Nearly 100 suspects accused of being involved in an online child abuse network have been arrested in the U.S. and Australia, more than two years after the deadly ambush of two FBI agents by a suspect under investigation in Sunrise.
On Feb. 2, 2021, Special Agents Daniel Alfin and Laura Schwartzenberger, who worked in crimes against children, were executing a search warrant at the Water Terrace Apartments, where the subject of their investigation, David Lee Huber, 55, lived. Huber watched them through a doorbell camera and opened fire, killing Alfin and Schwartzenberger and injuring three others. Huber then killed himself.
The FBI’s investigation of the online child abuse network began before the agents’ murders, FBI Legal Attaché Nitiana Mann said at a news conference Monday in Australia. The agents were serving a search warrant related to the investigation.
The FBI shared information with Australian Federal Police in 2022 about Australians who were allegedly using the network. The FBI has arrested a total of 79 in the U.S. while another 19 people, between the ages of 32 and 81, were arrested in Australia, Australian Federal Police said in a news release Tuesday.
The suspects are accused of using online software to anonymously share the child abuse materials, talk on message boards and access websites in the network, Australian Federal Police said. They are accused of using encryption on the network and other means to avoid being found by law enforcement.
A total of 13 children in Australia were “removed from harm,” some who allegedly “had been directly abused,” the release said.
“Most of the alleged Australian offenders, some who are also accused of having produced their own child abuse material to share with other members of the network, were employed in occupations that required a high degree of (information and communications technology) knowledge,” Australian Federal Police said.
The FBI opened over 300 investigations, Mann said at the news conference.
The FBI has informed other countries of suspects, Mann told reporters, but did not name the countries, the Associated Press reported.
