Release Date: 2008-08-28
Original Link: http://presszoom.com/story_145830.html
Colm F. Connolly, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that a federal grand jury has returned indictments charging two North Wilmington men with various child pornography offenses. Connolly stated that the grand jury returned a 14-count indictment charging Brian L. Briggs, age 22, of Wilmington, Delaware, with transportation, receipt and possession of child pornography and related offenses.
(PressZoom.com) - Colm F. Connolly, United States Attorney for the District of Delaware, announced today that a federal grand jury has returned indictments charging two North Wilmington men with various child pornography offenses. Connolly stated that the grand jury returned a 14-count indictment charging Brian L. Briggs, age 22, of Wilmington, Delaware, with transportation, receipt and possession of child pornography and related offenses. Briggs recently has worked as a summer camp counselor at the Friends Central School�s Trailblazer Summer Camp, in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. During the past school year, Briggs was employed as a counselor in the after-school care program at Friends Central School. Briggs supervised the activities of young children in both positions.
Connolly stated that the grand jury returned a separate 23-count indictment charging Edward Brosky, age 72 of Wilmington, Delaware, with receipt and possession of child pornography and related offenses. Brosky is retired.
United States v. Brian L. Briggs
According to the indictment and court documents, Briggs came to the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in May 2008, when he used a website operated by Google, Inc. to communicate with a person whom he believed to be the mother of a 13-year-old girl. Briggs, who used the screen name �TomatoB� online, actually was communicating with an undercover FBI agent located in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time that this online session occurred, Google�s �Hello.com� website enabled users to trade and view digital pictures and videos while chatting in real time about the images.
As detailed in court documents filed in the case, Briggs transmitted a number of images of child pornography to the undercover FBI agent. One of these images depicted a child under five years of age engaged in a sexual act with an adult male. Briggs also asked the undercover agent to send him naked pictures of the agent�s fictitious daughter supposedly taken when she was eleven years old.
On August 6, 2008, law enforcement agents executed a federal search warrant at Briggs� North Wilmington residence. Law enforcement agents seized various pieces of computer equipment, including a laptop, a thumb drive, a number of other computers. Preliminary forensics has revealed over 100 images of child pornography on the seized equipment.
United States v. Edward Brosky
According to the indictment and court documents, Edward Brosky was identified by law enforcement in April 2008, while he was signed into an online newsgroup focused on trading images of child pornography. An undercover FBI agent who infiltrated the newsgroup downloaded over 100 files of young children engaged in sexually explicit conduct that Brosky had uploaded to the newsgroup from a computer located in his North Wilmington residence.
On July 30, 2008, law enforcement agents executed a federal search warrant at Edward Brosky�s Wilmington residence. A preview search of one of the drives revealed over 20,000 images of child pornography. Also seized from the residence were printouts and
handwritten notes regarding various child pornography series that Brosky had collected or was seeking to collect online.
United States Attorney Colm F. Connolly noted that Messrs. Briggs and Brosky were two men at very different stages of their lives who victimized children via the internet. Connolly stated, �Those who prey on our children -- regardless of their station in life, standing in the community, job, or background -- will find themselves primary targets of law enforcement.� If convicted of the more serious child pornography charges, Briggs and Brosky both face a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, to a maximum sentence of twenty years, in prison.
If convicted of possession of child pornography, each defendant will face a maximum sentence of ten years in prison. They also will be subject to at least five years, to life, of court supervision, and will be required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction in which they live, work or attend school. Both men have been detained since their arrests on July 30 and August 6, 2008.
These cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Delaware Child Predator Task Force. For further information, please contact Assistant United States Attorney Edward J. McAndrew at 302-573-6277, ext. 130.
Criminal indictments are only charges and are not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.