How feds toppled an online empire
Site for pedophiles designed to keep users anonymous, invisible
WEST PALM BEACH — Bill Spearman managed a website where predators and pedophiles could indulge their worst impulses with impunity. Over five years, the site grew into a sprawling empire dedicated to the rape and abuse of children. Spearman continued to manage the site even after his second-in-command, a 69-year-old Boynton Beach man named Selwyn Rosenstein, went offline during the summer of 2022. Rosenstein’s arrest was the first of many targeting high-ranking members of the site: a man in Nevada, two in Washington, a fourth in Tennessee and one in North Carolina. In November 2022, federal agents came for Spearman, too. Spearman, the FBI’s most wanted child-pornography offender in the world, oversaw one of the largest collections of child pornography on the dark web. Investigators raided his home in Alabama and searched his laptops, where they say Spearman spent much of his time barking orders at the site’s highest-ranking administrators. Despite evidence to the contrary, he denies being the site’s primary leader. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon sentenced Spearman, 58, to life in federal prison last month. She rejected Spearman’s argument that he had no sexual interest in children and chose to run the website simply “because he enjoyed the management aspect of it.” She also rejected arguments that the man’s extensive service in U.S. military warranted a shorter prison sentence. “The bulk of the defendant’s service to his country is admirable,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Schiller. “But it does not outweigh the enormity of his crimes.”
“The bulk of the defendant’s service to his country is admirable. But it does not outweigh the enormity of his crimes.” Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Schiller
Cannon agreed. In written motions to the judge, Schiller called Spearman’s website “a sanctuary and playground for enthusiasts of child rape and abuse,” where its thousands of users exchanged videos of children as young as infants. Members categorized the videos with tags including “rape,” “torture,” “crying,” “strangle” and “screaming.”
Many images, the prosecutor said, included boys the same age as Spearman’s own 8-year-old son.
According to investigators, the site was designed to keep its users anonymous and undetectable by authorities. Using online aliases “Enforcer” and “King Pedo,” Spearman put rules in place that encouraged lower-ranking users to rise through the hierarchy by posting more child sexual abuse material and demoted those who didn’t.
Schiller suggested that Spearman’s interest in underage girls went beyond his conduct on the website. According to court records, a 16-year-old girl gave FBI agents audio files of messages she said Spearman left her.
In one file, a voice believed to be Spearman’s says the following:
“I wanted to let you know that I think you’re beautiful, sexy, sensual, and I want to touch you. I want to kiss you, hug you, and make sweet love to you. After that, I want to f—” The audio cuts out after the word beginning with “f.”
Rosenstein, the Boynton Beach man and second-highest ranking member of the site, told investigators he didn’t think that exchanging child pornography was harmful “because the harmful acts have already taken place.” He said websites like the one Spearman ran are a matter of “freedom” and are “essential for people to express themselves.”
Rosenstein pleaded guilty to seven counts related to the advertisement and distribution of child pornography. Cannon sentenced him in December 2022 to 28 years in federal prison. She imposed similar sentences to other high-ranking members who have since pleaded guilty.
For these men, who ranged in age from 69 to 75 at the time of their arrest, the penalties are effectively life sentences.
Spearman maintained his
“not guilty” plea until the eve of his trial. Potential jurors had already spent two hours answering questions about their experiences enduring sexual abuse and viewing child pornography by the time Spearman’s public defender, Scott Berry, and Schiller made a deal.
On the condition that he be allowed to appeal his conviction, Spearman pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in a child-exploitation enterprise. Prosecutors dropped the remaining charges against him.
Though Schiller recommended Spearman be sentenced to life in prison for exploiting “a literally uncountable number of children,” Cannon had the final say. During a sentencing hearing on Jan. 22, Berry described Spearman’s extensive military history in hopes of persuading her in a different direction.
Spearman enlisted in the army at 17, Berry said, and continued to serve for more than two decades. Responsible for detecting acts of espionage, sabotage and terrorism, he led “aggressive counterintelligence operations” and worked with the FBI surveilling individuals linked to terrorists post-911. He also commanded soldiers in the wake of a deadly truck-bombing in Saudi Arabia and fought in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert Storm.
“Unfortunately, serving one’s country often has unintended consequences,” Berry told Cannon. “Mr. Spearman has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since the late-1990s.”
Cannon, who is also overseeing the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump, was unmoved. She sentenced him to life in prison.
In the wake of his sentencing, certain documents in Spearman’s case have become unsealed. One suggests that many of the site’s users have not been identified. Others that have been identified — fully, or in part — have not yet been arrested. The FBI’s investigation remains ongoing.
Meanwhile, Spearman is poised to fight his conviction from prison. Berry filed a notice on Jan. 29 that Spearman appealed his life sentence to the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, the Palm Beach County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center can help. Reach their helpline at 561-833-7273, or toll-free at 866-891-7273.