2 Tampa women charged after Florida-based sites shared millions of child porn images, DOJ says
An online subscription-based child pornography enterprise stretching internationally has connections to Florida after acting United States Attorney Karin Hoppmann on Tuesday unsealed two indictments related to the case, she said in a news release from Tampa.
The Department of Justice’s news release alleges the Florida-based Newstar Enterprise, which had a collection of websites, produced more than 4.6 million sexualized images and videos to distribute and sell with children as young as 6 years old.
Six members, including four Floridians, of Newstar were indicted in the case that involves child pornography and money laundering charges, the DOJ said.
The DOJ announced Tuesday two defendants were arrested. They are Plamen Georgiev Velinov, 48 of Bulgaria and Anthony Lee Kendall, 55 of Mossyrock, Washington.
Velinov is charged with conspiring to advertise and distribute child pornography, while Kendall is charged with money laundering and money laundering conspiracy. Kendall is alleged to have laundered $1 million for Newstar Enterprise, the DOJ report said.
Newstar members are alleged to solicit and recruit males and females under the age of 18 as “child models” for the websites, where some images and videos were non-nude that depicted minors engaging in sexually explicit content or in sexual and provocative poses, the DOJ said.
The children used were recruited from Ukraine, Moldova and other Eastern European countries, according to the DOJ.
Law enforcement officers disabled Newstar’s websites, according to the DOJ, which maintained a membership list originating from 101 countries.
Among the defendants, two already pleaded guilty. They are 53-year-old Patrice Eileen Wilowski-Mevorah, of Tampa, and 58-year-old Mary Lou Bjorkman, of Lutz, who were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Weston’s Kenneth Power directed and controlled Newstar Enterprise’s operations, according to the DOJ, and faced 60 years imprisonment on conspiracy to advertise and distribute child pornography charges. But his case was dismissed when he died at the age of 58.
His wife, Tatiana Power, was charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering, international promotion money laundering and concealment money laundering, and is awaiting trial where she faces a sentence of up to 100 years in prison.
“Velinov faces a minimum mandatory penalty of 15 years’ imprisonment for conspiring to advertise child pornography, a minimum 5 years’ imprisonment for conspiring to distribute child pornography, and a total maximum penalty of 50 years’ imprisonment for both offenses,” the DOJ reported. “The indictment also notifies Velinov that the United States intends to forfeit more than $434,000 in assets that are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses.”
“If convicted, Kendall faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each count of the five-count money laundering charges in the indictment. The indictment also notifies Kendall that the United States intends to forfeit $944,678 in assets that are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses.”
Tampa Homeland Security Investigations and the DOJ’s Technology Investigative Unit of the criminal division’s child exploitation and obscenity section investigated the cases with assistance from Homeland Security in Fort Lauderdale, Athens and The Hague as well as U.S. Border Protection in Sofia, Bulgaria, the IRS Criminal Investigation in Tampa, and the various international law enforcement agencies, the DOJ report said.
“The defendants have also been notified that the United States intends to forfeit a total of $9.4 million, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses, in addition to real property located in Florida,” according to the DOJ.
Velinov’s indictment is pending extradition to the United States, while the Kendall and Power’s cases are awaiting trial.
This story was originally published November 16, 2021 at 12:46 PM.