Benjamin Luscher of Bear, Delaware is the "photographer/videoographer/webmaster" of a child modeling agency know as Admiral Fashion Moda.
Luscher's website is connected with other child modelling agencies that exploit children, such as "The People Image."
Luscher's association with illegitimate agencies such as these, cast doubts over his own intentions and agency.
When the Webe Web Corporation was still active, Greenberg and Libman would promote their "child modeling" websites on forum known as the "Babble Club." Similar to how forums such as the Web Models Supporters Forum does today:
Webe Web also admitted that it promoted subscriptions to these individual sites through its free advertising website known as Babble Club. On Babble Club’s website, members could receive a free sample of images of the children. According to court documents, the website encouraged the purchase of subscriptions to the individual websites of the children, and hosted discussion boards and groups which were devoted to each individual website. Babble Club members made postings to the discussion boards, which included comments on specific images they liked, the type of clothing and poses they liked, and poetry written to the photographed child. Certain members posted expressions of fondness and devotion for a photographed child.
After the arrest and subsequent imprisonment of the owners of Webe Web Corporation, one of the former administrators from Babble Club, went on to set up a new forum known as "BabbleCafe" in homage to the original Babble Club forums and Webe Web. BabbleCafe, like its predecessor is frequented by pedophiles that collect and trade images of prepubescent children. BabbleCafe is owned and operated by Jerry Rico of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada.
Jerry Rico AKA BuffMan, administrator for Babble Club and owner of BabbleCafe
In our previous post we introduced Webe Web Corporation, a child modeling agency which was brought down in 2006 as the result of a federal investigation. Like many child modeling agencies, Webe Web was comprised of photographers operating out of various different parts of the country and abroad. One of the photographers for Webe Web was Barbara Winnubst of Simpsonville, South Carolina, who after the collapse of Webe Web, set up her own agency known as "Southern Glamour Girls" and continued to operate.
In 1999, Marc Evan Greenberg and Jeffrey Robert Libman of Fort Lauderdale, Florida formed the Webe Web Corporation. A business which was to be the first of it's kind, marketing images of semi-naked prepubescent girls to pedophiles over the internet. Greenberg and Libman thought they'd found a goldmine, allegedly generating millions of dollars in profit from their new-found business; however everything became undone in 2006 when one of their photographers, Jeff Pierson of Brookwood, Alabama plead guilty to child pornography charges:
The ensuing investigation into Jeff Pierson sparked an even bigger investigation into the Webe Web Corporation which ended in 2011 with Greenberg, Libman and Pierson being sentenced to prison for a variety of crimes against children:
Marc Evan Greenberg: president and co-director of Webe Web Corporation
Marc Evan Greenberg, 45, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., pleaded guilty in the
Northern District of Alabama on April 21, 2010, to one count of money
laundering.
Webe Web pleaded guilty on April 21, 2010, to one count of
conspiracy to produce child pornography and 16 counts of transporting
child pornography.
U.S. District Court Judge C. Lynwood Smith also sentenced
Greenberg to three years of supervised release to follow his prison term
and ordered Greenberg to pay $900,000 in restitution to six victims.
According to court documents, Webe Web was the registered owner of the
website "www.childsupermodels.com," which purported to be a child
modeling website that promoted models 7 through 16 years old and their
photographers. It contained hyperlinks to websites containing
photographs of individual “child super models” featuring minor female
children in various poses and wardrobes.
Jeffrey Robert Libman: vice president and co-director of Webe Web Corporation
The vice president and co-director of Webe Web, Jeffrey Robert Libman,
pleaded guilty on Sept. 15, 2010, to 16 counts of transporting child
pornography and was sentenced on Dec. 17, 2010, to 108 months in prison.
Jeff Pierson: photographer for Webe Web Corporation
According to court documents, the photographs of the 16 victims in this
case were taken by Jeff Pierson, a former photographer based in the
Birmingham, Ala., area.
Pierson pleaded guilty in January 2007 to conspiracy to transport child pornography and transportation of child pornography.
Another child modeling agency that appears to have been active up until 2006, was PTL-M Web Service. This agency was operated by Douglas Dubois and based out of Lawton, Michigan.
One of the websites operated by PTL-M Web Service
Most of the children featured on the website were notably young and came from all different parts of the globe including the Ukraine, Germany and South America.
Like most child modeling websites, the website purported to offer children a career in modeling, while selling the images produced to pedophiles:
Do you have a child/teen that wants her own website?
If you know a young lady between the age of 5 and 15 who would like to start a modelling career...
- We will create, promote and manage a really professional website for the model.
- The model will receive high commission of the sales that her website generates.
- You can be from any location of the world.
- No experience needed. You have to pay nothing.
- Model must be between the age of 5 and 15 (parent/legal guardian permission is always required).
- You should provide digital photos of the model, monthly or weekly.
It's unclear why Douglas Dubois discontinued his website exploiting these children, but it's rumored that he was arrested as a result of it - we can only hope the rumors are true.
