Man behind largest child pornography website sentenced to 30 years in prison

After an unprecedented investigation by the FBI, the creator and lead administrator of Playpen, considered the world’s largest child pornography website, was recently sentenced to 30 years in prison. Over 500 other people all over the world were arrested during the investigation.

Steven W. Chase, 58, of Naples, Florida, created Playpen in August 2014 on the Tor network, where users can communicate anonymously through “hidden service” websites. Chase ran the Playpen website, where members uploaded and viewed tens of thousands of postings of young victims, indexed by age, sex, and the type of sexual activity involved.

According to a FBI press release, the case opened shortly after Steven Chase launched Playpen in the summer of 2014. Agent Dan Alfin, who investigated the case as part of the Bureau’s Violent Crimes Against Children section, says the FBI could not do very much, because of how Tor’s hidden services work. Chase eventually slipped up, when, in December 2014, he Playpen’s unique IP address in the U.S., and the FBI was notified.

After Chase and the other administrators were arrested, the FBI launched in January 2015 Operation Pacifier, an effort to go after Playpen’s thousands of members. Agents uncovered IP addresses and other information that helped locate and identify users. Investigators sent more than 1,000 leads to FBI field offices around the country and thousands more to overseas partners.

Arrests and other enforcement actions have occurred in countries all over the world. Europol reported arrests, along with Israel, Turkey, Peru, Malaysia, Chile, and the Ukraine. International agencies critical to the investigation included CNCPO Polizia Postale e Comunicazioni of Italian State Police​, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency, and New Zealand’s Department of Internal Affairs.

FBI says up until now, at least 350 U.S.-based individuals were arrested, 25 producers of child pornography and 51 hands-on abusers were prosecuted. Also, 55 American children and 296 sexually abused children were successfully identified or rescued. Overall, the investigation led to 548 international arrests.

Chase was sentenced in North Carolina in connection with engaging in a child exploitation enterprise and multiple child pornography charges. His sentencing follows those of another two administrators on the website: Michael Fluckiger, 46, of Indiana, and David Browning, 47, of Kentucky. Each were given 20-year prison terms earlier this year.

The Playpen site has been down for more than two years. But similar sites continue to operate and proliferate on the dark web.