Indictment in Alleged Child Pornography Case

File photo by Wendy Osher.

By Wendy Osher

A federal grand jury in Honolulu returned an indictment on Wednesday, charging John Ridgely Tucker, 56, with six counts of producing child pornography.

According to the indictment, Tucker allegedly used and enticed two minor children, to produce six images of child pornography in 2008.

According to an affidavit filed on October 11, 2012, in support of the complaint, the following assertions were made by US Attorney for the District of Hawai’i, Florence Nakakuni:

• The FBI Honolulu Division initiated an investigation after receiving three images of child pornography from the National Center of Missing and Exploited Children. The images depicted two minor children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, and appeared to show a telephone book issued by Hawaiian Telephone Company for the Big Island of Hawai’i.
• In an unrelated case in Phoenix, Arizona, FBI agents recovered the same images, as well as an image of the two minors with an adult male.  The picture of the male was forwarded to the FBI Honolulu office, which put out a press release asking the public to identify him.
• On October 10, 2012, the FBI received information identifying the adult male in the photos.

The grand jury indictment contains six charges, each of which carries a minimum penalty of 15 years in jail, and up to 30 years in prison, and a potential lifetime term of supervised release.

Officials with the US Department of Justice say the charges in the indictment are merely accusations, and Tucker is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Tucker was arrested and ordered detained without bail.