A pediatrician at a prestigious children's hospital in Argentina has been detained by authorities in Buenos Aires after being accused of producing and distributing child pornography.

They said that the doctor, identified in Argentine media as Ricardo Russo, 55, drew the attention of law enforcement agencies from various countries, including U.S. Homeland Security, who were conducting an investigation into a child pornography ring.

Investigators at Homeland Security and Brazilian police contacted Argentine officials to inform them that images and videos of children seemed to be coming from their country.

The Security Ministry said in a statement that police detained the doctor Tuesday at the Juan P. Garrahan children's hospital in Buenos Aires.

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The doctor is accused of producing and distributing child pornography, including images of 6-month-old babies taken at the hospital.

Authorities said he works as head of the Garrahan hospital's immunology and rheumatology department. He could not be reached for comment despite calls to the hospital, the security ministry and other officials.

His LinkedIn page lists past places of employment as the University of Texas Southwestern/Dallas Children´s Hospital and at the University of Toronto/Hospital for Sick Kids from 1990 to 1992.

The Argentine hospital said he had been removed from his post.

A specialized prosecutor's unit in charge of the investigation said they found "photos and videos of minors between six months and 14 years of age engaged in explicit sexual activities" on two computers owned by the doctor.

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Authorities said they seized computers and other equipment when they raided dozens of homes, including the doctor's. So far, he is the only one who has been detained although officials said they expected to detain others in the case.

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"We got a report and carried out raids where we seized computers and flash drives," said the Buenos Aires city justice secretary, Marcelo D'Alessandro. "And we found convincing evidence that the children were being abused."

"We have no doubt about his guilt," D'Alessandro asserted, according to La Nacion. "At the city police department we feel satisfaction over having this monster off the street."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - One of the chief pediatricians at a respected children’s hospital has been detained for allegedly producing and distributing child pornography, Argentine authorities said Wednesday.

The Security Ministry said in a statement that police detained the 55-year-old doctor Tuesday at the Juan P. Garrahan children’s hospital in Buenos Aires. Officials said he was detained with help from the FBI and authorities in Brazil as part of a joint operation to break up a child pornography ring.

The doctor is accused of producing and distributing child pornography, including images of 6-month-old babies taken at the hospital.

The man’s name was not disclosed, but authorities said he works as head of the Garrahan hospital’s immunology and rheumatology department. He could not be reached for comment despite calls to the hospital, the security ministry and other officials.

The hospital said the doctor had been removed from his post. “The hospital community is mobilized and dismayed waiting for information to clear up what happened,” a statement said. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — One of the chief pediatricians at a respected children's hospital has been detained for allegedly producing and distributing child pornography, Argentine authorities said Wednesday.

The Security Ministry said in a statement that police detained the 55-year-old doctor Tuesday at the Juan P. Garrahan children's hospital in Buenos Aires. Officials said he was detained with help from the FBI and authorities in Brazil as part of a joint operation to break up a child pornography ring.

The doctor is accused of producing and distributing child pornography, including images of 6-month-old babies taken at the hospital.

The man's name was not disclosed, but authorities said he works as head of the Garrahan hospital's immunology and rheumatology department. He could not be reached for comment despite calls to the hospital, the security ministry and other officials.

The hospital said the doctor had been removed from his post. "The hospital community is mobilized and dismayed waiting for information to clear up what happened," a statement said.

A specialized prosecutor's unit in charge of the investigation said they found "photos and videos of minors between six months and 14 years of age engaged in explicit sexual activities" on two computers owned by the doctor.

Authorities said they seized computers and other equipment when they raided dozens of homes, including the doctor's. So far, he is the only one who has been detained although officials said they expected to detain others in the case.

"We got a report and carried out raids where we seized computers and flash drives," said the Buenos Aires city justice secretary, Marcelo D'Alessandro. "And we found convincing evidence that the children were being abused." </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Authorities in Argentina say they have detained one of the chief pediatricians at a respected children's hospital for allegedly producing and distributing child pornography.

The Security Ministry said in a statement Wednesday that police detained the 55-year-old doctor Tuesday at the Garrahan children's hospital in Buenos Aires.

The man's name has not been disclosed. He is accused of producing and distributing child pornography, including images of 6-month-old babies taken at the hospital.

