[^6] A federal court order of January 10, 1978, in a civil-rights suit filed on February 25, 1977 against Vermilye, quoted the complaint's description of juveniles in the custody of the Tennessee department of corrections who were placed with Vermilye "at Boy's Farm, Inc., Monteagle, Tennessee, for rehabilitation," and recorded the defendants' interrogatory answers that four juveniles had been transferred to Boy's Farm, Inc. from the Tennessee department of corrections.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Vermilye's obituary in the [[Coastland Times]] stated that he directed the Boy's Farm of Roarks Cove while serving the [[Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee|Diocese of Tennessee]], and that in Tennessee he was a member of the [[Tennessee Corrections Association]] and president of the [[Franklin County Mental Health Association]].[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Vermilye's eldest son, then 22, disappeared on July 5, 1974. His car was found behind the student union building of a seminary at [[Sewanee]], and his empty wallet was found on Alto Road. Vermilye told investigators he was "absolutely certain" that the son had been killed and buried in the Roarks Cove area, and he ran newspaper advertisements offering a reward. After the charges against him, Tennessee authorities looked on the disappearance "with a different light," although they could establish no link. [[Pete Bouldin]], an investigator in the district attorney general's office, said, "To us he's still just a missing person."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Wooden testified that Vermilye contacted him after his appearance on the [[Today show]] and the publication of his book, and asked for help in obtaining a boy from the State of Tennessee. Wooden said that after the priest's arrest he began an investigation of children's sex and pornography throughout the United States that had lasted nine months and was continuing.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Raid and the Sponsor List
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Films found on the Port Huron, Michigan, physical fitness teacher [[Gerald Richards]] at his arrest in July 1976, and films seized in the [[New Orleans]] raid on [[Troop 137]], led Tennessee authorities to raid the farm after police there recognized some of the "actors" in them.[^1] Vermilye's name also appeared in the files of the New Orleans scoutmaster [[Richard Halvorsen]], which police searched.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
An investigator from the local district attorney's office executed a search warrant at the farm. Officers seized developed and undeveloped photographs of residents, correspondence with sponsors, and card catalogs containing "several hundred names of past and present financial contributors from across the country." Agents of the [[Tennessee Bureau of Investigation]] and local investigators conducted out-of-state interviews with a large number of sponsors, several of whom testified at trial in exchange for a grant of immunity from prosecution in Tennessee.[^5] In 1987 the Court of Criminal Appeals wrote that "The vast majority of the information used at the trial of this cause was furnished to law enforcement officials by the sponsors of the home."[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Police also seized a list of more than 270 "active sponsors" of the farm, and [[Francis Shelden]], the sole owner of [[North Fox Island]], was among the names.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Pope said the boys had been shown obscene films and given liquor to stifle their inhibitions before sex orgies, which were allegedly filmed with a hidden camera. He said some of the pictures were sold to "active sponsors" to raise money for the farm, and that some of these sponsors allegedly came to the farm to engage in homosexual activity with the boys.[^1] A Tribune investigation of the Tennessee case disclosed that a half-dozen Illinois men had bought films from the priest, one of them for more than $4,000.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Richards told the [[Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency|Senate subcommittee]] in Chicago: "That was Boys Farm in Tennessee, which sold raw film to other men. They would bring it to me to process."[^10] Asked by Senator [[Charles Mathias]] whether she knew of any institution that participated in federal funding or federal programs, [[Michael Sneed]] of the Tribune answered: "According to information that the authorities gave us, the farm in Tennessee received such funds. Additional funds came, however, from the filming of orgies involving these young boys and patrons who would pay money for these films."[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Indictment, Trial and Appeal
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Tribune reported that Vermilye was indicted on sixteen counts: three of crimes against nature, eight of aiding and abetting crimes against nature, four of contributing to the delinquency of minors and one of using minors in the production of pornographic materials.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The trial was held at Winchester. [[United Press International]] reported on the day of the verdict that Vermilye, 48, a divorced father of five who founded the farm after his 1971 divorce, was "attempting to clear himself of nine felony counts" and could receive up to 135 years in prison if convicted of all counts.[^12] A jury of ten men and two women returned its verdict on Friday, June 3, 1977, after four days of testimony, and Circuit Judge [[Thomas Greer]] said he would pronounce sentence later. The UPI report of the verdict in [[The New York Times]] said he was found guilty of all charges against him, "three counts of crimes against nature upon boys in his care and nine counts of aiding and abetting instances of specific homosexual acts." The prosecution called the farm a "house of lust."[^13] The Tribune and the [[Traverse City Record-Eagle|Record-Eagle]] gave his age as 47.[^1][^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The [[Washington Post]] reported that Greer "consolidated the 12 sentences against Vermilye (totaling 105-165 years) into three groups, to run 25 to 40 years."[^3] The appellate opinions describe the convictions as three charges of crime against nature and five of aiding and abetting crime against nature, with eight sentences (three of five to ten years and five of ten to fifteen years) divided into three groups to run consecutively, for "an effective total sentence of not less than 25 nor more than 40 years imprisonment." The first opinion adds that the trial judge directed a verdict on the count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor before the case went to the jury.[^5][^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Under cross-examination Pope asked Vermilye, "Wasn't this a house of lust rather than a house of love?" and Vermilye answered, "No," and "I'd call it a house of damaged children from broken homes."[^12] Vermilye took the stand in his own defense and denied, according to the Post, that he had committed homosexual acts with the boys under his care, or that he had posed them for pornographic photographs sent to the farm's sponsors. He was confronted with some 2,000 photographs and thirteen letters he had written to a Delaware sponsor the previous year, offering slide sets for $25, and he admitted sending nude photographs and sexually explicit letters to some homosexual sponsors. He maintained that he had done so only as a "counselor" in an effort to "keep their desires in the closet."[^3] The appellate court recorded that he testified that the farm had been infiltrated by agents of a national "child porn" ring, that he offered the testimony of one former resident of the farm to corroborate his own, and that he presented two character witnesses.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The court recorded that, according to those who testified at trial, the sexual activities of the residents were "wholly consensual in nature," and that "Not one of them testified to the use of force on Vermilye's part."[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Judge Greer, the Post reported, told the defendant that he was convinced that the two boys who testified for the defense had committed perjury at Vermilye's direction. Vermilye's attorneys said they planned to appeal.[^3] His lawyer, [[Joe Bean]], described the boys as youths who "had been kicked out of their homes and mental and penal institutions," and said: "Vermilye has done much good for humanity."[^14]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee affirmed the convictions on February 26, 1979. It upheld the search warrant, held that each offense was "massively corroborated by both direct and circumstantial evidence," and sustained consecutive sentencing on the ground of a "four or five year course of dealing" by a "persistent and repeated offender, who derived most (if not all) of his livelihood from the sexual exploitation of these children." Certiorari was denied on July 2, 1979.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Vermilye filed a petition for post-conviction relief on August 8, 1984, alleging ineffective assistance of counsel. The trial court dismissed it after an evidentiary hearing. The appellate court affirmed on September 4, 1987, and the Tennessee Supreme Court denied permission to appeal on December 28, 1987.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Vermilye died at his home on June 22, 2018, at Kill Devil Hills, [[North Carolina]], at the age of 89, where he had retired in 1997.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Congressional Record
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The [[House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime|House Subcommittee on Crime]] took testimony on the case in 1977. Wooden told the subcommittee that after the arrest of the priest "for running a porn operation from his Boys' Farm in Monteagle, Tenn.," he began an investigation.[^6] When the subcommittee asked for a specific instance of the trade, the Tribune's Sneed answered: "The Michigan man mentioned Father Bud's farm in Tennessee."[^15]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On March 4, 1977, [[Robert F. Leonard]], president-elect of the [[National District Attorneys Association]], wrote to [[Benjamin Civiletti]], Assistant Attorney General-designate for the Criminal Division, that "there may very well be a national conspiracy made up of an inter-relating network of foster homes, churches, nature camps and other similar programs." The letter named [[Dyer Grossman]] as a person who "goes from state to state setting up these organizations," and said: "Some of the expenditures for these youngsters are unknowingly being provided by public funding."[^16] Leonard's prepared statement to the subcommittee said the association had "evidence connecting offenders in Michigan, Illinois, Louisiana, California, Tennessee, New Jersey, and other states."[^17]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In the Senate subcommittee's record, Senator [[William V. Roth, Jr.]] described "a man of the cloth who ran a farm for wayward teens" who "has allegedly staged homosexual orgies with boys and mailed pictures of the activities to his donors around the country."[^18]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Distribution Network
|
### The Distribution Network
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that film was mailed from the farm to Richards for development and distribution through MAIL-O-MATIC in [[North Carolina]] and F&S Distributors in California. Dovey also wrote that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and reported the next day by the *Detroit Free Press* as a national pornography hub, and that it was incorporated under the Church of the New Revelation, through which it was linked to [[Dyer Grossman]] and [[Adam Starchild]], and connected through a letter from Vermilye to Halvorsen with Troop 137 and with the Chicago network of [[John David Norman]], the [[Delta Project]] and the [[Odyssey Network]].[^6]
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that film was sent from Vermilye's farm to Richards for development and distribution through [[Mail-O-Matic|MAIL-O-MATIC]] in North Carolina and F&S Distributors in California as early as July 1976. Dovey also wrote that the farm was raided on November 10, 1976, and that the [[Detroit Free Press]] reported it the next day as a national pornography hub. Dovey wrote that the farm was incorporated under [[The Church of New Revelation]], through which it was linked to Grossman and [[Adam Starchild]], and that Vermilye wrote to Halvorsen inviting him to visit. Dovey placed the farm within a network that reached Troop 137, the Chicago operation of [[John David Norman]], the [[Delta Project]] and the [[Odyssey Network]].[^19]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
In his Senate testimony Richards described [[Better Life]] as "a philosophical group" run through the mail, said that the name of its leader, as he knew it, "may be an alias," and said he believed the same man ran the Mail-O-Matic operations in Rocky Mount.[^20] Asked by Senator [[John Culver]] about the organizations of another witness before the subcommittee, Richards said the only one he knew of was "a movie film business," and that "It's now called F & F Distributors."[^21]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House record, listed "Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, Tenn." among three "charitable" organizations that police had pinpointed as "fronts," alongside Boy Scout Troop 137 and [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]]. According to Richards, it reported, the Church of the New Revelation, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the [[Educational Foundation for Youth]] were three other corporations set up as "tax dodges." The paper reported that Starchild told it the organizations were not set up as fronts for homosexual pornography, though it was possible they had been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^22]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards." United Press International, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
|
[^1]: Marilyn Wright, Traverse City Record-Eagle, 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 87-88. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^2]: Wright, Marilyn. *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1976-1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^2]: "How Ruses Lure Victims to Child Pornographers," *Chicago Tribune,* May 17, 1977, Exhibit D-8, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 439-440. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^3]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, and in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
[^3]: Kirk Loggins and James Branscome, "Boys Farm Scandal," *Washington Post,* June 5, 1977, Exhibit D-10, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 442-443. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^4]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977.
