LaFayette, Ga., man faces child pornography charges

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A LaFayette, Ga., man who federal authorities say made a series of child pornography videos depicting his repeated rapes of a young girl over the course of several years has been arrested.

James Bartholomew "Bart" Huskey, 38, was arrested Monday in his LaFayette home, authorities said. His arrest is the result of a two-year investigation that originated in Australia, where the videos first appeared, officials said.

The criminal complaint describes an increasingly violent series of videos in which a girl who appears to be between the ages of 5 and 9 is subjected to different sexual assaults in various locations, including a home bedroom, a hotel room and two different cars.

Mr. Huskey is charged with manufacturing the child pornography videos and uploading them onto the Internet for the exclusive use of a suspected child pornography ring.

"This is a truly great day in the world of child exploitation," U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said. He noted it usually is very difficult to identify the victims of child abuse depicted in child pornography.

Mr. Huskey made his first appearance Tuesday in federal court in Atlanta to have the charges against him read. He is scheduled to appear in court Monday at 2 p.m. for a detention hearing to decide whether he receives bond. Mr. Nahmias said he will present evidence of the crime to a federal grand jury within 30 days.

According to the criminal complaint against Mr. Huskey, in 2006 Australian authorities began dissecting the activities of an international child pornography ring, believing that the images in the "Tara" series of videos came from somewhere in the United States.

Through "painstaking" analysis of objects seen in the videos such as the bedspreads, paintings on the walls and even certain background images that seemed to match those seen in MySpace photos, authorities were able to trace the suspect to his home at 23272 Highway 193 in LaFayette, according to the complaint.

The complaint states that Mr. Huskey has admitted to committing the sexual molestation depicted in the tapes.

Mr. Huskey said he had been sexually molesting the 9-year-old girl who appears in the videos since she was 6 years old, the complaint states. He said he used a red digital camera that authorities found in one of his bedrooms to record the incidents, eventually uploading hundreds of images and videos onto the Internet, the complaint states.

When authorities interviewed the alleged victim Tuesday, she told them Mr. Huskey had been abusing her for years and had even raped her within the last day, according to the complaint. She also confirmed that he videotaped her using a red digital camera, the complaint states.

Mr. Huskey's children have been taken into protective custody by Georgia authorities, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney's office in Atlanta.

Mr. Huskey works as a tennis instructor and gives private lessons in the LaFayette area.

For the original story, go to: Chattanooga Times Free Press | LaFayette, Ga., man faces child pornography charges