Gary B. Evans, 58, of Cocoa Beach, Fla., was sentenced today before Chief Judge Patricia C. Fawsett in U.S. District Court in Orlando. Evans was ordered to forfeit his interest in his house, various computers and electronic equipment, and two cashier’s checks totaling $24,000.

Evans was arrested on May 11, 2006, and indicted on May 23, 2006, on one count of conspiring to arrange the travel of an individual for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct and one count of arranging such travel. After Evans’ computers were seized and examined, agents discovered digital images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. On August 9, 2006, a superseding indictment was returned which added one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Evans pleaded guilty on October 23, 2006, before Magistrate Judge David A. Baker to one count of conspiring to arrange for the travel of a person to engage in illicit sexual conduct – specifically, a commercial sex act with a person under 18 years of age.

According to the plea agreement, in August 2005, Evans contacted the operator of a Web site which purported to sell "sex tour" packages to overseas locations. According to the Web site, the tour price would include an under-age companion who would have sex with the traveler. Evans proposed a partnership with the operator of the Web site in which they would jointly operate tours to Honduras and Costa Rica, where clients would pay to have sex with minors. However, the Web site was actually part of an undercover investigation being conducted by FBI agents who are part of the Innocent Images task force based in Calverton, Md.

Starting in September 2005 and continuing for several months, undercover agents exchanged several emails, and had numerous online and phone conversations with Evans and his associate in Honduras. Ultimately, Evans agreed to arrange for two clients to travel to Honduras to engage in sex with two girls, ages 16 and 14 respectively. The ultimate price for the hotel, expenses and sex was $2,260, paid in three installments.

On May 6, 2006, undercover agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) met three associates of Evans in Honduras. The three associates ultimately brought two girls, who appeared to be between the ages of 14 and 16, to the hotel. After briefly meeting the girls, the undercover agents told the associates that they had to return to the United States to attend to an emergency. At that point, the girls safely left the hotel.

As part of the plea agreement, Evans admits he possessed images of real children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He also admits that the images depicted prepubescent children, and children engaged in sadistic or masochistic conduct. He further admits he possessed more than 150 images of child pornography. Finally, Evans admits that during the time of the offense, he engaged in a pattern of activity involving the sexual abuse and exploitation of minors.

This case is being investigated by ICE and the FBI. The Brevard County, Fla. Sheriff’s Office is also assisting. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincent Citro of the Middle District of Florida and Trial Attorney Alexandra Gelber of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

Monday's opinion faulted plaintiffs for making "no compelling reason" for the Court to depart from Eldred's holding and explained the Court's stance on copyright term duration as determined by weighing the impetus provided to authors by longer terms against the benefit provided to the public by shorter terms. That weighing is left to Congress, subject to rationality review. The CTEA also retroactively extended statutory copyright protection by another 20 years beyond the original term of the author's life plus 50 years, thus decreasing the number of works entering the public domain. Ownership of orphan works is often difficult to determine, and archives such as Google, Yahoo!, and academic libraries have lobbied for less stringent copyright laws in order to increase the amount of information open to the public domain.

Ramadan lawyer Giovanni Di Stefano argued Sunday that the Appeals Chamber improperly relied on Article 24 of the IHT statute when directing the trial chamber to increase Ramadan's sentence.

A Chelsea, Mass., woman pleaded guilty today in federal court to conspiring to engage in a child prostitution scheme, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher for the Criminal Division; United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan for the District of Massachusetts; Sharon E. Ormsby, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in New England; Edward Davis, Commissioner of the Boston Police Department; and Colonel Mark Delaney, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced today.

Evelyn Diaz, 22, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Patti B. Saris to an indictment charging her with one count of conspiracy to engage in a child prostitution scheme, two counts of transportation of a minor to engage in prostitution, and three counts of sex trafficking of children. Diaz was arrested on Friday, July 7, 2006.

As part of the plea agreement, Diaz admitted that between approximately July 2003 and May 2005, she operated an escort service that advertised in multiple publications and websites, and sent individuals—including minors—on prostitution calls in and around Boston. Diaz primarily operated the business out of her home in Chelsea. In addition, Diaz at times traveled to other states for the purpose of having individuals—including minors—engage in commercial sex. Diaz kept all or part of the money obtained for the sex acts performed.

Diaz also admitted that in July of 2003, she transported Minor A and Minor B, ages 15 and 13 respectively, to New York City to engage in prostitution. Diaz arranged this meeting through her business, paid for the hotel, supplied condoms and received the money paid by the callers.

Judge Saris scheduled sentencing for April 27, 2007. Diaz faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge; a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 30 years in prison on the transportation of a minor charges; a 40 year maximum sentence on two of the sex trafficking of children charges; and a maximum life sentence on the third sex trafficking charge.

A charge of conspiracy to engage in a child prostitution scheme is still pending against Diaz’s co-defendant, Victor Diaz, 23, of East Boston, Mass.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Gershengorn in Sullivan’s Major Crimes Unit, and Wendy Waldron, Trial Attorney for the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section.

This case is part of the Innocence Lost Initiative, a cooperative effort to prevent and prosecute child prostitution between the FBI, the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Hillary Clinton thinks that in the increasingly crowded field of potential presidential candidates, she's the one who can best confront the nation's challenges.

"I am worried about the future of our country and I want to help put it back on the right course, and I believe that I am best positioned to be able to do that," Clinton said.

Former San Antonio Police Officer Dean Gutierrez was sentenced today in federal court to 24 years and four months in prison for violating the civil rights of a citizen whom Gutierrez detained while on duty, the Justice Department announced today.

Gutierrez was previously found guilty of sexually and physically assaulting a transgendered individual, who was 21 years-old at the time of the assault. On the night of June 10, 2005, Gutierrez detained and then drove the victim to a secluded location. Gutierrez then proceeded to beat and rape the victim.

“Officers of the law bear the special responsibility of upholding justice and protecting the rights of all citizens,” said Wan J. Kim, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “The defendant in this case brutally violated that responsibility. The Justice Department will continue to vigorously prosecute these cases.”

The Civil Rights Division is committed to the vigorous enforcement of every federal criminal civil rights statute, such as those laws that prohibit the willful use of excessive force or other acts of misconduct by law enforcement officials. In fact, the Division has compiled a significant record on criminal civil rights prosecutions in the last six years. In fiscal year 2006, nearly 50 percent of the cases brought by the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division involved such prosecutions. Since fiscal year 2001, the Division has convicted 50 percent more defendants for excessive force and official misconduct than in the preceding six years.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baumann and Civil Rights Division attorney Jim Felte prosecuted this case for the government.