|
[^4]: *The Living Church,* August 3, 1958, vol. 137, no. 5, ordinations (Tennessee, deacons). https://archive.org/details/living-church_1958-08-03_137_5
|
||||||
[^5]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
[^5]: *Vermilye v. State,* 584 S.W.2d 226 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 26, 1979), cert. denied, July 2, 1979. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/584/226/
|
||||||
[^6]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The incorporation under the Church of the New Revelation and the letter to Halvorsen are not borne out by the hearing record, which lists Boys Farm, Inc., separately and records only Vermilye's name in Halvorsen's files. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^6]: Testimony of Kenneth Wooden, director, National Coalition for Children's Justice, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 202-203. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
[^7]: [ex-ward] v. Vermilye, 78 F.R.D. 68 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 10, 1978) (No. CIV-4-77-5). https://cite.case.law/frd/78/68/
|
||||||
|
[^8]: "Claudius I. 'Bud' Vermilye," *The Coastland Times,* June 27, 2018, https://www.thecoastlandtimes.com/2018/06/27/claudius-i-bud-vermilye/; death notice, *The Daily Advance* (Elizabeth City, N.C.), Kill Devil Hills, June 2018, via Legacy.com.
|
||||||
|
[^9]: *Vermilye v. State,* 754 S.W.2d 82 (Tenn. Crim. App. Sept. 4, 1987), permission to appeal denied, Dec. 28, 1987. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/754/82/
|
||||||
|
[^10]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency, *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977, p. 41. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^11]: Testimony of George Bliss and Michael Sneed, Chicago Tribune, Chicago, May 27, 1977, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 62. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^12]: "Priest on trial denies sex charges," United Press International, *Columbia Missourian,* June 4, 1977. https://cdm16795.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/colmo7/id/77557
|
||||||
|
[^13]: "Former Clergyman Is Convicted of Acts Against His Wards," United Press International, dateline Winchester, Tenn., June 3, *The New York Times,* June 4, 1977, p. 33. https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/04/archives/former-clergyman-is-convicted-of-acts-against-his-wards.html
|
||||||
|
[^14]: "The Cup and the Rack," reprinted in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 157 (quoting Joe Bean). https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^15]: Testimony of Michael Sneed, George Bliss and Ray Moseley, Chicago Tribune, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 112. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
[^16]: Letter of Robert F. Leonard, president-elect, National District Attorneys Association, to Benjamin Civiletti, March 4, 1977, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 78. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
[^17]: Prepared statement of Robert F. Leonard, National District Attorneys Association, in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 75. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
[^18]: Statement of Senator William V. Roth, Jr., in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 73. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^19]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
[^20]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, pp. 37, 44. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^21]: Testimony of Gerald S. Richards, in *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* 1977, p. 43. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
|
[^22]: Marilyn Wright, "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws," Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* Serial No. 12, 1977, p. 82. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,12 +9,29 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Child_Prostitution
|
- Child_Prostitution
|
||||||
- Warwick_Spinks
|
- Warwick_Spinks
|
||||||
category: "Private Organization"
|
category: "Private Organization"
|
||||||
summary: "The Gay Palace was a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, managed by Warwick Spinks during the 1980s and 1990s."
|
summary: "The Gay Palace was a club at 44 Spuistraat in Amsterdam managed by Warwick Spinks in the late 1980s, described by S. Dovey as a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub."
|
||||||
location: "Amsterdam, Netherlands"
|
location: "Amsterdam, Netherlands"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
The Gay Palace was a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, managed by [[Warwick Spinks]] during the 1980s and 1990s. A Scotland Yard informant claimed to have seen films screened at the Gay Palace showing boys aged eleven to fourteen in bondage being raped by masked men, and stated that Spinks was selling copies of a "special videotape" for 4,000 pounds showing a boy being tortured. A different informant named "Frank" described another film Spinks had shown him of a boy being tortured with needles, castrated, and cut open with a knife inside a barn.[^1]
|
The Gay Palace was a club at 44 Spuistraat in [[Amsterdam]], managed by [[Warwick Spinks]] in the late 1980s, according to [[Nick Davies]].[^1] S. Dovey described it as a boy brothel masquerading as a gay nightclub.[^2] Davies wrote that it and [[Boys Club 21]], across the road, each had "a perfectly legal business, running a bar and offering the services of adult male prostitutes who could take customers upstairs to bedrooms," and that Williams and Spinks "had much wider and crueller interests."[^3] Spinks told [[The Guardian]] in 1998: "All I was doing was running a legally licensed brothel which was controlled by the state and underwent regular checks."[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The Gay Palace operated across the street from [[Boys Club 21]], managed by [[Alan Williams]]. Together the two establishments formed the core of British-run child trafficking operations in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, investigated under [[Operation Framework]] in 1992-93. The establishments were presented as legitimate gay businesses, providing cover for their actual function as trafficking hubs. Clients included prominent figures from across Europe.[^1]
|
A Scotland Yard informant claimed to have seen films screened at the Gay Palace showing boys aged eleven to fourteen in bondage being raped by masked men, and stated that Spinks was selling copies of a "special videotape" for 4,000 pounds showing a boy being tortured.[^2][^3] A different informant named "Frank" described another film Spinks had shown him of a boy being tortured with needles, castrated, and cut open with a knife inside a barn.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Gay Palace operated across the street from Boys Club 21, managed by [[Alan Williams]]. S. Dovey wrote that together the two establishments formed the core of British-run child trafficking operations in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, investigated under [[Operation Framework]] in 1992-93, that the establishments were presented as legitimate gay businesses, providing cover for their actual function as trafficking hubs, and that clients included prominent figures from across Europe.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Address
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Davies's 1998 article lists "The Boys for Men Club at 44b Spuistraat" beside the Boys Club 21, the Blue Boy and the Why Not, and says Spinks "worked at Boys For Men in Spuistraat."[^5] Davies's 2000 article places him running the Gay Palace at number 44.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### Gay Palace, Rotterdam
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A feature in De Arbeiderspers of August 29, 1990, headed "Gay Palace - 6 jaar 'druk en knus'," concerns a Gay Palace in Rotterdam, described as Rotterdam's largest and only gay discotheque, six years old in 1990, whose owner is quoted: "Wij zijn hier niet zo extravagent, wij zijn wat huiselijker" [We are not so extravagant here, we are a bit cosier].[^6] It is a separate Rotterdam business with its own owner. The records found show no connection between it and the Amsterdam club managed by Spinks.
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
|
||||||
|
[^1]: Nick Davies, "A paedophile ring in Amsterdam," The Guardian, April 5, 1997, https://www.nickdavies.net/1997/04/05/a-paedophile-ring-in-amsterdam/
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Dovey, S. (2023). *Eye of the Chickenhawk*. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," The Guardian, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||||
|
[^4]: Kate Connolly and Owen Bowcott, "Fugitive Briton linked to Dutch child porn hits at 'witch-hunt' from Prague refuge," The Guardian, July 31, 1998, page 15.
|
||||||
|
[^5]: Nick Davies, "Paedophile networks traffick young boys across Europe," dated October 1, 1998 and marked "Previously unpublished," https://www.nickdavies.net/1998/10/01/paedophile-network-trafficks-young-boys-across-europe/
|
||||||
|
[^6]: De Arbeiderspers, "Gay Palace - 6 jaar 'druk en knus'," August 29, 1990, Delpher ddd:010948872:a0173.
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ location: "New Jersey, USA"
|
||||||
start: 1974
|
start: 1974
|
||||||
relations:
|
relations:
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
The Ocean Living Institute was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, with its principal place of business in [[New Jersey]], ostensibly to promote education and research in oceanography. [[Adam Starchild]] was listed as its president and [[Dyer Grossman]] as its executive director. The Internal Revenue Service granted it an "automatic" tax exemption, as it did the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], without challenging or investigating its claim to be a charitable organization. [[Gerald Richards]], organizer of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]] on [[North Fox Island]], told police that the institute, the church and the Educational Foundation for Youth of Illinois had been set up as tax dodges and used as fronts for the production of child pornography; Starchild said they might have been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^1]
|
The Ocean Living Institute was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, with its principal place of business in [[New Jersey]], ostensibly to promote education and research in oceanography. [[Adam Starchild]] was listed as its president and [[Dyer Grossman]] as its executive director. The Internal Revenue Service granted it an "automatic" tax exemption, as it did the [[The Church of New Revelation|Church of the New Revelation]], without challenging or investigating its claim to be a charitable organization. [[Gerald Richards]], organizer of [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]] on [[North Fox Island]], told police that the institute, the church and the Educational Foundation for Youth of Illinois had been set up as tax dodges and used as fronts for the production of child pornography; Starchild said they might have been "used" for that purpose by Grossman.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -21,9 +21,10 @@ At Richards's arrest in July 1976 police found a letter from Grossman proposing
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Grossman Letter
|
### The Grossman Letter
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Richards handed over the letter in August 1976, postmarked July 19, 1976, with the institute's return address, and that it mentioned a twelve-year-old boy Grossman had obtained through a Big Brother program. The writer S. Dovey described the institute as a sea-steading project. Dovey also wrote that Starchild was Malcolm Willis McConahy, an offshore tax attorney who faked his death in 1975, and a scoutmaster in Minneapolis expelled in 1965.[^2]
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that Richards handed over the letter in August 1976, postmarked July 19, 1976, with the institute's return address, and that it mentioned a twelve-year-old boy Grossman had obtained through a Big Brother program. The writer S. Dovey described the institute as a sea-steading project. Dovey also wrote that Starchild was Malcolm Willis McConahy, an offshore tax attorney who faked his death in 1975, and a scoutmaster in Minneapolis expelled in 1965, and that the institute was incorporated in New Jersey.[^2] The federal trust litigation documents Starchild's continued activity under that name from 1976 to 1985.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 86-87. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 82-83. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It gives New Jersey as the state of incorporation; Starchild's continued activity under that name in 1976 to 1985 is documented in the federal trust litigation. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
[^3]: *National Bank of Detroit v. Shelden,* 730 F.2d 421 (6th Cir. 1984) (Nos. 82-1737, 82-1905). https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/433085/national-bank-of-detroit-v-francis-d-shelden-the-trust-company-of-the/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -13,8 +13,20 @@ summary: "Tax-exempt church incorporated in Delaware in 1974 with a Kearny, New
|
||||||
location: "Kearny, New Jersey"
|
location: "Kearny, New Jersey"
|
||||||
start: 1974
|
start: 1974
|
||||||
relations:
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: head_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Adam Starchild]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
role: "president"
|
||||||
|
start: 1974
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: employed_by
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Dyer Grossman]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
role: "youth director"
|
||||||
|
start: 1974
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-23
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
The Church of the New Revelation was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, listing its principal place of business in [[New Jersey]]; its articles of incorporation stated that it was formed to train and indoctrinate ministers, brothers and sisters in its teachings and ordain them to carry out its work. [[Adam Starchild]], listed in the Kearny telephone book, was its president and [[Dyer Grossman]] its youth director. The Internal Revenue Service declared it exempt from taxes without challenging or investigating its claim to be a charitable organization. [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], the camp on [[North Fox Island]] organized by [[Gerald Richards]], was created and operated under its auspices; Richards named the church, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the Educational Foundation for Youth as fronts for the production of child pornography. A letter from Grossman found on Richards recommended setting up "child care" sites under the church or the foundation because of their tax exemptions.[^1]
|
The Church of the New Revelation was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, listing its principal place of business in [[New Jersey]]; its articles of incorporation stated that it was formed to train and indoctrinate ministers, brothers and sisters in its teachings and ordain them to carry out its work. [[Adam Starchild]], listed in the Kearny telephone book, was its president and [[Dyer Grossman]] its youth director. The Internal Revenue Service declared it exempt from taxes without challenging or investigating its claim to be a charitable organization. [[Brother Paul's Children's Mission]], the camp on [[North Fox Island]] organized by [[Gerald Richards]], was created and operated under its auspices; Richards named the church, the [[Ocean Living Institute]] and the Educational Foundation for Youth as fronts for the production of child pornography. A letter from Grossman found on Richards recommended setting up "child care" sites under the church or the foundation because of their tax exemptions.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -22,10 +34,13 @@ The Church of the New Revelation was incorporated in Delaware in 1974, listing i
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Father Bud's Boys Farm
|
### Father Bud's Boys Farm
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The writer S. Dovey wrote that [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee was incorporated under the church and that Grossman created the church on paper; [[Francis Shelden]] and Starchild were connected to it through the incorporation of the North Fox Island mission.[^3]
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that the church was incorporated in New Jersey and that [[Father Bud's Boys Farm]] in Tennessee was incorporated under it and that Grossman created the church on paper; [[Francis Shelden]] and Starchild were connected to it through the incorporation of the North Fox Island mission.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The [[Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals]], reviewing Vermilye's conviction, found that the farm "was not church-sponsored or related."[^4] The Traverse City Record-Eagle, reprinted in the House record, listed "Boy's Farm Inc. of Alto, Tenn." among three "charitable" organizations that police had pinpointed as "fronts," alongside Boy Scout Troop 137 and Brother Paul's Children's Mission. According to Richards, it reported, the church, the Ocean Living Institute and the Educational Foundation for Youth were three other corporations set up as "tax dodges."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 86-87. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
[^1]: Wright, Marilyn. "Porno Ring Uses Church, Tax Laws." *Traverse City Record-Eagle,* 1977, reprinted in U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime. *Sexual Exploitation of Children,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, Serial No. 12, 1977, pp. 82-83. https://archive.org/details/micro_IA41153502_0041
|
||||||
[^2]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
[^2]: *Chicago Tribune,* May 1977, reprinted in U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee to Investigate Juvenile Delinquency. *Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation,* hearings, 95th Congress, 1st session, 1977. https://archive.org/details/protectionofchil00unit
|
||||||
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. It gives New Jersey as the state of incorporation. The contemporaneous reporting lists Boys Farm, Inc., of Alto, Tennessee, as a separate organization and names Starchild, not Grossman, as the church's president. Sole source for the passages so cited.
