Good news for Ringling! Spanky the clown arrested on porn charges

[Guest guest]

I never did like clowns. CNN.com - Spanky the clown arrested on porn charges - May 26, 2004 From Terry FriedenCNN Washington Bureau Wednesday, May 26,

2004 Posted: 9:27 PM EDT (0127 GMT) Thomas Allen Riccio appears in character as "Spanky" before a performance in Florida last year. Legal Transcription ServicesQuick and thorough Legal Transcription services that will stand up in court. We...www.bureauhq.com Time & Billing SoftwareTime is Money! Track it Easily & Accurately. Free Trail Software.www.BillQuick.com Online Law SchoolNorthwestern Calif. University School of Law offers law degrees 100% online....www.nwculaw.edu Legal Software for Attorney BillingLegal billing software designed by lawyers for lawyers. Try BSA free and see how...www.seabill.com VIDEO The charges stem from a child pornography investigation. PLAY VIDEO YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions. Manage alerts | What is this?

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Spanky, a clown with the renowned Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, has been arrested on charges stemming from a child pornography investigation, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. Spanky, whose real name is Thomas Allen Riccio, 23, of Jacksonville, Florida, made an initial state court appearance Monday in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where he was traveling with the circus, the officials said. He faces 10 counts of third degree sexual exploitation of a minor. The arrest Friday was the latest in an ongoing international probe of rs to a child pornography Web site that was shut down in an international raid last July. U.S. Customs agents leading the investigation worked with North

Carolina authorities in making the arrest, officials said. Teachers, camp counselors and others with access to children have been high on the priority list for customs officials. Agents have arrested hundreds of people in recent months, after obtaining tens of thousands of names from a credit card billing company allegedly involved in handling payments for Internet porn sites. The investigation, dubbed Operation Predator, linked Riccio to a company in Belarus that provided the billing services for more than 50 child porn Web sites worldwide, officials said. In announcing the arrest, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that when agents searched Riccio's computer, they discovered "thousands of images, many of which involve prepubescent children engaged in various sexual and lewd acts.This man's profession as Spanky the clown brought him into contact with hundreds of families," said agent Albert

Fitchett Jr. in Wilmington, North Carolina. "Behind the clown nose, however, this man appears to have been supporting an industry that trades in the exploitation of children." If you have men who will exclude any of god's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. --St. Francis of Assisi

Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles.Visit the Auto Green Center.