Federal agents: Help us identify endangered teen

[Are_grits_groceries]

Federal agents in Minnesota are pleading with the public to help identify a teen who may be in danger with other youths.


"We believe the pictured individual is at risk and may need law enforcement assistance, but may not be able to request it," ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer told msnbc.com on Friday. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Minneapolis released still photos from online video showing a dark-haired male teen.

"We believe that if we can identify him, we can remove multiple young people from a dangerous environment," he said.
<snip>
“We believe he lived or may have lived in Minnesota or western Wisconsin,” Neudauer said. “It is entirely possible this young man is not currently in Minnesota or Wisconsin, but has either a friend or relative in the area, or recently moved from one of those states.”

Neudauer said the photos are still shots from an online video. In the photograph, the teen is pictured wearing a blue and red Minnesota Twins T-shirt. Other details released by ICE:

The teen is between ages 13 and 19
Photos were taken in a basement
The photos are no more than 18 months to 24 months old, based on the Minnesota logo and when it first appeared in the market (July 2010) – also, it appears faded from several washings.

“Tips have been coming in and we have a good number of leads, but we’re still investigating the case,” he said.

People with information can contact ICE/HSI on their tip line at 866-347-2423 or online at www.ice.gov/tips/
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/22/12363420-federal-agents-help-us-identify-endangered-teen?lite

It never ends.

[MADem]

1. I am giving this a KICK and a REC so more people will put eyes on that kid.

I hope he is found and removed from danger.

[FedUpWithIt All]

2. Taking this to my FB.

Thank you for bringing it to our attention.

I hope they can find these kids and keep them safe.

[seabeyond]

15. good for you. i dont do any of those so i dont think about that. it does need to go

viral.

[TeamPooka]

3. Let me get this straight

The government wants us to help them find a teen boy but won't tell us why?
I don't like to be a conspiracy guy and they could be telling the truth but how do we know this kid didn't hack into some hard drive and knows about their evil plan?
I'm just saying I don't like calling in the feds to pick someone up unless I know why.

[Are_grits_groceries]

5. I thought about that.

Unless he is a hacker extraordinaire who has stolen eleventy billion gigabytes of data and is going to release it somewhere, I don't know why they would want him.
They could be up to no good.
In this case, I'll err on the side of helping a kid in trouble. Gawd help the government if this is another sick trap.

*sigh*

[wickerwoman]

7. It's obviously a child porn ring.

They just busted two big groups in the last six months. They can't say it's an image from a child porn site because they're using a picture of the actual kid and they're trying to protect his privacy. And they said they can remove other kids from danger if they find him, which must mean other kids that have been in pictures/videos. Also the photos "first appeared on the market" in 2010... what market would they be talking about besides black market porn?

[TeamPooka]

8. yeah probably but

if they were after a kid that was a threat to them this is how they would do it.
I remember WARGAMES, this kid could have been playing Thermonuclear War instead of a nice game of chess....

[FedUpWithIt All]

17. Immigrations and Customs Officials have been really cracking down on child sex trafficking and porn.

Both of the following reports were from this month.

After following a cyber trail stemming from an ongoing investigation into possession of child pornography, federal officials in New Jersey said Thursday they now have custody of a Ukrainian man they believe is behind one of the largest international child porn distribution rings.

The probe, which has led to the conviction of more than 560 Americans in 47 states, also brought about the arrest of Maksym Shynkarenko, 33, who is charged with founding and operating a website touting thousands of hardcore sexually explicit images and videos of boys and girls ranging from infants to teenagers, according to Rebekah Carmichael of the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/14/justice/new-jersey-child-porn-arrest/?iref=obinsite

Eighteen victims of child pornography were rescued during a nationwide sweep by federal law enforcement agencies, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced Friday.

The sweep, dubbed Operation Orion, resulted in the arrests of 190 individuals. Most of them were in the U.S., but some were in Argentina, the Philippines, Spain and the United Kingdom, ICE said in a news release. The operation took place from May 1 to May 31.

The arrests were made in 33 states and Puerto Rico, authorities said. Some of the victims were residing in the homes of the persons arrested, ICE spokeswoman Danielle Bennett said.

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/08/justice/child-porn-raid/index.html?iref=obinsite

I feel pretty certain, based on the fact that they say this boy first came to their attention in images from another investigation, that this is related to these recent arrests and rescues.

[gkhouston]

20. There's no good reason to post that link here. You could refer to the post

without including a link to the image. Please edit your post.

[Heddi]

21. NO ONE OPEN THE LINK HE PROVIDED

I did, and I alerted on it (thank god it was deleted but I wish Skinner or admin would delete so that no one can see it)...it's a pic of the boy with a much younger girl...it's a link to child porn, blurred but still any thinking and knowing person would know what it is, and now a link is on my computer :grrr: I alerted the pic to the photo hosting site, but this asshole is putting it all over the internet (he posted a link to it in the MSNBC comments section, too).

[gkhouston]

22. He's been PPR'ed and the post deleted. n/t

[TalkingDog]

10. Given that they claim another child is involved. I'm agreeing with you.

n/t

[FedUpWithIt All]

11. They also stated that they first came across images of this boy in a different investigation.

I just hope that the attention doesn't put this kid in further danger. It sounds like a trafficking issue and human traffickers are not known for being nice people.

My heart is with these kids.

[TeamPooka]

13. tip link goes to Homeland Security page?

I'm a doubter about this story.

[MADem]

27. My guess as well, and that picture is probably cropped. Poor kid.

The child is wearing a SHIRT that is of recent manufacture. Apparently they can identify the "run" of the shirt from some particular characteristics.

[seabeyond]

16. as far out there as it seems, sometimes privacy takes precedents of you curious need to know. nt

[drm604]

4. K&R for visibility.

[clang1]

6. What with the cryptic shit?

Perhaps more information might help them, this seems a losing proposition. Little information and it's on the web. Hmmmpf. I hope if some young people are in danger, they get help. Could be a human trafficking situation.

[Jack Geter]

9. Spam deleted by OKNancy (MIR Team)

[TeamPooka]

12. my Last doubt about this story: ICE

Why is U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) looking for this boy if this is a sex ring investigation?
That would be FBI.
this whole thing smells.

[FedUpWithIt All]

18. As i showed above, ICE has recently been involved with busting several child porn rings.

I suspect their authority is due to the international trafficking usually involved with such things. In one of the rings a Ukrainian man, living in the US, was the distributor of the porn

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/14/justice/new-jersey-child-porn-arrest/?iref=obinsite

I wanted to clarify because it is possible that this boy IS in very real danger and all the conspiracy theories, that are going around message boards and comments pages, may be hindering his, and other vulnerable children's, rescue.

[Tarheel_Dem]

23. You seem awfully interested in shedding doubt to others about the story. Sometimes a....

plea for help is just that; a plea for help. If there are children in danger, responsible people should err on the side of the imperiled children, not give in to Glenn Beck style big government conspiracies.

[TeamPooka]

24. I hope the boys are safe and everyone's gets found.

okay?

[Tarheel_Dem]

25. If that's true, I hope you'll drop the conspiracy crap. Remember it's a Republican trait....

to invent internet folklore & conspiracy theories out of wholecloth.

[TeamPooka]

26. dropped

done

[seabeyond]

14. wow. it breaks my heart to see all of this.... good luck to them. i hope they find the answer. nt