|
[^3]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023.
|
||||||
|
[^4]: *Vermilye v. State,* 584 S.W.2d 226 (Tenn. Crim. App. Feb. 26, 1979), cert. denied, July 2, 1979. https://cite.case.law/sw2d/584/226/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -8,19 +8,24 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- 2000s
|
- 2000s
|
||||||
- VIP_Network
|
- VIP_Network
|
||||||
category: "Intelligence Operation"
|
category: "Intelligence Operation"
|
||||||
summary: "The investigation into Jonathan King and Chris Denning in the early 2000s led to Operation Arundel, into a suspected pedophile ring of BBC celebrities in the 1970s and 1980s who allegedly procured boys and girls from an underage nightclub called the..."
|
summary: "Operation Arundel (2001) was a Metropolitan Police investigation, arising from the Jonathan King and Chris Denning inquiries, into a suspected ring of BBC celebrities said to procure boys and girls from the Walton Hop Disco."
|
||||||
start: 2001
|
start: 2001
|
||||||
location: "Metropolitan Police, London"
|
location: "Metropolitan Police, London"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The investigation into [[Jonathan King]] and [[Chris Denning]] in the early 2000s led to Operation Arundel, into a suspected pedophile ring of BBC celebrities in the 1970s and 1980s who allegedly procured boys and girls from an underage nightclub called the [[Walton Hop Disco]]. This investigation led to the arrest of another BBC personality in 2003, but the charges against them were subsequently dropped. One suspect in the Operation Arundel investigation who was never arrested or charged had been a good friend and colleague of both Denning and King, BBC Radio One DJ [[Jimmy Savile]]. Nothing came of this though. The case was closed and forgotten about for nearly a decade.[^1]
|
The investigation into [[Jonathan King]] and [[Chris Denning]] in the early 2000s led to Operation Arundel, into a suspected pedophile ring of BBC celebrities in the 1970s and 1980s who allegedly procured boys and girls from an underage nightclub called the [[Walton Hop Disco]]. This investigation led to the arrest of another BBC personality in 2003, but the charges against them were subsequently dropped. One suspect in the Operation Arundel investigation who was never arrested or charged had been a good friend and colleague of both Denning and King, BBC Radio One DJ [[Jimmy Savile]]. Nothing came of this though. The case was closed and forgotten about for nearly a decade.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Investigation Origins and Legacy
|
### Investigation Origins and Legacy
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Operation Arundel in 2001 was the first formal investigation into a BBC child abuse ring. The investigation arose out of an investigation which evolved from the one into Chris Denning in Prague, which in turn was based on information received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile there. After Jimmy Savile's death in October 2011, the floodgate of allegations against him opened. First a few, then many, and finally too many to ignore. This led to an investigation by Metropolitan police called [[Operation Yewtree]], which investigated accusations of a highly organised pedophile ring at the BBC, which not only included its famous personalities, but operational level employees too.[^1]
|
Operation Arundel in 2001 was the first formal investigation into a BBC child abuse ring. The investigation arose out of an investigation which evolved from the one into Chris Denning in Prague, which S. Dovey wrote was based on information received from Scotland Yard after [[Warwick Spinks]] went into exile there. After Jimmy Savile's death in October 2011, the floodgate of allegations against him opened. First a few, then many, and finally too many to ignore. This led to an investigation by Metropolitan police called [[Operation Yewtree]], which investigated accusations of a highly organised pedophile ring at the BBC, which not only included its famous personalities, but operational level employees too.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
In November 2012, [[Warwick Spinks]] was suddenly extradited back to the UK. This was just weeks into Operation Yewtree and a few months before [[Operation Fernbridge]] was launched into the [[Elm Guest House]]. Perhaps some 'top men' sought a brief word with Spinks, as he was soon released and seen roaming free again back in Prague. When the UK Ministry of Justice was probed for answers, their response was "We do not comment on individuals. Any convicted sex offender who breaches their licence conditions faces spending the duration of their sentence in prison." The patterns and connections identified during Operation Arundel would later prove crucial to understanding the full scope of the BBC pedophile network that was eventually exposed through Operation Yewtree.[^1]
|
Czech police arrested Warwick Spinks on August 22, 2012,[^2] and the [[Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre]] said he was arrested at Heathrow Airport on arrival from Prague on November 15, 2012, to serve the 18 remaining months of his sentence;[^3] the BBC reported the same.[^4] This was just weeks into Operation Yewtree and a few months before [[Operation Fernbridge]] was launched into the [[Elm Guest House]]. [[James Kirchick]] wrote in May 2013 that a friend in Prague had told him Spinks had been in Prague since March, and that Spinks "could have been released after having served less than half of his remaining sentence."[^5] The Ministry of Justice told him: "We do not comment on individuals. Any convicted sex offender who breaches their licence conditions faces spending the duration of their sentence in prison."[^5] The patterns and connections identified during Operation Arundel would later prove crucial to understanding the full scope of the BBC pedophile network that was eventually exposed through Operation Yewtree.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Novinky.cz, "Uprchlého britského pedofila zatkli čeští lovci lebek, provozoval v ČR ubytovnu," November 16, 2012, https://www.novinky.cz/clanek/zahranicni-evropa-uprchleho-britskeho-pedofila-zatkli-cesti-lovci-lebek-provozoval-v-cr-ubytovnu-172991 Original: "Hledaného muže zadrželi dvaadvacátého srpna v bytě [...] v Praze" [The wanted man was detained on the twenty-second of August in a flat [...] in Prague].
|
||||||
|
[^3]: Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, "Child sexual offender who went on the run for 15 years is now back behind bars," press release, November 16, 2012, Wayback Machine capture of January 30, 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20130130112106/http://ceop.police.uk/Media-Centre/Press-releases/2012/
|
||||||
|
[^4]: BBC News, "Warwick Spinks arrest: Child sex attacker back in prison," November 16, 2012, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20355257
|
||||||
|
[^5]: James Kirchick, "The British paedophile who's still on the run," The Spectator, May 24, 2013, https://spectator.com/article/the-british-paedophile-who-s-still-on-the-run/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -9,10 +9,11 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- Operation_Fairbank
|
- Operation_Fairbank
|
||||||
- Operation_Midland
|
- Operation_Midland
|
||||||
category: "Intelligence Operation"
|
category: "Intelligence Operation"
|
||||||
summary: "Operation Fernbridge was launched by the Metropolitan Police in February 2013 as a full criminal investigation into allegations that prominent people, including politicians, abused boys at the Elm Guest House in Barnes, south-west London during the..."
|
summary: "Operation Fernbridge was the Metropolitan Police investigation, launched in February 2013 and closed in March 2015, into allegations that prominent people abused boys at the Elm Guest House in Barnes, London, in the early 1980s."
