Pittsburgh Woman charged in porn case
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Washington County woman has been accused of using the Internet to distribute stories that describe children -- some as young as 2 years old -- being kidnapped, sexually molested and murdered.
Karen Fletcher, 54, of Meldon Avenue, Donora, was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday on six counts of transportation of obscene matters, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said.
"This case is a very important part of our efforts to prosecute people who exploit children," Buchanan said. "Use of the Internet to distribute obscene stories like these not only violates federal law, they embolden sex offenders who would target children."
Free speech specialists, however, question whether the charges will stick because there don't appear to be any child victims.
Contacted at her home Wednesday, Fletcher said federal authorities "didn't like my site." She said she was not aware of the indictment and otherwise declined comment on the charges.
Fletcher is accused of operating a Web site featuring excerpts of "extremely explicit and graphic stories" that could be downloaded by purchasing a $10 monthly subscription, according to investigators.
The indictment against Fletcher alleges that on Aug. 8, 2005, she used an interactive computer service to distribute half a dozen stories about adults having sex with children between 2 and 9 years old.
Fletcher told a pair of FBI agents who interviewed her at her home on Feb. 11, 2005 that she owned what she described as a "fantasy site" on which she posts "sexually explicit stories about adults having sex with children," according to court papers.
Ken Vandevelde, a law professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego, questioned whether prosecutors could win a case if they attempted to prove that Fletcher trafficked in child pornography.
"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that so-called 'virtual porn' -- drawings or computer generated images of children engaged in sex -- cannot be treated as child pornography because no child was involved in its production," said Vandevelde. "It seems reasonable that the same would apply to the written word."
"I find it very troubling that a fictional account, somebody's fantasy, could be considered a crime when there is no indication that anybody has been exploited," said Joan Bertin, executive director of the New York-based National Coalition Against Censorship.
"I can't defend this material because I haven't seen it, but I question the role of government in deciding when material, even if most people would consider it over the top, is appropriate for adults to write or read," Bertin said.
Fletcher is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court on Oct. 17. If convicted, she could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine.
In the past several years, the U.S. Justice Department has intensified its prosecution of obscenity cases.
Last year, Buchanan asked a federal appeals court to reinstate charges against a California couple whose company, Extreme Associates, was accused of violating federal law by using the U.S. Postal Service and the Internet to send videos depicting graphic scenes of rape and murder into Western Pennsylvania. A 10-count indictment against the company and its owners had been dismissed by a federal judge.
In December, the court ruled that the charges against Robert Zicari and Janet Romano and their company be reinstated. The couple's attorney, H. Louis Sirkin, subsequently filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case. The petition, however, was denied.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.