Granger man indicted in nationwide child exploitation ring, pleads guilty

WASHINGTON -- Andrew Korpal, 29, of Granger, man was arrested as part of a nationwide online child exploitation investigation by multiple federal agencies. There were victims in 39 states and five countries.

Korpal pleaded guilty March 6, 2014 to one count of receipt of child pornography in federal court. He will be sentenced June 12.

As part of his plea agreement, he must cooperate with any law enforcement agency's investigation.

He allegedly received child pornography from a website run by Jonathan Johnson of Abita Springs, Louisiana.

According to court records, Korpal possessed sexually explicit videos of young men.

Korpal could be sentenced to between 5 and 20 years in prison and/or a fine of $250,000.

Korpal was charged as part of Operation Round Table, an investigation involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

According to a press release, Korpal is one of 14 men in federal custody for related to a child pornography website on the Darknet's Onion Router, also known as Tor.

Eleven of the men have been charged federally in Louisiana. The other three have been charged in other districts.

Federal investigators say there were 251 minor victims in 39 states and five foreign countries.

There were 228 victims in the US, 23 in Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Belgium.

Of the 251 minor victims, 8 were female and 243 were male. Most, 159, were between 13 and 15 years old. 26 victims were 10-12, four were 7-9, one was 4-6 and two were 3-years-old or younger.

The website's primary administrator was identified as Jonathan Johnson, 27, of Abita Springs, Louisiana. He has been charged with operating a child exploitation enterprise.

Johnson admitted to creating multiple fake female personas on social networking sites to target and exploit children and to coach other predators in his inner circle to do the same, the press release said.

The website was active from June 2012 to June 2013. There were more than 2,000 videos and had more than 27,000 members. The videos were sexually explicit and the victims were mainly juvenile boys.

Jonathan was the first person arrested and forensic analysis led investigators to ten individuals who were the primary operators, contributors or producers of material for the website. Jonathan and the ten individuals listed make up the eleven people charged in Louisiana.

• Daniel Nolan Devor, 39, of Brunswick, Ga., charged with conspiracy to produce child pornography, distribution of child pornography and receipt of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors


• John C. Foster, 44 of Tipp City, Ohio, charged with conspiracy to produce child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and receipt of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors


• Aung Gaw aka Michael Gaw, 25, of Fremont, Calif., charged with receipt of child pornography


• Vittorio Francesco Gonzalez-Castillo, 26, of Tucson, Ariz., charged with conspiracy to produce child pornography


• Sean Jabbar, 32, of Minneapolis, Minn., charged with receipt of child pornography


• Christopher Jamieson, 30, of Douglassville, Ga., charged with receipt of child pornography


• Andrew Korpal, 29, of Granger, Ind., charged with receipt of child pornography


• Nicholas Saine, 27, of Seattle, Wash., charged with receipt of child pornography


• Christopher Schwab, 25 of New Orleans, charged with production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and receipt of child pornography


• Stanley Zdon, III, 27, of Tuckerton, N.J., charged with conspiracy to produce child pornography

Three other individuals were indicted in other parts of the country.

• Roy Naim, 30, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiracy to produce child pornography, attempted sexual exploitation of a child, receipt of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.


• Minh Vi Thong, 30, of Denver, Colo., was charged in the District of Colorado with production of child pornography, distribution of child pornography, and possession of child pornography.


• Michael Eales, 24, of Westby, Wis., was charged in the Western District of Wisconsin with production of child pornography. He was sentenced Oct. 29, 2013, to serve two concurrent 30-year terms in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for manufacturing child pornography.

The investigation into the members of the website is ongoing. Federal investigators are still analyzing more than 40 terabytes of information seized during the investigation.