|
||||||
start: 2013-02
|
start: 2013-02
|
||||||
end: 2015-03
|
end: 2015-03
|
||||||
location: "Metropolitan Police, London"
|
location: "Metropolitan Police, London"
|
||||||
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Operation Fernbridge was launched by the Metropolitan Police in February 2013 as a full criminal investigation into allegations that prominent people, including politicians, abused boys at the [[Elm Guest House]] in Barnes, south-west London during the early 1980s. The investigation was prompted by Labour MP [[Tom Watson]]'s October 2012 parliamentary question to Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] about "a powerful paedophile network linked to parliament and No 10" based on the [[Peter Righton]] dossier, as well as specific accusations against [[Cyril Smith]] by MP [[Simon Danczuk]] in November 2012 and media revelations about the Elm Guest House by Exaro News and other outlets. Operation Fernbridge specifically investigated the Elm Guest House, a suburban townhouse in Barnes, southwest London, that operated as a brothel providing boys as young as ten for sexual exploitation, and its connections to [[Grafton Close Children's Home]], which supplied boys under 14 to the guest house.[^1]
|
Operation Fernbridge was launched by the Metropolitan Police in February 2013 as a full criminal investigation into allegations that prominent people, including politicians, abused boys at the [[Elm Guest House]] in Barnes, south-west London during the early 1980s. The investigation was prompted by Labour MP [[Tom Watson]]'s October 2012 parliamentary question to Prime Minister [[David Cameron]] about "a powerful paedophile network linked to parliament and No 10" based on the [[Peter Righton]] dossier, as well as specific accusations against [[Cyril Smith]] by MP [[Simon Danczuk]] in November 2012 and media revelations about the Elm Guest House by Exaro News and other outlets. Operation Fernbridge specifically investigated the Elm Guest House, a suburban townhouse in Barnes, southwest London, that operated as a brothel providing boys as young as ten for sexual exploitation, and its connections to [[Grafton Close Children's Home]], which supplied boys under 14 to the guest house.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
@ -21,11 +22,11 @@ Operation Fernbridge was launched by the Metropolitan Police in February 2013 as
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The operation focused on the [[Spartacus Club]]/Spartacus International network - an underground pedophile network that helped transform the guest house into a child exploitation venue. The Elm Guest House displayed a "Spartacus, Club - Welcome" sign and offered 10% discounts to Spartacus Club members. The guest house was set up by [[Peter Glencross]], commercial agent for Spartacus International, who persuaded owners Haroon and Carole Kasir to convert it into a spa/sauna facility for Club Spartacus members. Carole Kasir died in 1990, allegedly after providing evidence about VIP abuse to social worker Mary Moss. Sign-in book records and other documents were leaked online in January 2013 by Mary Moss before being seized by police, exposing the names of prominent visitors including Members of Parliament, ministers, judges, and other high-profile figures.[^1]
|
The operation focused on the [[Spartacus Club]]/Spartacus International network - an underground pedophile network that helped transform the guest house into a child exploitation venue. The Elm Guest House displayed a "Spartacus, Club - Welcome" sign and offered 10% discounts to Spartacus Club members. The guest house was set up by [[Peter Glencross]], commercial agent for Spartacus International, who persuaded owners Haroon and Carole Kasir to convert it into a spa/sauna facility for Club Spartacus members. Carole Kasir died in 1990, allegedly after providing evidence about VIP abuse to social worker Mary Moss. Sign-in book records and other documents were leaked online in January 2013 by Mary Moss before being seized by police, exposing the names of prominent visitors including Members of Parliament, ministers, judges, and other high-profile figures.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Key figures investigated included [[Cyril Smith]], the Liberal MP who was posthumously exposed as a serial sexual abuser of boys and confirmed as a frequent visitor to Elm Guest House, and [[Leon Brittan]], the former Home Secretary who received Geoffrey Dickens' 1983 VIP pedophile dossier and was allegedly photographed at Elm Guest House. Other named figures under investigation included MP [[Ronald Brown]], MP [[Harvey Proctor]], royal staffer [[Anthony Blunt]], and barrister [[Colin Peters]]. The operation investigated claims that three parliamentary ministers and one member of the Queen's royal staff were among the guests, with a "price-listed menu of sex" offered with boys as young as ten, and that child pornography was produced at the venue as part of what Mary Moss described as a "child porn racket" and "money-making business."[^1]
|
Key figures investigated included Cyril Smith, the Liberal MP who was posthumously exposed as a serial sexual abuser of boys and confirmed as a frequent visitor to Elm Guest House, and [[Leon Brittan]], the former Home Secretary who received Geoffrey Dickens' 1983 VIP pedophile dossier and was allegedly photographed at Elm Guest House. Other named figures under investigation included MP [[Ronald Brown]], MP [[Harvey Proctor]], royal staffer [[Anthony Blunt]], and barrister [[Colin Peters]]. The operation investigated claims that three parliamentary ministers and one member of the Queen's royal staff were among the guests, with a "price-listed menu of sex" offered with boys as young as ten, and that child pornography was produced at the venue as part of what Mary Moss described as a "child porn racket" and "money-making business."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Related Operations and Historical Context
|
### Related Operations and Historical Context
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Operation Fernbridge was part of a series of related investigations into VIP pedophile networks. It followed [[Operation Fairbank]], an initial scoping exercise into VIP child abuse claims, and preceded [[Operation Midland]], which was launched in November 2014 to investigate child murders potentially linked to the VIP network. The investigation also had connections to [[Operation Orchid]], the 1980s investigation into [[Sidney Cooke]]'s pedophile gang, with files that could have contained Elm Guest House connections discovered to be missing. Files related to the original 1982 raid on Elm Guest House and Operation Orchid were found to be missing, as was [[Geoffrey Dickens]]' 1983 dossier handed to [[Leon Brittan]], which had been lost or destroyed by the Home Office. Because Leon Brittan had been the minister in charge of overseeing domestic intelligence agencies at that time, it was soon suspected that past investigations into an alleged VIP pedophile ring had been covered-up by MI5.[^1]
|
Operation Fernbridge was part of a series of related investigations into VIP pedophile networks. It followed [[Operation Fairbank]], an initial scoping exercise into VIP child abuse claims, and preceded [[Operation Midland]], which was launched in November 2014 to investigate child murders potentially linked to the VIP network. The investigation also had connections to [[Operation Orchid]], the 1980s investigation into [[Sidney Cooke]]'s pedophile gang, with files that could have contained Elm Guest House connections discovered to be missing. Files related to the original 1982 raid on Elm Guest House and Operation Orchid were found to be missing, as was [[Geoffrey Dickens]]' 1983 dossier handed to Leon Brittan, which had been lost or destroyed by the Home Office. Because Leon Brittan had been the minister in charge of overseeing domestic intelligence agencies at that time, it was soon suspected that past investigations into an alleged VIP pedophile ring had been covered-up by MI5.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The investigation had deep historical roots dating back to the original 1982 raid on Elm Guest House, which resulted in 23 men detained but all released without charge. A 1990 inquest into Carole Kasir's death had revealed allegations about VIP abuse and connections to children's homes, while the Peter Righton case in 1992 had also mentioned VIP pedophile networks. In November 2014, the investigation took a major turn when Scotland Yard announced they would reopen cold case files of two child murders ([[Vishal Mehrotra]] in 1981 and [[Martin Allen]] in 1979) due to possible connections to Elm Guest House. Key evidence gathered included testimony from customs official Maganlal Solanki, who told detectives he stopped Leon Brittan at Dover in the late 1980s with child pornography videos featuring children "clearly under the age of 12."[^1]
|
The investigation had deep historical roots dating back to the original 1982 raid on Elm Guest House, which resulted in 23 men detained but all released without charge. A 1990 inquest into Carole Kasir's death had revealed allegations about VIP abuse and connections to children's homes, while the Peter Righton case in 1992 had also mentioned VIP pedophile networks. In November 2014, the investigation took a major turn when Scotland Yard announced they would reopen cold case files of two child murders ([[Vishal Mehrotra]] in 1981 and [[Martin Allen]] in 1979) due to possible connections to Elm Guest House. Key evidence gathered included testimony from customs official Maganlal Solanki, who told detectives he stopped Leon Brittan at Dover in the late 1980s with child pornography videos featuring children "clearly under the age of 12."[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -33,8 +34,11 @@ The investigation had deep historical roots dating back to the original 1982 rai
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Operation Fernbridge was effectively derailed in November 2014 when a witness dubbed "Nick" came forward with claims of witnessing child murders at Elm Guest House. This witness was later exposed as Carl Beech, a pedophile who had provided false information. The operation was closed in March 2015 with the official conclusion that "No evidence of abuse connected to the Elm Guest House was uncovered" according to a September 2015 Telegraph article. However, this conclusion omitted the substantial evidence gathered prior to November 2014 and focused primarily on the discredited claims of Carl Beech. The source material suggests that Operation Fernbridge uncovered substantial evidence of a historic VIP pedophile network but that the investigation's credibility was undermined by the false claims of Carl Beech, allowing the broader evidence to be dismissed.[^1]
|
Operation Fernbridge was effectively derailed in November 2014 when a witness dubbed "Nick" came forward with claims of witnessing child murders at Elm Guest House. This witness was later exposed as Carl Beech, a pedophile who had provided false information. The operation was closed in March 2015 with the official conclusion that "No evidence of abuse connected to the Elm Guest House was uncovered" according to a September 2015 Telegraph article. However, this conclusion omitted the substantial evidence gathered prior to November 2014 and focused primarily on the discredited claims of Carl Beech. The source material suggests that Operation Fernbridge uncovered substantial evidence of a historic VIP pedophile network but that the investigation's credibility was undermined by the false claims of Carl Beech, allowing the broader evidence to be dismissed.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The timing of Operation Fernbridge was significant, as it was launched just weeks after [[Warwick Spinks]] was briefly extradited back to the UK in November 2012. Spinks, a major international child trafficker, was soon released and seen roaming free again back in Prague. When the UK Ministry of Justice was probed for answers about Spinks' release, their response was "We do not comment on individuals. Any convicted sex offender who breaches their licence conditions faces spending the duration of their sentence in prison." The patterns and connections identified during Operation Fernbridge, along with the earlier [[Operation Arundel]], would prove crucial to understanding the full scope of organized pedophile networks operating within British institutions and their international connections, particularly the links between UK-based abuse networks and European trafficking operations centered in cities like Amsterdam.[^1]
|
Operation Fernbridge was launched in February 2013. [[Warwick Spinks]] had been arrested at Heathrow Airport on arrival from Prague on November 15, 2012.[^2][^3] [[James Kirchick]] reported in May 2013 that a friend in Prague had told him Spinks had been there since March, and wrote that Spinks "could have been released after having served less than half of his remaining sentence."[^4] When the UK Ministry of Justice was probed for answers about Spinks' release, its response, which Kirchick printed in full, began "All sexual offences are abhorrent." The response also stated: "We do not comment on individuals. Any convicted sex offender who breaches their licence conditions faces spending the duration of their sentence in prison."[^4] The patterns and connections identified during Operation Fernbridge, along with the earlier [[Operation Arundel]], would prove crucial to understanding the full scope of organized pedophile networks operating within British institutions and their international connections, particularly the links between UK-based abuse networks and European trafficking operations centered in cities like Amsterdam.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
[^1]: Dovey, S. (2023). Eye of the Chickenhawk. United States: Thehotstar.
