Joe Hogsett Prosecuting Men Involved In International Child Pedophile Ring

Peter Truong (left) and Mark Newton (right) with sexually exploited son they adopted

It's unclear why this case is being handled by U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett in the Southern District of Indiana, but this past week Hogsett's office announced sentencing of 42-year old Mark J. Newton for his role in purchasing a young boy from a Russian surrogate mother and then exploiting him as part of an international child pedophile ring known as Boy Lovers. Judge Sarah Evans Barker sentenced Newton to 40 years in prison, who along with his gay lover Peter Truong, had sexually exploited the boy since he was two years of age.

These vile creatures traveled throughout the world with their young boy and allowed him to be filmed while being sexually abused by other child pedophiles. Judge Barker said Newton deserved a tougher sentence, but she didn't want to subject jurors to the horrifying facts of the case. Initially, the AP said it wouldn't release the men's name in order to protect the identity of the boy.

"This is not a case that lends itself to easy understanding," Barker said during the hearing.

In a quaking voice, the shackled man stood before Barker and apologized, saying "being a father was an honor and a privilege that amounted to the best six years of my life."

"I'm deeply sorry," he added. "And I regret any harm I caused to my son or anyone else."

"Words don't help," Barker responded. "What can be said? What can be done to erase some of the horror of this?"

The judge noted that the man, who has dual U.S.-Australian citizenship, and his Australian domestic partner went to great lengths to "acquire" an infant from a mother in an unspecified foreign country and brainwashed him into thinking the abuse he endured was normal.

Federal prosecutor Steve DeBrota said the crimes occurred in Australia, the U.S, France and Germany. Two other boys were also abused, prosecutors said, though no details were released.

DeBrota said evidence showed at least eight men had sexually abused the boy, including one in Illinois and one in Florida, though other details weren't released.

The man also was ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution to the boy; the man's partner also has been convicted, according to prosecutors, but has not yet been sentenced.

Monica Foster, chief public defender for the Southern Indiana U.S. District, declined comment following the hearing.

Foreign news reports provide more information on the global pedophile ring than U.S. media. The boy's Russian mother sold him to a member of Boy Lovers, back in 2000 for $8,000. Newton adopted the boy with his Australian domestic partner, Peter Truong. News reports indicate that the boy grew up believing that sexual exploitation and abuse was a part of normal life. Police in Queensland unraveled the case when they arrested another child pedophile, who had photos of the boy and his parents on his computer. Examining Internet chat discussions, police in Australia were able to determine that Newton and Truong were the boy's parents. The two left Australia bound for the US in October, 2011 before police could apprehend them. Queensland police alerted U.S. authorities, who raided the men's Los Angeles home in February of last year and placed the young boy in the care of child protective services.

Initially, Newton and Truong insisted they were being targeted by authorities because they were homosexuals. US Postal service inspectors were investigating the Boy Lovers network, and images and video of the boy turned up in that investigation. The two had meticulously encrypted information on their computer hard drives, but Truong, who is still awaiting sentencing, eventually began cooperating with police and provided them password information to access the incriminating evidence.

There is still no explanation why their cases are being prosecuted in Indianapolis by Hogsett's office. According to news reports, two other men, American residents John R Powell, 41, a Florida-based lawyer, and Jason Bettuo, a 36-year-old Michigan tennis coach, have also been charged. According to Hogsett,  Newton and Truong travelled to San Francisco to meet with Powell and Bettuo who filmed themselves having sex with the boy. Powell had also travelled to the couple's home in Australia earlier to do the same.

"Personally.. I think this is probably the worst (pedophile) rings.. if not the worst ring I've ever heard of,’’ USPIS Investigator Brian Bone said. “For more than one year and across three continents, these men submitted this young child to some of the most heinous acts of exploitation this child has ever seen,’’ Mr Hogsett said after the court hearing.

Mark and Peter have claimed that Mark is the biological father of the boy born to the Russian mother, who acted as a surrogate. They claim the mother turned the child over to them when he was five years old; however, prosecutors found evidence the two had exploited him as early as age two. It is unclear where the two men found the money to live a lifestyle that allowed them to travel the world. “There was no real money trail that indicates they are in a form of employment that would sustain the lifestyle they’ve had and you can draw your own conclusion with respect to the amount of travel they’ve done and where they’ve been and the purpose of that travel,” Insp Rouse said.

It is interesting that a multi-millionaire Indianapolis businessman with ties to Indiana's top Democrats, Joe Miller, committed suicide in August, 2010. Various theories have circulated about the reason for his decision to abruptly end his life. Miller's Great Lakes Products illegally marketed and sold poppers around the world, a recreational drug inhalant popular in the gay community. There were some indications that his business had been raided by the feds. There are conflicting reports on the reason for the raid, which has never been acknowledged by any law enforcement agency. One friend says Miller feared he was about to be prosecuted as a pedophile, while others think his popper business was under investigation. A source close to Miller claimed he sold his popper business shortly before killing himself. Before his death, Miller split his time between a home in downtown Indianapolis and a second home in Los Angeles. Sources claim Miller, who enjoyed frequent international travel, preyed on young boys in third world countries. The circumstances surrounding Miller's illicit activities and death were completely covered up by local news media in Indianapolis.

Miller was a known pedophile who was arrested back in the 1970s for having sex with two young Johnson Co. boys while he was employed as a grand jury bailiff by former Marion Co. Prosecutor James Kelley, who Miller claimed to police had hired and used him as his personal Greek slave. Miller, who was in his 20s at the time, claimed that he traveled around the country and to Canada with Kelley on sex-filled trips. In his book, "Deadline: Indianapolis," former Indianapolis Star reporter Dick Cady said Miller was known as a chicken hawk because of his taste for young boys.

The pedophile charges against Miller were dropped after the boys' parents refused to let them cooperate in the case. Miller's business partner, a former Eli Lilly employee who provided the recipe and process for manufacturing the poppers sold by Miller's business, at the time had also been linked to a male prostitution service that exploited runaway gay youths, which went by the name Rent-A-Man.

Kelley did not seek re-election as prosecutor in 1978 after the Indianapolis Star disclosed that he had been present at a party in Woodruff Place where three gay men who worked at an Indianapolis gay bar, Deja Vu, were later found shot to death that same night in a field up in Hamilton County. Kelley had asked a roommate of one of the men to lie to police about his presence at the party on the fateful night. At the time of the killings, Miller's poppers were being manufactured in a back room at the Deja Vu night club. It is believed that authorities agreed not to press further investigation of Kelley after Miller had provided damaging information about his relationship with him to police. Kelley agreed not to seek re-election and moved to Washington, D.C. after leaving office where he worked as an attorney for the federal government.

Prominent members of the Indianapolis community, including former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and socialite Bren Simon, attended a memorial service held in honor of Miller's life at which former Gov. Joe Kernan delivered a eulogy. Kernan told of travelling with Miller to Vietnam where Kernan had once been held as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In September, 2009, Indiana Stonewall Democrats honored Miller at a reception held at the home of former Indianapolis City-County Councilor Jackie Nytes, who now runs the Indianapolis library. Joe Hogsett, a friend of Miller, attended the reception along with a number of other prominent local Democrats.

It's interesting that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for ordering the end to the adoption of Russian children by American citizens. If this sort of thing is happening to adopted children, you can't blame him for not wanting Russian children adopted by American citizens.

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