A Florida man whom federal prosecutors say was the creator and lead administrator of what is reportedly the world’s largest child pornography website was sentenced to 30 years behind bars Friday.
Steven W. Chase, 58, of Naples, was handed down the sentence after he was convicted of multiple child pornography and child exploitation charges, the Daily Mail reported.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said Chase created a website called “Playpen” on an open Internet network called Tor, where anonymous users communicate with each other through “hidden service” websites.
Chase ran the site, which boasted more than 150,000 users worldwide, according to the FBI.
The FBI and Europol said they had arrested nearly 900 suspected pedophiles involved with the site and rescued almost 300 children from their abusers in the investigation that led to Playpen’s downfall.
In December 2014, Chase revealed Playpen’s IP address, which law enforcement overseas picked up and reported to the FBI, the Associated Press reported.
The FBI launched an investigation into the site in January 2015 called “Operation Pacifier” to track down Playpen’s members, which were reportedly in the thousands.
The agency found over the course of the investigation that Chase was the administrator of it, and arrested him in February 2015. In the two weeks following his arrest, the FBI took control of the website so they could identify the abusers and the victims.
The case had sparked debate about whether it was legal for the FBI to keep the site running while children were still being harmed.
A federal judge ruled in a January 2017 that although the FBI agents who took over the site “acted outrageously,” the prosecution could still proceed with the case, the Seattle Times reported.
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