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Excerpt:Last week, the Department of Justice (DOJ), along with the FBI, announced that it had finally completed a five-year program called Operation Grayskull. The results were the dismantling of four absolutely horrific dark websites that contained child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and the convictions of 18 individuals who will serve over 300 years in prison collectively.
According to CBS, these websites attracted over 120,000 members and received 100,000 visits per day. They contained millions of CSAM files.
The 18 men who were prosecuted were found guilty on charges including conspiracy to advertise child pornography, advertisement of child pornography, and possession of child pornography, and their sentences range from five years and a few months up to life in federal prison. They’ve also been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution to the victims.
One of those men is William Michael Spearman, a man in his late fifties who resides in Madison, Ala. Or he did. He has since been sentenced to life in prison. The DOJ calls him the “lead administrator” of one of the websites that specifically posted CSAM and torture media involving toddlers and infants. He “managed numerous other ‘staff’ members, directed them on how to help run the site, recommended other users for promotion, kept records of child sexual abuse material advertised and distributed over the site, presided over staff meetings, praised and scolded users, and counseled users and other managers about the functions and expectations of the website,” according to the federal agency.