War, Porn Web Site Creator Arrested

LAKELAND -- Polk County sheriff's deputies Friday night arrested the creator of a Web site that stirred international controversy with its alleged swap of free access to pornography for pictures from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including dead and mutilated Iraqi and Afghan war dead.

Chris Wilson ran the Web site, the name of which contains an unprintable word, from his apartment at the Glen Cove Apartment Complex on Edgewood Drive.

In September, when news reports of the site began to surface, Wilson insisted that because the site actually is hosted in Amsterdam, he was not violating any laws in Polk County.

"Nice try," Brad Copley, a prosecutor with the State Attorney's Office, who specializes in obscenity and sex crime cases, said Friday night. "He's in charge of the Web site. He lives here. He's operating from his house. It doesn't matter where his server is."

Wilson, a former Eagle Lake police officer, was arrested on charges of obscenity, but not for the pictures of the war dead.

However, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, "We have notified the Army's criminal investigation division. We will forward to them any investigative documents they deem appropriate if they open an investigation."

The Army opened an investigation into the site in September, but then quickly dropped it. Investigators said they did not have sufficient evidence to prove that American military personnel had sent in the gruesome pictures.

As he was led from his apartment in handcuffs Friday night, Wilson, asked to comment, said only "I love my lawyer."

That lawyer, Lawrence Walters of Orlando, is a veteran First Amendment litigator, who has battled the Polk Sheriff's Office and Copley before in an obscenity case.

He said Wilson had sought him out prior to the arrest. And deputies said they found evidence that Wilson was researching speech and obscenity cases similar to his.

All that suggests Wilson may have expected trouble from local law enforcement.

As Walters said, "I'm not surprised (by the arrest), but disappointed. This is clearly retaliation for disseminating graphic news accounts and footage from Iraq and Afghanistan. There are hundreds of thousands of adult Web sites, including in Central Florida and Polk County, and my client is singled out. It smacks of selective enforcement."

He added, "I would hope that one wouldn't face the wrath of the legal system just merely because some police officers wanted to be on television."

Walters said that the law protects Wilson's site as legitimate speech and that his client has done nothing wrong.

Wilson's Web site advertises itself as primarily being dedicated to amateur pornography.

Wilson claims that soldiers serving overseas were trying to get access to his Web site, but were not able to use their credit cards from Iraq and Afghanistan.

He made an offer on the Web site that if they posted pictures proving they were military serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, he would give them free access to the paid sections of the Web site.

For about six or seven months, people claiming to be members of the military have been sending in pictures of life overseas, ranging from picturesque scenery to hideous pictures of people burned black and unrecognizable, or with body parts mangled or blown apart.

According to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, the area that includes pornographic pictures was equally distasteful.

"Normal people don't have the ability to imagine how perverse and horrific these images were," he said. "It certainly is content that shocks the community."

According to Copley, many of the pictures of women clearly were taken without their knowledge or consent.

"There's revenge photos all over the Web site. Boyfriends posting pictures of ex-girlfriends, pictures taken from hidden cameras," he said.

Deputies arrived shortly before 5 p.m. with a warrant to search the apartment, Judd said.

They seized three computers, a laptop computer, recording equipment, a digital camera and tripod, several women's costumes, including a nun costume and a frilly costume with an apron, and other materials, according to Deputy Sandy Scherer.

Depending on what sheriff's deputies find on the computers, more charges could be pending, Judd said.

"It's important to recognize that this is only the beginning of the investigation, not the end."

Judd said his office began to investigate the site after it became aware of it through news reports.

"In my 33 years of law enforcement, this was one of the more horrific examples of obscene materials that the Sheriff's Office has ever encountered," Judd said.

After reviewing and downloading pictures from the Web site, the State Attorney's Office presented the pictures to County Judge Angela Cowden, Judd said.

Copley then filed 301 criminal charges against Wilson.

He was arrested on charges of 100 counts of distribution or transmission of obscene materials, 100 counts of offering to distribute or transmit obscene materials, 100 counts of possession of obscene materials. All of those are misdemeanors.

He faces one felony count of wholesale promotion of obscene materials.

The misdemeanors carry a potential penalty of up to one year in jail each, and the felony carries a potential penalty of up to five years in state prison.

Walters criticized the number of misdemeanors filed, saying the Web site itself should have constituted one count only.

"It smacks of charge stacking," he said.

Wilson was booked into the Polk County Jail on $151,000 bail.

Dana Willhoit can be reached at dana.willhoit@theledger.com or 863-802-7550. Ledger editor Billy Townsend contributed to this story.