Officials say the doctor was detained with help from the FBI and authorities in Brazil as part of a joint operation to break up a child pornography ring. </s> International police group Interpol said Thursday that nine people had been arrested in Thailand, Australia and the U.S. and 50 children had been rescued after investigators took down an online pedophilia ring.

More arrests were expected as police in nearly 60 countries pursue investigations stemming from an Interpol operation launched two years ago into a hidden "dark web" site with 63,000 users worldwide.

Fifty children were rescued following the arrests. Police are trying to identify an additional 100 in images that had been shared on the internet's uncharted corners.

Interpol said its Operation Blackwrist began after it found material that was traced back to a subscription-based site on the dark web, where people can use encrypted software to hide behind layers of secrecy.

Dark web sites can't be found through search engines, and users need to have the specific URL address to land on a site.

Interpol enlisted help from national agencies worldwide, with the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department eventually tracking the site's IP address, where new photos and videos were posted weekly.

The first arrests came in early 2018, when the site's main administrator, Montri Salangam, was detained in Thailand, and another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was captured in Australia.

Salangam, whose victims included one of his nephews, was sentenced in June last year to 146 years in prison by Thai courts, while an associate, a pre-school teacher, got 36 years.

Tokputza was handed a 40-year prison term at his trial in Australia last Friday, the longest ever for child sex offences in the country.

The Australian Associated Press reported that Tokputza, 31, pleaded guilty to 50 counts of abuse of 11 babies and children -- one just 15 months old -- between 2011 and 2018.

"You are a child's worst nightmare, you are every parent's horror, you are a menace to the community," Judge Liesl Chapman said in Adelaide.

Interpol did not identify the others arrested.

The HSI's regional attache in Bangkok, Eric McLoughlin, said in the statement that "numerous arrests" had been made in the U.S. Some held "positions of public trust," he said, and one individual was abusing his two-year-old stepbrother.

"Operation Blackwrist sends a clear message to those abusing children, producing child sexual exploitation material and sharing the images online: We see you, and you will be brought to justice," Interpol's Secretary General Juergen Stock said. </s> HOUSTON — Authorities say the owner of a Texas company that sells plans to make untraceable 3-D printed guns is back in the U.S. after being arrested in Taiwan.

The U.S. Marshals Service says 30-year-old Cody Wilson was booked into Harris County Jail in Houston early Sunday. He is being held on $150,000 bond and it isn’t clear if he has an attorney yet.

Wilson is accused of having sex with an underage girl and paying her $500 afterward. He was arrested Friday in Taiwan. Police say he flew there after a friend of the 16-year-old girl told him that the police were investigating the accusation that he had sex with the girl.

Wilson owns Austin-based Defense Distributed, which was selling designs to make 3D-printable guns. </s> The alleged primary administrator of a "dark web" site at the heart of an international online pedophilia ring, Montri Salangam (center), is seen in police custody in Thailand following his arrest early in 2018. Interpol/Handout

International police group Interpol said Thursday that nine people had been arrested in Thailand, Australia and the U.S. and 50 children had been rescued after investigators took down an online pedophilia ring. More arrests were expected as police in nearly 60 countries pursue investigations stemming from an Interpol operation launched two years ago into a hidden "dark web" site with 63,000 users worldwide.

Fifty children were rescued following the arrests. Police are trying to identify an additional 100 in images that had been shared on the internet's uncharted corners.

Interpol said its Operation Blackwrist began after it found material that was traced back to a subscription-based site on the dark web, where people can use encrypted software to hide behind layers of secrecy.

Dark web sites can't be found through search engines, and users need to have the specific URL address to land on a site.

Study: Large portion of darknet in use by child predators

Interpol enlisted help from national agencies worldwide, with the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department eventually tracking the site's IP address, where new photos and videos were posted weekly.

The first arrests came in early 2018, when the site's main administrator, Montri Salangam, was detained in Thailand, and another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was captured in Australia.

Salangam, whose victims included one of his nephews, was sentenced in June last year to 146 years in prison by Thai courts.

Interpol said children were lured to Salangam's home with the promise of food, internet access and soccer games.

Shedding light on the dark web

One of his associates, a pre-school teacher, got 36 years.

Tokputza was handed a 40-year prison term at his trial in Australia last Friday, the longest ever for child sex offences in the country.

