On Wednesday, law enforcement officials announced that a countrywide search for child pornographers netted a couple from Oregon in a very disturbing case. The couple, Michelle Lee Freeman and Michael Serapis Freeman, surrendered to police in Salem, Oregon after they were threatened to be turned into police by an acquaintance.
The couple has been accused by authorities of videotaping themselves while performing sex acts with children. According to a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court in Oregon, one of the children in the video is the daughter of the couple. The complaint also said that Michael Freeman would trade photos and videos of the acts for other child porn using the Internet. Michael said he started the practice and that somewhere along the line his wife got involved in it.
ABC News reported that an investigation was started in August when videos featuring a woman and two girls under the age of 10 were discovered on a computer confiscated by the FBI in Colorado. This investigation was originally built by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Los Angeles, beginning in 2011. This is when the computer that had the images on it was obtained by authorities.
The woman in the video could not be identified, so the ICE went to the public for help in the case. Homeland Security Investigation spokesperson Brad Bench said that tips were coming in after a photo of the woman was posted to multiple social media platforms. Authorities were able to focus their investigation in the Pacific Northwest after all of the tips began coming in.
“The general public and the media was instrumental in bringing these people to justice,” ICE spokesperson Ross Feinstein said. The couple is facing anywhere from 15 to 30 years in prison if they are convicted of the crimes charged against them by the authorities working on the case.