A British citizen was extradited from Thailand to the District of Columbia on child pornography charges stemming from a nearly two-year Internet investigation by D.C. law enforcement officials, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Peter John Miller, 43, was indicted by a federal grand jury on six counts of transportation of child pornography. He faces five years for each count.
Miller, of London, had eluded British authorities for years. In 2003, he was arrested in Great Britain on charges of producing child pornography, but authorities dropped the case because they were unable to recover enough evidence, court documents said.
U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor credited the cooperation among local, federal and international law enforcement officials in Miller’s capture. Miller was responsible for distributing images of child victims from all over the globe, including France, India, Japan and Texas, court documents state.
“Online child predators and purveyors of child pornography are a growing worldwide problem,” Taylor said.
Authorities alleged in court documents that Miller, using the name Chris, began communicating online with an undercover D.C. police detective in 2006. On five occasions, Miller sent numerous graphic images of young children having sex, court documents state.
In December 2006, Miller said he was traveling to Thailand and Cambodia for 21 days and asked the undercover officer to obtain videos from a Web site in the U.S. In return, Miller would send two packages from Thailand to a post office box in D.C.
In January 2007, the packages from Thailand arrived, according to police. They each contained DVDs of child pornography, ranging in length from a few minutes to more than an hour.
Authorities forwarded the return address on one of the packages to FBI agents in Thailand and the Royal Thai Police, prosecutors said.
Law enforcement officials there identified the address as a condominium where Miller was staying. Police raided the condo and recovered 80 DVDs of child pornography and arrested Miller. London police searched his home there and found more images of child abuse.
Miller pleaded guilty in a Thai court and was sentenced to four months in prison, time he was serving prior to his extradition, officials said.
