SALEM, OR (KPTV) -
A nationwide search for a "Jane Doe" child pornography suspect led federal officers to arrest a husband and wife from Salem on Tuesday.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers said photos of a female child pornography suspect were shared with news and social media websites recently along with a call for help in hopes of identifying the woman in the photos.
Officials said the news coverage and the sharing of the photos on Facebook led an acquaintance to identify 40-year-old Michelle Freeman as the Jane Doe in the photos. Freeman and her husband, 39-year-old Michael Freeman, then surrendered to Salem police after learning she had been recognized, ICE officials said.
"I see the dad coming out in handcuffs," said neighbor George Self. "(Investigators) were here for an hour and a half flipping the house; they took a bunch of computers and stuff like that out of the house."
"I can't overstate the public assistance that we got in this case," said Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent In Charge Brad Bench. "When the media released the photos and it spread virally on Facebook and some other (outlets), that's what ultimately led to them turning themselves in."
The Freemans are accused of producing child porn videos featuring themselves engaging in sexual contact with two children under the age of 10 who were known to them.
The videos were first found by Homeland Security investigators in June 2011 in a separate investigation. Months later, FBI special agents in Denver, also conducting an unrelated investigation, found more photos showing the same children with the Freemans, police said.
Court documents said the Freemans made the videos in the bedroom of their Salem home and traded the images online for other child pornography pictures and videos.
The special agent investigating the case said Michael Freeman told him he was in a "bad place" and admitted to taking nude photos and videos of a 9-year-old girl performing sex acts, according to the criminal complaint filed in the case.
The documents also say he stated, "I started it. Somehow she (Michelle Freeman) got involved."
The Freemans made their first court appearance Wednesday and face charges of sexual exploitation of children for the production of child pornography.
"Cases like this strike at the heart of all of us," U.S. attorney S. Amanda Marshall said. "These arrests mark the culmination of a coast to coast, multi-agency investigation into allegations of horrendous acts of child sexual abuse and exploitation."
So far, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has found more than 200 unique photos and two videos showing the victims.
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