GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A Grand Rapids man has been sentenced to five year in prison for trading child pornography on the “dark web.”
Seth Piccolo, 44, pleaded guilty in May to distribution of child pornography. He was sentenced in U.S. District court in Grand Rapids.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Miles, Jr. says that Piccolo was a member of a website that operated on the “dark web”, which is a group of websites that are only accessible by specialized software that is highly encrypted and hides the identity of users. To get on this website, Piccolo had to apply to be a member by uploading images from his own collection of child pornography. The site was found by Australian law enforcement in cooperation with the FBI.
The attorney’s office says that the FBI and Australian authorities have identified hundreds of other members of the website from around the world.