|
||||||
|
[^2]: Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, "Child sexual offender who went on the run for 15 years is now back behind bars," press release, November 16, 2012, Wayback Machine capture of January 30, 2013, https://web.archive.org/web/20130130112106/http://ceop.police.uk/Media-Centre/Press-releases/2012/
|
||||||
|
[^3]: BBC News, "Warwick Spinks arrest: Child sex attacker back in prison," November 16, 2012, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20355257
|
||||||
|
[^4]: James Kirchick, "The British paedophile who's still on the run," The Spectator, May 24, 2013, https://spectator.com/article/the-british-paedophile-who-s-still-on-the-run/
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: Operation Framework
|
||||||
aliases:
|
aliases:
|
||||||
- Operation Framework
|
- Operation Framework
|
||||||
created: 2026-05-17
|
created: 2026-05-17
|
||||||
updated: 2026-05-17
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Event
|
- Event
|
||||||
- Investigation
|
- Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
@ -28,33 +28,33 @@ The focus on Amsterdam was deliberate, as the city had become a hub for internat
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Key Targets and Suspects
|
### Key Targets and Suspects
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The primary targets of Operation Framework were Warwick Spinks and his close associates. Spinks managed the Gay Palace nightclub in Amsterdam's Spuistraat district, which served as a front for child prostitution and pornography production. Another key target was [[Alan Williams]], a Welsh pedophile known as "The Welsh Witch" who managed Boys Club 21, another venue in the same district investigated for its role in child trafficking.[^3]
|
The primary targets of Operation Framework were Warwick Spinks and his close associates. [[Nick Davies]] wrote that Spinks managed the [[Gay Palace]] on Spuistraat in the late 1980s, where he sold alcohol and young men to tourists.[^3] Its lawful business was a bar with adult male prostitutes, and an informant told [[Scotland Yard]] he had watched videos of boys aged eleven to fourteen being abused by masked men there.[^4] Another key target was [[Alan Williams]], a Welsh pedophile known as "The Welsh Witch" who managed Boys Club 21, another venue in the same district investigated for its role in child trafficking.[^5]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Williams, along with two other Welsh pedophiles named [[John Gay]] and [[Lee Tucker]], operated a film production company called TAG Films. This company was linked to a German distribution company named [[Gero-Video]] based in Dusseldorf.[^3]
|
Williams, along with two other Welsh pedophiles named [[John Gay]] and [[Lee Tucker]], operated a film production company called TAG Films. Davies wrote that TAG Films sold its films through distributors in the United States and Germany, and that the Bristol detectives, following Tucker and Gay, led German police to raid a video distributor in Dusseldorf.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Snuff Film Allegations and Evidence
|
### Snuff Film Allegations and Evidence
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Multiple informants provided detailed accounts of films showing boys being tortured and murdered. One informant named "Frank" described a film Spinks had shown him, shot inside a barn, featuring a boy being tortured with needles, then castrated and cut open with a knife. Another informant named "Terry" described a similar film, only this one filmed inside an apartment rather than a barn. A third informant named "Edward" claimed to have seen at least five such snuff films, alleging they were produced by Spinks and his associates at various locations including a house in Hoofddorp and on a houseboat.[^4]
|
Multiple informants provided detailed accounts of films showing boys being tortured and murdered. One informant named "Frank" described a film Spinks had shown him, shot inside a barn, featuring a boy being tortured with needles, then castrated and cut open with a knife.[^3][^4] A Bristol informant, not named, told the [[Avon and Somerset Police]] detectives that in 1989 he had found in a flat belonging to one of the key figures on the Amsterdam scene a video showing a murder. Davies noted that Frank described a video shot in a barn and the Bristol informant one shot in a flat.[^4] A third informant named "Edward" claimed to have seen at least five such snuff films, alleging they were produced by Spinks and his associates at various locations including a house in Hoofddorp, a second house where he said Spinks lived, a lake where he said bodies were dumped, and one video shot on a boat.[^3][^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Investigative Methods and Challenges
|
### Investigative Methods and Challenges
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Operation Framework faced significant challenges due to the nature of the alleged crimes. Traditional law enforcement sting operations run into a conundrum when investigating human trafficking and especially murder for pornography. If an undercover agent makes a purchase order for a person, and something happens to that person in transit, the enforcement agency becomes culpable.[^2]
|
Operation Framework faced significant challenges due to the nature of the alleged crimes. Traditional law enforcement sting operations run into a conundrum when investigating human trafficking and especially murder for pornography. If an undercover agent makes a purchase order for a person, and something happens to that person in transit, the enforcement agency becomes culpable.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Spinks himself revealed the limited distribution model used for snuff films during an undercover operation, stating they were "limited editions" with only 10 copies made for wealthy American clients paying $5,000 each. This distribution model made obtaining evidence through traditional law enforcement methods extremely difficult.[^4]
|
Spinks himself revealed the limited distribution model used for snuff films during an undercover operation, stating they were "limited editions" with only 10 copies made for wealthy American clients paying $5,000 each. This distribution model made obtaining evidence through traditional law enforcement methods extremely difficult.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### International Cooperation and Raids
|
### International Cooperation and Raids
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The investigation involved unprecedented cooperation between British and Dutch authorities. Scotland Yard detectives worked with Dutch police to conduct raids on properties owned or used by the suspects. In 1993, police raided a property kept by Spinks in Hoofddorp but were unable to find any of the alleged films. However, the investigation did lead to a raid by German authorities on Gero-Video, the German distribution company linked to TAG Films, in Dusseldorf.[^3]
|
The investigation involved unprecedented cooperation between British and Dutch authorities. Davies wrote that Dutch police confirmed Spinks had been living at one of the houses Edward identified,[^3] and that Scotland Yard's detectives could not justify sending officers to Amsterdam, where they lacked police powers.[^4] [[Der Spiegel]] reported in August 1998 that investigators had found nothing punishable at [[Gero-Video]] Produktions GmbH, a Düsseldorf distributor, that several proceedings against it had been discontinued, and that [[Robbie Van Der Plancken]] appears in at least five Gero-Video films, which the firm's owner said it bought in 1993 from a Dutch production company.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Undercover Operations and Informant Testimony
|
### Undercover Operations and Informant Testimony
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Undercover officers played a crucial role in Operation Framework. One officer posing as a client managed to elicit damaging admissions from Spinks about his knowledge of snuff film production. During this conversation, Spinks admitted: "I know - I knew, some people who were involved in making snuff movies and how they did it was, they only sold them in limited editions, made 10 copies or something, 10 very rich customers in America, who paid $5,000 each, which is a lot of money to watch some kids being snuffed."[^4]
|
Undercover officers played a crucial role in Operation Framework. Davies wrote in 1997 that the tapes of Spinks had been secretly recorded by an undercover police officer in Holland,[^3] and in 2000 that the officer had been recruited "to pose as a child abuser and to befriend Warwick Spinks in England."[^4] Spinks said: "They're not six grand," and continued: "I know, well I knew some people who were involved in making snuff movies and how they did it was, they only sold them in limited editions, made ten copies or something, ten very rich customers in America, who paid $5,000 each or something like that - which is a lot of money to watch some kids being snuffed."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Spinks went on to describe a specific case: "I know the person who made the film. I felt sorry for this boy, it was a German Boy. About 13, 15. He thought he was going to make 200 guilders and ended up being dead."[^4]
|
Spinks went on to describe a specific case: "I know the person who made the film. I felt sorry for this boy, it was a German boy." Asked "How old?", Spinks replied: "About 13, 15. He thought he was going to make 200 guilders and ended up being dead."[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Connection to Other Investigations
|
### Connection to Other Investigations
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Operation Framework was one of three major interlinked investigations into child trafficking networks in the Netherlands during the 1990s. Along with the [[HIK Investigation]] (1994) and the [[Rolodex Investigation]] (1997-98), Operation Framework revealed a pattern of sophisticated trafficking operations that exploited legal jurisdictional boundaries and enjoyed protection from powerful individuals.[^5]
|
Operation Framework was one of three major interlinked investigations into child trafficking networks in the Netherlands during the 1990s. Along with the [[HIK Investigation]] (1994) and the [[Rolodex Investigation]] (1997-98), Operation Framework revealed a pattern of sophisticated trafficking operations that exploited legal jurisdictional boundaries and enjoyed protection from powerful individuals.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The investigation also connected to broader inquiries into child abuse in the UK, including investigations into the Elm Guest House and other VIP pedophile rings.[^1]
|
The investigation also connected to broader inquiries into child abuse in the UK, including investigations into the Elm Guest House and other VIP pedophile rings.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -62,10 +62,15 @@ The investigation also connected to broader inquiries into child abuse in the UK
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Despite the extensive evidence gathered, Operation Framework faced significant limitations in achieving successful prosecutions. The primary challenge was the difficulty of obtaining physical evidence of the alleged snuff films. While informant testimony was compelling, the absence of physical evidence made securing convictions difficult. Additionally, the international nature of the operation created jurisdictional challenges that complicated prosecution efforts.[^2]
|
Despite the extensive evidence gathered, Operation Framework faced significant limitations in achieving successful prosecutions. The primary challenge was the difficulty of obtaining physical evidence of the alleged snuff films. While informant testimony was compelling, the absence of physical evidence made securing convictions difficult. Additionally, the international nature of the operation created jurisdictional challenges that complicated prosecution efforts.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Davies reported that Operation Framework "ended in frustration": Spinks "divulged no more about the video and failed to produce a copy of it," and without more evidence the detectives could not justify the expense of keeping the undercover officer or of sending officers to Amsterdam, where they lacked police powers. The detectives arrested Spinks in [[Hastings]] and charged him with abducting two homeless boys from the streets of [[London]] and selling one of them into a Spuistraat brothel. In February 1995 he was jailed at [[Lewes Crown Court]] for seven years, reduced on appeal to five.[^4]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Footnotes
|
### Footnotes
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
[^1]: 'When sex abuse can lead to murder', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 27 2000; 'A terraced street in suburbia that shrouded a guilty secret', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 25 2000
|
[^1]: 'When sex abuse can lead to murder', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 27 2000; 'A terraced street in suburbia that shrouded a guilty secret', Nick Davies, The Guardian, November 25 2000
|
||||||
[^2]: 'Britons killed boys in Dutch porn movies', The Guardian, April 5 1997; Scotland Yard investigative methods reports, 1992-1993
|
[^2]: 'Britons killed boys in Dutch porn movies', The Guardian, April 5 1997; Scotland Yard investigative methods reports, 1992-1993
|
||||||
[^3]: 'Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart', The Guardian, November 27 2000; 'Nur die kleinen Fische'(Only the small fish), Der Spiegel, August 2 1998
|
[^3]: Nick Davies, "A paedophile ring in Amsterdam," The Guardian, April 5, 1997, https://www.nickdavies.net/1997/04/05/a-paedophile-ring-in-amsterdam/
|
||||||
[^4]: Undercover officer testimony, Operation Framework, 1993; 'Britons killed boys in Dutch porn movies', The Guardian, April 5 1997
|
[^4]: Nick Davies, "Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart," The Guardian, November 27, 2000, https://www.nickdavies.net/2000/11/27/paedophilia-is-easy-2-how-a-paedophile-murder-inquiry-fell-apart/
|
||||||
[^5]: Summary of interlinked Netherlands investigations, 1992-1998; Dutch police investigation files and media reports
|
[^5]: 'Paedophilia is easy 2: how a paedophile murder inquiry fell apart', The Guardian, November 27 2000; 'Nur die kleinen Fische'(Only the small fish), Der Spiegel, August 2 1998
|
||||||
|
[^6]: 'Britons killed boys in Dutch porn movies', The Guardian, April 5 1997
|
||||||
|
[^7]: "Nur die kleinen Fische," Der Spiegel 32/1998, August 2, 1998, https://www.spiegel.de/politik/nur-die-kleinen-fische-a-fc226181-0002-0001-0000-000007956187
|
||||||
|
[^8]: Summary of interlinked Netherlands investigations, 1992-1998; Dutch police investigation files and media reports
|
||||||
|
|
|
||||||
|
|
@ -1,4 +1,8 @@
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
aliases:
|
||||||
|
- X-Dossiers
|
||||||
|
- X Dossier
|
||||||
|
- Dossiers connexes
|
||||||
tags:
|
tags:
|
||||||
- Event
|
- Event
|
||||||
- Investigation
|
- Investigation
|
||||||
|
|
@ -6,29 +10,149 @@ tags:
|
||||||
- 1990s
|
- 1990s
|
||||||
- DutrouxAffair
|
- DutrouxAffair
|
||||||
- XWitnesses
|
- XWitnesses
|
||||||
|
- ParliamentaryInquiry
|
||||||
category: "Crime Investigation"
|
category: "Crime Investigation"
|
||||||
summary: "Files opened in 1996 on the testimony of the anonymous X witnesses in the Dutroux inquiry, whose investigators were removed in 1997 and whose related files were closed in April 1998."
