Broward firm linked to child porn :: Charter'97 :: News

Federal authorities say a Fort Lauderdale company transferred payments for a Belarus-based group that operated underage-sex websites.
A Fort Lauderdale company is charged with laundering millions of dollars for an international child pornography ring, and two Broward residents have pleaded guilty in connection with the operation, prosecutors said Thursday.

An indictment issued by a federal grand jury in New Jersey says Connections USA Inc., doing business as Iserve, 316 Sunset Dr., laundered money for a company in Minsk, Belarus, which was once part of the Soviet Union.

The company, Regpay Co. Ltd., ran, promoted and sold memberships to websites with child pornography, prosecutors said.

The Fort Lauderdale company took more than 11 percent of the money it received, according to the indictment.

Regpay enlisted Connections to receive the membership fees, according to the indictment. The Fort Lauderdale company received customer complaints and collected money before sending it to Latvia.

Prosecutors described Connections as a credit-card billing service. It is listed by Dun and Bradstreet as a software-development company and an importer/exporter with 20 employees.

Connections USA`s offices are in a building off East Las Olas Boulevard not far from the beach. Notes on the front door say ``please ring bell`` and ``please press button hard.`` There was no bell or button.

All that was visible inside was a red glow and what appeared to be a bank of mailboxes.

CEO PLEADS GUILTY

The charges were announced a day after Connections` chief executive officer, Eugene Valentine, 38, of 1528 Washington St., Hollywood, pleaded guilty in Newark, N.J., to conspiracy to launder money for Regpay.

Valentine, who prosecutors said is cooperating, admitted in court that he had known since at least January 2003 that Regpay was running child-porn sites. He said his company had transferred about $3 million in payments to a Latvian bank account for Regpay.

A man who answered the door at Valentine`s residence had no comment on the case. He said Valentine was expected in a couple of days.

The tidy home in the tree-lined neighborhood east of Federal Highway showed signs that Christmas decorations had recently been taken down. Coils of lights sat on a front porch area, and a couple of snowflake-shaped baubles dangled from an overhang.

Connections` chief financial officer, Keith Czarnecki, 46, of 1830 NW 32nd Ct., Oakland Park, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Newark to failing to tell law enforcement officials about the money transfers. Czarnecki could not be reached for comment, and no one answered the door at his home Thursday evening. Neighbors said he lived alone at his well-kept, ranch-style house at the end of a quiet residential street.

A next-door neighbor who identified himself as Albert but declined to give a last name described Czarnecki as a ``real clean-cut, good guy`` whom he often saw riding his bicycle. ``That`s strange he would be involved in something like this,`` Albert said. ``He`s a real decent guy.``

During the investigation into Regpay, about two dozen people in New Jersey and about 20 other people around the country were arrested and charged with having child porn on their computers. That group includes three previously convicted sex offenders, as well as a campus minister, a part-time teacher and an 85-year-old retired engineer.

50 CHILD-PORN SITES

The 10-count indictment alleges that between about June 2002 and August 2003, Regpay provided billing services for more than 50 websites that contained child pornography and operated at least four of its own sites.

Regpay`s sites were operated from Belarus and hosted by Internet companies in other countries, the indictment alleges. The sites for which Regpay handled billing were hosted by computers in the United States and abroad.

Four Regpay employees face multiple charges in the case, and three were arrested last summer in France and Spain. U.S. officials are trying to have them brought to the United States for trial.

The government also seized $800,000 held in a bank account on behalf of Connections. The Regpay investigation is part of Operation Falcon, a program aimed at severing financial support for child pornography.

``Today`s indictment strikes at the heart of the commercial trade of child pornography by attacking the commercial profits derived from such a deplorable venture,`` U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft said.

Herald staff writers Hannah Sampson and Sam Nitze and staff researcher Scott Hutchinson contributed to this report, which was supplemented with information from the Associated Press.