The website JustinsFriends.com and its creator Justin Berry, currently a 20 year old man from California, have recently received a lot of national media attention. Eichenwald has told a riveting story which has captured the hearts, minds and fears of every parent. In well written prose he tells us of ,
“the secret life of a teenager who was lured into selling images of his body on the Internet.”
He talks about a virtual universe that preyed on Justin. In this universe,
“adults hunt for minors on legitimate sites used by Webcam owners who post contact information in hopes of attracting friends. If children respond to messages, adults spend time ‘grooming’ them — with praise, attention and gifts — before seeking to persuade them to film themselves pornographically.”
But the second half of the story reveals a much different portrait of Justin; a portrait that Eichenwald barely takes notice of and has chosen not to examine at all (though other media sources are beginning to take notice). With the development and marketing of his MexicoFriends.com site Justin, though still 16 at the time, was deep into his transition from victim to perpetrator in this story. Justin was no longer being ‘groomed’ by adults hunting for minors, but was instead the perpetrator ‘grooming’ others by offering what he advertised to be legal gay content. (See www.archive.org for archived versions of these sites.)
“Justin was now 18, a
legal adult. He had crossed the line from underage victim to adult perpetrator.”
In July of 2004, the month that Justin turns 18, the domain name JustinsFriends.com is registered. Justin proceeds to build and advertise a gay adult porn site and apparently starts populating this site with images and videos of underage actors. He has thus completed the transition to a full blown perpetrator.
It is at this point that most of the 1500 subscribers talked about by Eichenwald first enter the picture. As Eichenwald notes:
“From the seduction
that began that day, this soccer-playing honor roll student was drawn into
performing in front of the Webcam — undressing, showering, masturbating and
even having sex — for an audience of more than 1,500 people who paid him, over
the years, hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
Using a broad brush in his analysis of the situation, Eichenwald has chosen to lump the 1500 subscribers to JustinsFriends.com (and MexicoFriends.com) into the same group of individuals who first lured Justin into performing pornographic acts. Eichenwald has successfully tagged the site JustinsFriends.com – in the minds of the media and their subscribers – with the moniker of “Child Porn” and the subscribers to that site as “pedophiles.”
“By 2000, things had worked out exactly the way the pedophiles hoped. Webcams were the rage among computer-savvy minors, creating a bountiful selection of potential targets.”
In exchange for immunity from prosecution Justin Berry, with the assistance and legal aid of The Times, has approached federal officials with an offer to turn in these 1500 individuals in exchange for complete immunity from multiple crimes including the creation of the pornography in question. The Department of Justice (DOJ) under pressure from The Times took the extraordinary step of providing immunity to the person responsible for the creation of the alleged child pornography and the individual who was also the primary financial beneficiary of the website. According to Justin the website he created contained videos of underage individuals.
“Justin created a new
Web site, justinsfriends.com, featuring performances by him and other boys he
helped recruit. But as videos featuring other minors appeared on his site,
Justin felt torn, knowing these adolescents were on the path that had hurt him
so badly.”
The recent media coverage of
this event has greatly misrepresented the truth. The facts of the matter are,
regardless of what happened to Mr.
As a result of Mr.
“I sure think that you
would want law enforcement to go get search warrants and go get the computers
of all those people and leave their wives and daughters and other people in
their house asking that person why it was that the FBI, or ICE or postal
service (who do excellent work) had dropped by to seize it.”
The first of these people to be
arrested and wrongfully accused is Timothy Richards (“Casey”). Casey was the
web host administrator providing assistance to Justin and the first person to
be arrested in the chain of many misled by Mr.
Over the past several months the
friends and family of Casey have launched their own investigation into Justin
Berry’s businesses. Over the course of this investigation we have learned of many
people that have information or tips which may help in discovering the truth. This
website is being offered as a direct way to contact Casey’s family with whatever
data you are willing to share. Since Casey appears to be the first innocent
participant in Berry’s businesses arrested to date, this case may help
determine if others will be arrested and prosecuted for their participation in
or subscribing to JustinsFriends.com. It is the hope of Casey that we uncover
the full truth in this matter. We would
appreciate any help that you may provide. Together we can do the work the
government has failed to do and perform a full investigation into the dealings
of Mr.
We would like to assure you that
any information you submit will be handled in a professional matter and be
investigated fully. Under no circumstance will your personal information be
shared with the media. It is our ultimate goal to protect the innocent members
of the gay community being falsely targeted and mislabeled by the media as
“pedophiles” in order to promote any upcoming books or movies on the Justin
Berry story.
Help Us Gather Information
Any data that you can provide that will help us uncover the truth is greatly appreciated.
Evidence Submit Form