|
summary: "Files opened in 1996 on the testimony of the anonymous X witnesses in the Dutroux inquiry, whose investigators were removed in 1997 and whose related files were closed in April 1998."
|
||||||
date: 1996
|
date: 1996
|
||||||
end: 1998-04-23
|
end: 1998-04-23
|
||||||
location: "Belgium"
|
location: "Belgium"
|
||||||
|
relations:
|
||||||
|
- type: subject_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Regina Louf]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
start: 1996-09
|
||||||
|
end: 1998-04-23
|
||||||
|
role: "witness X1, whose statements opened the related files"
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: investigated
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Jean-Michel Nihoul]]"
|
||||||
|
start: 1996-09
|
||||||
|
end: 1998-04-23
|
||||||
|
role: "subject of allegations in the related files"
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: subject_of
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Christine Van Hees]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
start: 1996-09
|
||||||
|
end: 1998-04-23
|
||||||
|
role: "1984 murder file reopened on the statements of X1"
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
|
- type: participant_in
|
||||||
|
with: "[[Patrick De Baets]]"
|
||||||
|
reverse: true
|
||||||
|
start: 1996-08
|
||||||
|
end: 1997-08
|
||||||
|
role: "gendarme of the Brussels cell that took the first X1 interviews"
|
||||||
|
fn: 1
|
||||||
created: 2026-04-28
|
created: 2026-04-28
|
||||||
updated: 2026-09-22
|
updated: 2026-10-09
|
||||||
---
|
---
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The X-Dossier is the name given to the "related files" (dossiers connexes) opened in Belgium in 1996 and 1997 on the statements of anonymous witnesses, designated X1, X2 and so on, who came forward after the arrest of [[Marc Dutroux]] in August 1996. They began with a call to the free telephone line that the Neufchâteau investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] set up for information on child abuse: a Dutch-speaking woman, Tania, said a friend knew of grave abuse of children, and the gendarme Patrick De Baets, who happened to be in Connerotte's office, took the call. The friend was [[Regina Louf]], X1. A special cell of the Brussels BSR under De Baets videotaped her interviews. At the same time a separate file was opened at Neufchâteau on [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]], and a coordination cell, Obelix, was created at the Brussels judicial police under Eddy Suys, who told the parliamentary commission of inquiry in early 1997 that he was being obstructed and resigned.[^1]
|
The X-Dossier is the name given to the "related files" (dossiers connexes) opened in [[Belgium]] in 1996 and 1997 on the statements of anonymous witnesses, designated X1, X2 and so on, who came forward after the arrest of [[Marc Dutroux]] in August 1996. The accounts they gave of elite abuse, murder and filmed parties were assessed by the gendarmerie, the investigating judges, a parliamentary commission and the prosecutors-general.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### The Testimony
|
According to a Senate proposal tabled by [[Frans Lozie]] on October 9, 2000, the files began with a call to a telephone line that the [[Neufchâteau]] investigating judge [[Jean-Marc Connerotte]] had opened for people with information on child abuse. A Dutch-speaking woman, identified as Tania, said that her friend knew of grave abuse of children. The gendarme [[Patrick De Baets]] was in Connerotte's office to report on his financial inquiry into Dutroux's assets, and Connerotte handed him the telephone because of the language. The friend was [[Regina Louf]], X1, who at first did not want to testify before Connerotte and contacted De Baets after some days. A special cell of the [[Brussels]] criminal investigation brigade (BSR) under De Baets videotaped the interviews, each summarized in French for Neufchâteau, with senior gendarmerie officers and magistrates watching from behind glass.[^1] The parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998 states the mechanics differently. It records that a friend of the Dutch-speaking anonymous witness telephoned Connerotte, who put her in contact with a Dutch-speaking investigator of the third section (3e SRC) of the Brussels BSR and then issued a written instruction (apostille) to that investigator to question the witness.[^2] According to the Senate proposal, a separate file was opened at Neufchâteau on [[Jean-Michel Nihoul]] at the same time, and a coordination cell, Obelix, was created at the Brussels judicial police under [[Eddy Suys]], who told the parliamentary commission of inquiry in early 1997 that he was being obstructed in his inquiry and resigned as head of the cell.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
The statements of the X witnesses led to the reopening of the unsolved murders of [[Christine Van Hees]], [[Carine Dellaert]], [[Veronique Dubrulle]], [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and Hanim Ayse Mazibas.[^1] X1 described childhood prostitution at a villa in [[Knokke-Heist]] run by her grandmother, [[Cecile Beernaert]], and parties at which she said children were abused and killed, naming among others [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], members of the Lippens family, [[Melchior Wathelet]], [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], the lawyer [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Nihoul. The writer S. Dovey wrote that X2 had been the mistress of a magistrate and named Nihoul, Dumont and de Bonvoisin, that X3 alleged royal involvement, and that X4 identified friends of X1 in pornographic films. X1 led investigators to a factory site at Zaventem connected with [[ASCO Industries NV]], where no physical evidence of films was found.[^2] The testimonies were published in 1999 by the journalists Annemie Bulté, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck as *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux*.[^2]
|
### Origins in the Inquiry
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Members of the Brussels 3e SRC volunteered on August 19, 1996, in response to a call from the Neufchâteau magistrates to police forces nationwide, and were assigned mainly to the financial investigation under file 86/96. The commission says that they came to the sex-crime files that became the related files somewhat by chance. On the basis of the anonymous witness's statements, files 109/96, 110/96, 111/96, 136/96 and 139/96 were opened and their investigations entrusted to the 3e SRC investigators. The antenna at Neufchâteau was created and installed in separate premises shortly after November 25, 1996. The commission gives its strength as 32 members in five teams, under Commander [[Jean-Luc Duterme]] as officer in charge, with a coordinator of the files and a deputy to the antenna head.[^2]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The commission's own telephone line, a free 0800 number for people who had worked on or knew of the investigation into the disappearances of minors, became operational on November 6, 1996. The commission decided to disregard anonymous communications received through it.[^3]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The commission's chapter on the Neufchâteau antenna opens with the information that an anonymous witness had associated [[Annie Bouty]] (given in the report as A. Bouty) and Nihoul with an unsolved murder in the Brussels region. The commission then charged its councillor-investigator [[Etienne Marique]] with inquiring whether protection mechanisms had operated in that case for Nihoul and Dutroux. After Marique's contact with several antenna investigators, the commission learned that the Brussels investigating judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]], who had led the inquiry into that murder in the 1980s, was displeased with the contact, and it records its surprise at the judge's violent reaction.[^4] The Senate proposal places the earlier inquiry under Van Espen in the file on [[Christine Van Hees]].[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Witnesses
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The writer S. Dovey wrote that X1 described childhood prostitution at a villa in [[Knokke-Heist]] run by her grandmother, [[Cecile Beernaert]], and parties at which she said children were abused and killed, naming among others [[Paul Vanden Boeynants]], members of the Lippens family, [[Melchior Wathelet]], [[Baron Benoit de Bonvoisin]], the lawyer [[Jean-Paul Dumont]] and Nihoul. Dovey wrote that X2 named Nihoul, Dumont and de Bonvoisin, that X3 alleged royal involvement, and that X4 identified friends of X1 in pornographic films. The same account says that X1 led investigators to a factory site connected with [[ASCO Industries NV]] at [[Zaventem]], where no physical evidence of films was found.[^5] The testimonies were published in 1999 by the journalists Annemie Bulté, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck as *[[De X-dossiers]]: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux*.[^6]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
[[La Libre Belgique]] summarized in 2004 that X1 reported having been enrolled from the age of two until 1995 in a prostitution network in which torture and murder were the rule, and that her account was recorded over more than 1,500 pages.[^7]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Louf gave up her anonymity in January 1998, in part to protest the stalling of the inquiry since the removal of De Baets and [[Aimé Bille]], amid a press campaign against her that the Senate proposal attributes in part to leaks from police and judicial circles. The [[Liege]] prosecutor-general opened a series of investigations into the leaks. The proposal adds that the telephone of the Neufchâteau prosecutor [[Michel Bourlet]] was at one point placed under surveillance and that at least one judicial police officer was charged.[^1] She later published her account as *Zwijgen is voor daders. De getuigenis van X1*.[^8]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The statements of the X witnesses led to the reopening of the unsolved murders of Christine Van Hees, [[Carine Dellaert]], [[Veronique Dubrulle]], [[Katrien de Cuyper]] and Hanim Ayse Mazibas. The Senate proposal states that these leads were in the meantime abandoned by the prosecutors-general concerned, without the murders being solved.[^1] A motion tabled in the [[Chamber of Representatives]] on October 21, 1998 names the Van Hees and Mazibas files among the investigations into the statements of the so-called X witnesses.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
A programme on [[Zembla]] broadcast on March 11, 2004 described the reopening of the Van Hees and Dellaert inquiries on the basis of X1's statements. Its programme description states that X1 had "daderkennis" (knowledge of the perpetrators) in both cases, that the Belgian gendarmerie had been able to confirm much of what she said, and that the investigators of the time described meeting growing internal obstruction from above. The same description states that most media depicted her as a disturbed fantasist, as did the Belgian judiciary, which closed the X file after a few months.[^10]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Neufchâteau Antenne and the Rereading
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The antenna's internal dispute is recorded in detail in the parliamentary commission's complementary report of February 16, 1998. The commission records a dispute over whether the antenna head had to be informed of initiatives taken towards magistrates, which it calls a "pomme de discorde", and it notes that Bourlet and Connerotte had preferred direct contact between magistrates and investigators, while [[Jacques Langlois]], the Neufchâteau judge, preferred to go through the antenna head. By 1997 the commission records that the team had split along two lines, one between members who accepted the antenna's rigid organization and those who did not, and one between members who believed the anonymous witness's statements and those who were sceptical of them. The commission observed that these lines did not coincide.[^11]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On June 3, 1997 Duterme told the commander of the Brussels BSR that he could no longer work with the team that had conducted the interviews of an anonymous witness. His note accused one investigator of manipulation and of lacking basic objectivity, and complained of a direct contact between that investigator and Bourlet, through which the investigator informed the prosecutor unilaterally. The note nonetheless said that a disciplinary inquiry would be inopportune at that stage, since the investigator's position in the inquiry was important.[^11] The same note, as the commission quotes it, reports that the five victims heard by the antenna had yielded little that could objectify their statements, despite all the investigative measures taken. Duterme also records that he had another team reread the anonymous witness's statements relating to the Brussels file.[^12] The Senate proposal describes the same period from the other side: from April 1997 the tension between Duterme and De Baets rose, Duterme asked colleagues of De Baets to reread the interviews and report on the credibility of the witness's statements, with attention to possible manipulation of the interviews by De Baets's team, and the first report, which was very negative for De Baets, itself totally lacked credibility according to the proposal, so that a second reading was ordered.