Spokane man suspect in child porn ring

A Spokane man is one of a dozen suspects arrested as part of a “highly sophisticated and well-organized” nationwide ring that distributed child pornography on the Internet using encrypted files, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

Warren King Mumpower was arrested Friday by FBI agents who searched his home at 1429 E. Courtland and seized computer equipment, authorities said.

He was ordered held without bond after an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Imbrogno. He will be transported by the U.S. Marshals Service to Florida, where he faces federal child pornography charges.

Mumpower and 11 other suspects were indicted by a federal grand jury in Pensacola, Fla., on charges of engaging in a criminal enterprise that advertised, transported and shipped child pornography over a two-year period.

If convicted, each defendant faces a minimum of 20 years to life in prison.

“The group utilized sophisticated encryption methods to avoid detection and traded over 400,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse,” a Department of Justice news release said in describing the ring.

Court records say Mumpower and the others “operated surreptitiously by using encryption techniques in order to thwart law enforcement from discovering the nature of the conspiracy.”

But in August 2006, investigators were able to “infiltrate the conspiracy undetected,” allowing them to monitor the “active advertisement, transportation, shipment, receipt and discussions of child pornography images and videos.”

Mumpower, 63, has a previous conviction in Florida for child molestation and served prison time. Despite that felony conviction, records show he was a registered voter in Spokane County.

Since moving to Eastern Washington from Florida, apparently in the late 1980s, Mumpower has lived at least six addresses in Spokane and three in Spokane Valley. He was active in the “garden railroad” community, which combines gardening with model railroading, according to various Internet postings.

Warren Weber, 56, of Boise, and Ruble Keys, 55, of Medford, Ore., also were arrested as part of the investigation.

Others arrested are: Michael Berger, 33, of Mechanicsville, Va.; James Freeman, 47, of Santa Rosa Beach, Fla.; Gary Lakey, 54, of Anderson, Ind.; Marvin Lambert, 33, of Indianapolis; Neville McGarity, 40, of Medina, Texas; John Mosman, 46, of Waterbury, Conn.; Raymond Roy, 54, of San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; Erik Wayerski, 46, of Round Rock, Texas, and Ronald White, 59, of Burlington, N.C.