IL- MySpace sex offender gets life in prison

The second article below indicates this man may be the FIRST sex offender convicted of a crime, resulting from MySpace providing RSO accounts to state Attorney Generals. There is a question of search warrant grounds as I see it..

UPDATE: See possible theory in very last news article below. Also, he did nothing wrong while on MySpace...


7-18-2009 Illinois:

EAST ST. LOUIS - A Granite City man whose arrest was triggered by an inquiry into sex offenders on MySpace was sentenced to life in prison Friday on child porn and other charges, federal prosecutors said.

Carl Courtright III was one of the names that popped up after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and other attorneys general asked the social networking site to cull their members for sex offenders.

After Courtright was identified, investigators looked at his online profile and got a search warrant for his home.

A search warrant? On what grounds, they say they looked at his profile. If anyone has more on this case please forward it.

There they found evidence that he had taken photos of a young girl and downloaded sexually explicit photos and videos of children, federal prosecutors said, including videos of young children being raped.

They also found a fake ID and a “To Catch a Predator” DVD, a TV show featuring stings designed to catch people looking for sex with children.

Courtright was convicted in Madison County in 2000 of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl and got three years of probation.

Investigators also found evidence that Courtright was depositing fake checks purporting to be donations to his online ministry, triggering a bank fraud charge.

After a five-day trial in March, Courtright was convicted of one count of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of bank fraud. ..Source.. by sltToday.com




Granite City sex offender sentenced to life

7-18-2009 Illinois:

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A federal judge has sentenced a Granite City man to life plus 10 years in prison for the production of child pornography and other offenses.

U.S. Attorney Courtney Cox announced the sentence against registered sex offender Carl Courtright III on Friday.

After a five-day trial in March, a U.S. District Court jury convicted Courtright on one count of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of bank fraud.

The 37-year-old Courtright is believed to be the first sex offender in the country to be charged with new offenses stemming from subscriber information disclosed by the social networking Web site MySpace. ..Source.. by AP




Illinois Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Production of Child Pornography and Other Offenses

7-17-2009 Illinois:

WASHINGTON, July 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Carl Courtright III, of Granite City, Ill., was sentenced today to life plus 10 years in prison for production of child pornography and other offenses, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Courtney Cox announced.

A federal jury convicted Courtright of one count of production of child pornography, two counts of possession of child pornography, one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of bank fraud following a five-day trial in March 2009.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that the investigation of Courtright began when Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan required social networking site MySpace.com to provide information regarding all registered sex offenders in her state who were maintaining profiles on the site.

Courtright was identified as someone who had a MySpace profile, and further investigation prompted investigators to seek a search warrant for his residence.

Again, warrant was issued on what grounds? It appears that, merely having a MySpace account was the only grounds to issue warrant?

Evidence presented at trial showed that when the warrant was executed, law enforcement agents discovered evidence that Courtright had caused a local female child to engage in sexually explicit conduct and photographed the activity; downloaded and possessed child pornography videos and photographs including videos of prepubescent children being raped by adult males; and engaged in a bank fraud scheme involving his production of counterfeit checks that Courtright deposited into an account at Regions Bank as "donations" to an online ministry he maintains.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole E. Gorovsky of the Southern District of Illinois and Trial Attorney James Silver of CEOS. The case was investigated by the Granite City, Ill., Police Department; the State of Illinois Attorney General's Office; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; the Illinois Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force; the Madison County, Ill., Sheriff's Department; the Alton, Ill., Police Department; the Bethalto, Ill., Police Department; the FBI Metro East Cyber Crime Task Force; and CEOS' High Tech Investigative Unit. ..Source.. by PRNewswire


UPDATE: Thanks to the reder who forwarded this article.

MySpace sex offender sentenced to life in prison

A registered sex offender from Granite City, who is believed to be the first sex offender in the country to be charged with new offenses stemming from subscriber information disclosed by the social networking Web site MySpace, was sentenced Friday to life plus 10 years in prison for producing child pornography.

A federal jury in East St. Louis convicted Carl Courtright III, 37, of producing and possessing child pornography, as well as one count of bank fraud, according to Courtney Cox, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.

In 2007, law enforcement agents discovered that Courtright had produced child pornography using a local victim, downloaded and possessed child pornography on two computers and engaged in bank fraud.

Evidence presented at trial revealed that Courtright had caused a local female child to engage in sexually explicit conduct and photographed the activity. He also downloaded pornographic videos and photographs of prepubescent children being raped by adult males.

The bank fraud scheme involved Courtright's production of counterfeit checks, which he deposited into a Regions Bank as "donations" to an online ministry he maintained.

In May 2007, attorneys general throughout the country, including Illinois, began issuing subpoenas to MySpace for the names of any registered sex offenders who had pages on the Internet-based social network.

The IP address for Courtright (presumably the one provided by MySpace), who was charged in 1999 with child pornography and sexual assault, led investigators to the discovery that his computer was linked to evidence of child pornography being traded on the Internet.

As best I can figure, they are saying they had another investigation going on, and by coincidence his IP address matched up. Anyone else have a different idea?

Even assuming that, this story that MySpace turning over RSO accounts aided in his capture is a trumped up story to give credence to what the AGs did.

Either way, there is still a question of the grounds for the search warrant, in my eyes; something smells here.

The Illinois attorney general said in 2008 that Courtright was the first sex offender in the nation to be charged with new offenses stemming from subscriber information disclosed by MySpace. ..Source.. by Maria Baran