[^1]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The commission records that the Brussels judge was sharply irritated that members of the team named in Duterme's note had spoken with the commission's councillor. At a coordination meeting on May 22, 1997 he asked that the college of prosecutors-general be seized of the attitude magistrates and investigators should adopt when invited by the commission. On June 16, 1997 the college decided that those invited should attend, ask for closed doors, invoke the existence of a coordinated inquiry in several judicial districts, and refer further questions to the directing magistrate.[^12]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On June 22, 1997 Van Espen withdrew his confidence from the antenna's team and asked the Brussels district command that it be restructured to avoid any risk of pollution of the investigation. He ordered the suspension of all investigative acts requested by his office or announced on his own initiative and wrote that, provisionally, he would continue the investigation without further assistance from their services. The commission notes that the team had carried out about 250 of his instructions without any comment from him on their quality.[^13] On July 7, 1997 Van Espen replied to the Brussels district commander, who had asked his opinion on Duterme's report of June 3 and the person cited in it, that there was indeed convergence, but that he could not individualize the grievances without an inquiry, and that he was passing them to the Brussels prosecutor. The prosecutor sent them to the prosecutor-general, who, "vu la gravité des faits", seized the Minister of Justice, who asked [[Anne Thily]], the prosecutor-general of Liège, to inquire. She put the question to the College of prosecutors-general, which on September 15, 1997 decided to put the affair to an investigating judge.[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On July 10, 1997 a meeting was held at the Brussels BSR headquarters between the Brussels judge, the Neufchâteau magistrates, the Neufchâteau investigation heads and the antenna's management. The investigators suspected of manipulation were not invited.[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On July 11, 1997 the Neufchâteau investigating judge decided on a general rereading of all the related files except file 110/96, to be carried out by investigators other than those who had conducted the interviews. His service note for files 109, 110, 111 and 139/96 said that the investigation had to be reoriented. For file 109 it prescribed a reread on an adversarial basis, with further interviews where necessary, and a list of steps aimed at making the X witnesses credible (*crédibiliser les X*). For files 111 and 139 it called for a reread, a list of steps, and possible connections with files 86 and 87/96.[^13] On July 14 Duterme told the antenna that the [[Ghent]] prosecutor no longer wished to use its investigators, that the Brussels judge had suspended his requests, and that the team was placed at rest pending the rereading.[^13]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The commission's figures show the effect. From October 24, 1996 to June 24, 1997 the file on the unsolved murder had been fed with some 20 reports a week. From June 24, 1997 the average fell to one report a week.[^14] On August 20 Duterme told the Neufchâteau judge that he intended to return the team to the 3e SRC, and on August 26 the Brussels BSR commander confirmed the team's temporary withdrawal pending an inquiry into the dysfunctions alleged against it. On September 2, 1997 the Neufchâteau judge opposed a definitive removal, writing that such a measure could not be taken until the persons concerned had been able to explain the grievances against them. The same day the Brussels district commander wrote to the Brussels judge that, besides the return of certain investigators to the BSR, a division of tasks among investigators had been made for instruction 64/85.[^14]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The commission heard Patrick De Baets, Bille, Bourlet and others on October 14, 1997, and Duterme, Langlois, Van Espen and others on October 15, 1997. The hearings were held largely behind closed doors.[^15]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
### Removal of the Investigators
|
### Removal of the Investigators
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
Connerotte was taken off the Dutroux case in October 1996 by the so-called "spaghetti ruling" and was replaced by Judge Jacques Langlois; the removal was followed by the [[White Marches|White March]] in Brussels.[^1][^3] The gendarme Aimé Bille, assigned to the Van Hees file, found that the original investigation under Judge [[Jean-Claude Van Espen]] had "multiple gaps." From April 1997 Duterme, who now directed the cell, had De Baets's colleagues reread the interviews for possible manipulation, and in the summer of 1997 Langlois ordered a complete rereading of all the related files and removed De Baets and Bille. The parliamentary commission's report of February 16, 1998, said it had first to be established whether the difficulties of the De Baets team and the Van Hees inquiry were linked to protection. A week later the rereading was closed. On April 23, 1998, the prosecutors-general of Antwerp, Ghent and Brussels found that "no proof could be found that Regina Louf could make any contribution whatsoever to these investigations" and closed the related files, except the main file before Langlois. A criminal inquiry into De Baets and Bille was dropped and a gendarmerie disciplinary inquiry acquitted them; they filed more than eighty complaints alleging falsified reports, but were kept from judicial police work. In October 2000 Senator Frans Lozie proposed a parliamentary inquiry into their removal.[^1]
|
Connerotte was removed from the Dutroux case on October 14, 1996 by the [[Court of Cassation]], in the ruling known as the Connerotte or "spaghetti" ruling.[^16] The petition came from the person under investigation in files 86/96 and 87/96, referred to in the ruling as the requérant. It relied on press articles reporting that on September 21, 1996 the Bertrix branch of the non-profit association Marc et Corinne had held a dinner for about 400 people, with proceeds to go notably to the legal costs of one of the victims of the case, that Connerotte had attended as a guest of the association together with the prosecutor, and that a gift had been handed to him. The Court found those facts established and relevant, noted that the association had filed a civil-party claim before Connerotte against the petitioner, removed him at once from files 86/96 and 87/96, and ordered them sent to another investigating judge of the Neufchâteau court of first instance.[^17] Langlois replaced him.[^1] Spontaneous protests followed, and on October 20, 1996 between 200,000 and 300,000 people took part in a "marche blanche" in Brussels called by the families of missing children or victims of Dutroux, the largest gathering in the capital since the Second World War, according to the Universalis chronicle of the week; the [[White Marches|White March]] is that event.[^18]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
At the Arlon trial in 2004, which ended with Nihoul's acquittal on the charges concerning the children, the investigating judge Langlois presented a case without a "grand complot."[^3]
|
The Senate proposal states that Bille, assigned to the Van Hees file, found that the original investigation under Van Espen presented multiple gaps, and that Bille's problems began the day the information reached Marique. It states that the first incident marking a possible interference with the De Baets antenna was a request by the Brussels investigating judge Gruwez for two apparently harmless house searches, addressed with insistence to the gendarmes of the antenna although the file was then with the Brussels judicial police; this is the origin of his file 218/96. According to the proposal, in the summer of 1997 Langlois ordered a complete rereading of all the related files and temporarily removed a number of gendarmes from the Brussels BSR investigation cell, and De Baets and Bille have remained off the inquiry since. The commission's own account of July to September 1997 describes the team being placed at rest and then temporarily withdrawn from the antenna on the initiative of the antenna and BSR commands, with Langlois opposing a definitive removal on September 2, 1997.[^14]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The proposal states that the inquiry into De Baets and Bille conducted by the investigating judge [[Pignolet]] was closed without further action and that a preliminary gendarmerie disciplinary inquiry ended in the complete acquittal of the investigators concerned, and that the gendarmerie hierarchy stated very explicitly that both had carried out their duties in an exemplary manner. It states that once they obtained access to the rereading files they found that procès-verbaux had been falsified, and that they have filed more than 80 complaints for calumny, defamation and forgery against the colleagues and magistrates who compiled that file. It adds that colleagues who had done the rereading organized a petition to prevent the two from returning to their former duties, that it succeeded, and that the two are kept from all judicial police missions.[^1] The Zembla description of the second part, broadcast March 18, 2004, states that the gendarmerie leadership judged after some months that the inquiry was being conducted incorrectly, that the investigators were even suspected of falsifying a procès-verbal and that a judicial procedure was started, and that three years later an internal gendarmerie commission reported that they had done their work with integrity and professionally. It states that forgery was never proven and that the inquiry nevertheless remained closed. It also states that the murdered girl Katrien de Cuyper, who disappeared in Antwerp in 1991, resembles a photograph found on a CD-ROM in the [[Zandvoort]] child pornography case.[^19]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
Five interpellations in the Chamber of Representatives in 1998 took up the removals. The Chamber record of October 21, 1998 lists interpellations by [[Marc Verwilghen]], Lozie, [[Gerolf Annemans]], [[Charles Janssens]] and [[Vincent Decroly]]. Their subjects were, respectively, the high command of the gendarmerie having misled the judiciary in the related files, the accusations against that command over the information given to the judiciary, the statements of gendarme De Baets on the manipulation of justice, the public statements of numerous gendarmes who said their superiors were pressuring them, and the astonishing circumstances of the removal of De Baets and Bille from the Neufchâteau antenna together with the aims of the secondary victimization of persons declaring themselves victims of pedophile networks and the role that several senior gendarmerie officers and magistrates may have played.[^9] Among the motions tabled that day was a recommendation, signed by Annemans, that the minister press the college of prosecutors-general for an independent rereading of the X witnesses' files (among them Van Hees and Mazibas), separate from the Neufchâteau investigating judge and from Duterme, with a report to the parliamentary follow-up commission within three months. A pure and simple motion, signed by C. Eerdekens, R. Landuyt and J. Vandeurzen, proposed moving to the order of the day. The document does not show the vote.[^9]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
On May 13, 1998 a Lozie interpellation on possible manipulation of the related files of the Neufchâteau cell produced a recommendation asking the government to inform the president of the former Dutroux commission, without delay, of the conclusions the investigators drew from the rereading of the X1 interviews; a pure and simple motion was tabled one minute later.[^20] On September 28, 1998 a further Lozie interpellation, on the systematic intimidation of the Neufchâteau prosecutor by the Liège prosecutor-general's office, produced a recommendation that the government do everything to let the Neufchâteau prosecutor continue his work in full freedom and, if necessary, relieve the Liège prosecutor-general of her functions if her conduct continued to obstruct the serene functioning of justice in her district.[^21] On November 27, 2002 the justice committee tabled motions on an interpellation by Decroly concerning statements by Thily to BBC journalists about Louf. Decroly's recommendation described the statements as mendacious and disqualifying, stated that Louf was proven to have suffered repeated and serious sexual abuse, and asked that a disciplinary file be opened against Thily over her statements to the BBC of January 16, 2002; a pure and simple motion signed by Jacqueline Herzet and Yolande Avontroodt proposed moving to the order of the day.[^22]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The Senate proposal of October 9, 2000 asked for a fifteen-member parliamentary inquiry commission into the removal of the two investigators, reporting eight months after its installation. The Senate took it into consideration on November 16, 2000 and sent it to its justice committee, and it lapsed on April 10, 2003 with the dissolution of the Chambers.[^23]
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
### The Parliamentary Record
|
||||||
|
|
||||||
|
The parliamentary commission's report of April 14, 1997 recorded its findings and recommendations on the Dutroux inquiry.[^24] The plenary of the Chamber approved the findings on April 18, 1997 and approved the commission's request to extend its mandate to September 30, 1997 for an inquiry into *protections éventuelles*, possible protections.[^25]
|
||||||
|
|
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|