The Australian Associated Press reported that Tokputza, 31, pleaded guilty to 50 counts of abuse of 11 babies and children -- one just 15 months old -- between 2011 and 2018.

"You are a child's worst nightmare, you are every parent's horror, you are a menace to the community," Judge Liesl Chapman said in Adelaide.

Forensic investigators gather evidence from the home of Montri Salangam, the accused administrator of a "dark web" site at the center of an alleged online pedophilia ring, who was arrested in Thailand in early 2018. Interpol/Handout

Interpol did not identify the others arrested.

The HSI's regional attache in Bangkok, Eric McLoughlin, said in the statement that "numerous arrests" had been made in the US. Some held "positions of public trust," he said, and one individual was abusing his two-year-old stepbrother.

"Operation Blackwrist sends a clear message to those abusing children, producing child sexual exploitation material and sharing the images online: We see you, and you will be brought to justice," Interpol's Secretary General Juergen Stock said. </s> Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in New Jersey on Saturday night, charged by federal prosecutors with one count of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking. The 66-year-old billionaire financier—who avoided federal criminal charges on similar counts in 2008—is expected to answer the new charges before a federal magistrate on Monday.

CBS Miami first reported that Epstein was arrested Saturday afternoon at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey under a sealed indictment. Per The Daily Beast, Epstein was apprehended by the FBI-NYPD Crimes Against Children Task Force for sexually exploiting numerous underage girls in his Upper East Side home and Palm Beach residence—soliciting massages and otherwise “molesting or sexually abusing” them. Epstein will be charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of minors, potentially carrying a maximum sentence of 45 years.

The allegations are comparable to those leveled against Epstein in 2007, charges for which he struck a deal that included pleading guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution, registering as a sex offender, and serving 13 months in a county jail that otherwise released him six days a week to work in his office. That plea was signed by then-Miami federal prosecutor Alexander Acosta, who now serves as Donald Trump’s labor secretary. In February, a Florida judge ruled that Acosta violated federal law by not disclosing Epstein’s nonprosecution agreement to his alleged victims. The Justice Department has also opened an investigation into possible prosecutorial misconduct regarding the nonprosecution agreement.

“It’s been a long time coming—it’s been too long coming,” attorney David Boies told The Daily Beast of Epstein’s arrest. Boies represents two of Epstein’s past accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Sarah Ransome. “We hope that prosecutors will not stop with Mr. Epstein because there were many other people who participated with him and made the sex trafficking possible,” Boies added.

The report also notes that Epstein’s employees and associates were allegedly complicit in recruiting the underage girls, and turned some of the girls into recruiters themselves. Epstein is also said to have been aware of their underage status throughout. </s> A two-year international operation involving police from Australia, Bulgaria, New Zealand, Thailand and the US and coordinated by Interpol has led to the arrest of nine alleged child sex offenders in Thailand, the US and Australia.

The investigation — called Operation Blackwrist — was launched in 2017 after police found material showing the abuse of 11 boys, all below the age of 13, by an online international pedophilia ring operating on the dark web on a subscription basis.

Dark web sites cannot be found via search engines, and access requires typing in the specific URL address.

Police said 50 children were rescued, with around 100 more suspected of having suffered abuse. Police are working to identify the victims.

"Operation Blackwrist sends a clear message to those abusing children, producing child sexual exploitation material and sharing the images online: We see you, and you will be brought to justice," Interpol Secretary-General Jürgen Stock said in a statement.

Interpol stressed that international cooperation in fighting child sexual abuse was key as pedophilia networks tended to be "transnational."

In early 2018, police made the first arrests, capturing the site's main administrator, Montri Salangam in Thailand. He was seen abusing the 11 boys, one of whom was his nephew. Another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was detained in Australia.

In June that year, Salangam was sentenced to 146 years in prison for child rape, human trafficking as well as possession and distribution of child sex abuse material by a Thai court. Tokputza was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Australia.
A 55-year-old pediatrician, Ricardo Russo, is arrested at the Hospital Garrahan in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he was Chief of the Immunology Department. He is accused of sexually abusing minors, distributing and possessing child pornography, including handicapped children and babies. He was wanted by the U.S. FBI and public prosecutors in Brazil.