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More US porn arrests possible: Qld police
AAP August 11, 2013, 12:21 pm
More arrests could be made in the US as part of an international child pornography investigation which began in Queensland, police say.
Richard Hastings, 21, and Robert Hastings, 18, of Mayfield, New York, were arrested by US police on Thursday after allegedly sending child pornography to a Queensland police officer posing as a pedophile online.
The officer tipped off US law enforcement agencies, and Queensland Detective Senior Sergeant Stephen Loth believes there could be more arrests.
"You can never fully close out an investigation," he told reporters in Brisbane.
"I would suspect that there would be ongoing investigations in relation to the networks that these offenders were in and potentially other communications that they've had.
"However, that matter is now a US matter and how they would undertake their ongoing investigation is up to them."
Det Snr Sgt Loth said tracking down online predators was difficult work, but the safety of children was always critical.
"Officers undertake a number of training courses that allows them to do that and there's a number of internal process and policies to ensure their welfare is looked after," he said.
"It's certainly confronting work, doing online investigations and posing as an online sex offender."
The brothers are also accused of making a sexually explicit video of the child.
If found guilty of the two counts of producing child pornography they face a statutory minimum sentence of 15 years' jail and a maximum of 30 years.