The complementary report of February 16, 1998, prepared by the rapporteurs [[Renaat Landuyt]] and Nathalie de T'Serclaes, devotes its chapter V to the antenna's internal problems. It concludes that the Neufchâteau judge had endorsed the reread decisions but had set no deadlines for them. It also records that the rereading had not been finished at the date of drafting, after it had been announced as nearly complete several times, for October, mid-December and the end of February.[^26] The Senate proposal states that the commission deposited its report on February 16, 1998, that the rereading was closed a week later, and that the file went to Langlois and the prosecutor-general of Brussels, who had still not drawn their conclusions on the position of De Baets and Bille.[^1] The Chamber approved the complementary report's findings on February 19, 1998.[^27]
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On the question of protection, the commission concluded that it was not in a position to say whether the antenna's problems were linked to protection mechanisms. Only the judicial inquiry, or an inquiry into the inquiry, such as a chamber of accusations under article 136bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure or a parliamentary commission, would give certainty on the point. The commission held that the point had to be cleared up. It also found that the Brussels judge had given particular, in fact disproportionate, attention to the contacts between Marique and certain investigators.[^26]
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### Closure
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La Libre Belgique reported in 2004 that at an exceptional press conference on January 30, 1998 magistrates charged with verifying the witnesses' statements in the districts of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Neufchâteau stated that no element of proof supported their statements, which in addition contained many contradictions.[^7] On April 23, 1998, the Senate proposal states, the prosecutors-general of [[Antwerp]], Ghent and Brussels decided at about 5 p.m., the afternoon Dutroux briefly escaped, that no proof had been found that Regina Louf could make any contribution to the investigations, and the related files were closed, except the main file before Langlois.[^1]
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La Libre Belgique reported in 2004 that on March 17, 2000 it became known that semen recovered from the body of Van Hees had been analyzed and corresponded genetically neither to Nihoul nor to any known suspect in the Dutroux affair, which the paper described as a factual element that destroyed the credit of X1. The same article reports that the chambre du conseil at Neufchâteau removed the Louf file, which it called "le plus emblématique des témoins 'X'", from the prosecutor's office on October 30, 2003.[^7] [[Michel Clippe]], a former adjudant of the Brussels BSR who carried out checks after Louf's statements, told La Dernière Heure in 2020 that he was able to verify a great deal of the information she gave and that it proved accurate, and that over six months of inquiry her account was confirmed by material evidence and by concordances with other X witnesses who, after verification, did not know her.[^28]
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### The Arlon Trial
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At the [[Arlon]] trial in 2004 the jury split on whether Nihoul had taken part in the kidnappings, and the court then sent the jury back to consider a lesser charge of complicity in the kidnappings, on which it acquitted him. The jury convicted him of membership of a gang that smuggled drugs and people into Belgium.[^29] On June 22, 2004 the court sentenced him to five years.[^30] La Libre Belgique reported in 2019 that seven of the twelve jurors had found him guilty of the abductions, that the professional judges acquitted him of all facts linked to the abductions of children, and that he received five years for drug trafficking and criminal association.[^31] According to the Zembla programme description, Dutroux's lawyer had asked that X1 be heard at the trial.[^10] Dovey wrote that the X witnesses were not heard at the 2004 trial.[^5] La Libre Belgique reported on June 1, 2004 that the prosecutor Bourlet had told the court that Nihoul was certainly guilty, that counsel for the families of a surviving victim and of An Marchal argued that the inquiry of Langlois had been badly done, and that counsel for the family of [[Eefje Lambrecks]] said that "la responsabilité de ceux qui ont jeté la suspicion sur le juge Langlois et ses enquêteurs est écrasante et accablante".[^32]
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### Footnotes
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### Footnotes
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[^1]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements.
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[^1]: Sénat de Belgique. Proposition visant à instituer une commission d'enquête parlementaire chargée d'enquêter sur l'éloignement de deux enquêteurs de la cellule d'enquête bruxelloise « Neufchâteau », déposée par M. Frans Lozie, Doc. 2-563/1, October 9, 2000, développements; translated from the French. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/publications/viewPub.html&COLL=S&LEG=2&NR=563&VOLGNR=1&LANG=fr
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[^2]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. Sole source for the passages so cited; the witness accounts derive from Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck, *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux* (Houtekiet, 1999).
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[^2]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport complémentaire, Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 152; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^3]: "Arlon, 22 juin 2004, l'épilogue." *La Libre Belgique,* June 22, 2005.
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[^3]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. *Enquête parlementaire sur la manière dont l'enquête, dans ses volets policiers et judiciaires, a été menée dans l'affaire Dutroux-Nihoul et consorts,* rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 14, 1997, p. 25, § 7 "Numéro vert"; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
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[^4]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 150-151; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^5]: Dovey, S. *Eye of the Chickenhawk.* Thehotstar, 2023. The witness accounts in this section are the writer's, and are published in the 1999 book footnoted below.
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[^6]: Bulté, Annemie, Douglas De Coninck and Marie-Jeanne Van Heeswyck. *De X-dossiers: wat België niet mocht weten over de zaak-Dutroux.* Antwerp: Houtekiet, 1999, 543 pp., ISBN 90-5240-536-0 (catalogue record from the Library of Congress, LCCN 2002406745, as listed in Open Library). https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9789052405360
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[^7]: Planchar, Roland. "Des 'X' sans crédit." *La Libre Belgique,* February 16, 2004. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/02/16/des-x-sans-credit-LKLTKQICABBWXKFUTUJNXL6NRY/
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[^8]: Louf, Regina. *Zwijgen is voor daders. De getuigenis van X1.* Houtekiet / Linkeroever Uitgevers, 1998, 310 pp., ISBN 90-5240-487-9. https://openlibrary.org/isbn/9052404879
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[^9]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of October 21, 1998 on the interpellations of Marc Verwilghen, Frans Lozie, Gerolf Annemans, Charles Janssens and Vincent Decroly, Doc. 25/370-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025370.pdf
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[^10]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel I," broadcast March 11, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-i
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[^11]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 153-154; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^12]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, p. 155; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^13]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 156-157; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^14]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 157-158; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^15]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, section on hearings, p. 34; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^16]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Projet de loi modifiant le Code judiciaire et le Code d'instruction criminelle en ce qui concerne la procédure en dessaisissement, rapport de la commission de la Justice, Doc. 866/7-96/97, October 8, 1997, p. 2; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0866/49K0866007.pdf
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[^17]: Cour de cassation de Belgique. Arrêt du 14 octobre 1996, P.96.1267.F (2e chambre), ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2; translated from the French. https://juportal.be/content/ECLI:BE:CASS:1996:ARR.19961014.2
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[^18]: "14-20 octobre 1996." *Encyclopaedia Universalis,* chronicle entry "Belgique. Vives réactions au dessaisissement du juge chargé de l'enquête sur le réseau de pédophilie"; translated from the French. https://www.universalis.fr/evenement/14-20-octobre-1996-vives-reactions-au-dessaisissement-du-juge-charge-de-l-enquete-sur-le-reseau-de-pedophilie/
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[^19]: BNNVARA Zembla. "De X-dossiers, deel II," broadcast March 18, 2004; programme description in Dutch, translated. https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/de-x-dossiers-deel-ii
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[^20]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of May 13, 1998 on the interpellation of Frans Lozie concerning possible manipulation of the related files of the Neufchâteau cell, Doc. 25/339-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025339.pdf
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[^21]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of September 28, 1998 on the interpellation of Frans Lozie concerning the Liège prosecutor-general and the Neufchâteau prosecutor, Doc. 25/365-1995; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0025/49K0025365.pdf
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[^22]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motions of November 27, 2002 on the interpellation of Vincent Decroly concerning statements of the Liège prosecutor-general on files opened in the Dutroux-Nihoul affair, DOC 50 0025/415; translated from the French and Dutch. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/Pdf/50/0025/50K0025415.pdf
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[^23]: Sénat de Belgique. Fiche du dossier S. 2-563 (Proposition Lozie): filed October 9, 2000; taken into consideration November 16, 2000; sent to the Justice committee November 16, 2000; lapsed April 10, 2003. https://www.senate.be/www/?MIval=/dossier&LEG=2&NR=563&LANG=fr
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[^24]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Rapport, Doc. 713/6-96/97, April 14, 1997. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713006.pdf
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[^25]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motion adopted in plenary, Doc. 713/7-96/97, April 18, 1997, p. 2; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713007.pdf
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[^26]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Doc. 713/8-96/97, February 16, 1998, chapter V, pp. 159-160; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713008.pdf
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[^27]: Chambre des Représentants de Belgique. Motion adopted in plenary, Doc. 713/9-96/97, February 19, 1998, p. 2; translated from the French. https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/49/0713/49K0713009.pdf
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[^28]: "Régina Louf, témoin X1 dans l'affaire Dutroux, brise le silence," interview with Régina Louf and statement of Michel Clippe. *La Dernière Heure,* online, 2020; translated from the French. https://www.dhnet.be/actu/faits/regina-louf-temoin-x1-dans-l-affaire-dutroux-brise-le-silence-marc-dutroux-libere-je-m-y-prepare-5e652e1e9978e2051e15c16c
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[^29]: Associated Press. "Notorious child rapist-murderer convicted." NBC News, June 17, 2004. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/5233011
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[^30]: "'Most hated' Belgian in jail for life." Al Jazeera, June 22, 2004. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2004/6/22/most-hated-belgian-in-jail-for-life
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[^31]: "Michel Nihoul est décédé." *La Libre Belgique,* October 23, 2019; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/societe/michel-nihoul-est-decede-5db04ec39978e218e36b29be
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[^32]: "Au plus vif de la polémique." *La Libre Belgique,* June 1, 2004; translated from the French. https://www.lalibre.be/belgique/2004/06/01/au-plus-vif-de-la-polemique-FBRY7S2PXJCR7JBHRC5T5HWYYU/
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