Federal prosecutors investigating child-exploitation crimes announced dismantling the “Lost Boy” Internet bulletin board and the arrests of many of its members on child pornography charges, including a Laguna Beach resident.
Anthony Jasso, 46, named in a federal arrest warrant on Sept. 24, 2009, pleaded guilty in May of this year to conspiracy to advertise child pornography, a felony which carries a minimum 15-year mandatory sentence, said FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller in Los Angeles. He is due to be sentenced in federal court on March 7, she said.
Robert Hartmann, Jasso’s Newport Beach attorney, could not immediately be reached for comment.
“Lost Boy” provided a forum for trading child pornography among men with a sexual interest in young boys, according to an indictment issued by a federal grand jury and filed in U.S. District Court in September 2009. To remain in good standing, each member was required to continue to post images, video or erotic poetry on the site’s password-protected library, the indictment describes.
The court filing says Jasso joined “Lost Boy” in 2007 and has made 262 public posts under the screen name “Bottles&Cans” through January 2009. He signed his messages “Eye Heart Boys,” which also contained an image of a naked minor boy, according to the indictment.
Specifically, the indictment says Jasso posted 59 images in a “boy faves folder” on Nov. 10, 2008, and two more images on Jan. 2, 2009, the 48-page superseding indictment outlines.
