LOS ANGELES
Federal authorities arrested a Redondo Beach man on charges of producing child pornography, allegedly by developing a relationship with at least one boy in the Philippines who performed sex acts online in exchange for money, officials stated.
Billy Frederick, 51, was arrested Wednesday without incident by special agents with Homeland Security Investigations.
The criminal complaint naming Frederick was unsealed Thursday.
According to the complaint filed on June 22, Frederick stored in his Google accounts various images and videos depicting child pornography. Some were obtained from video calls on Google Hangout.
The affidavit in support of the complaint details one video from July 2020 in which a boy, who appears to be between 11 and 14 years old, engages in sexual activity while Frederick records the video call.
In messages sent relating to the video call, the victim calls Frederick “master.”
The investigation also uncovered chats between Frederick and the victim prior to the video call in which the boy asks to borrow money to purchase underwear. Immediately after the call, Frederick chatted online with the boy, who asked for money to be sent to his brother.
The affidavit outlines other online chats from 2020 between Frederick and a person claiming to be a relative of the victim seen on the Google Hangout video.
In one chat, after telling Frederick that the victim had broken his leg and required medical aid, the relative wrote, “we’re just poor so I agree to my [relative] for what his doing,” according to the affidavit.
During a search of one of Frederick’s online accounts, “I discovered many CSAM [child sexual abuse material] images of young nude male minors ranging from approximately 6 years of age to 15 years of age,” according to the affidavit by an HSI special agent.
“Further, I discovered messages where Frederick would discuss the solicitation of CSAM of young boys, including enticement to engage in a sexually explicit activity.”
Frederick is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Frederick is charged with production of child pornography for transportation into the United States. If convicted of the charges, he is facing up to 30 years in prison.
Frederick is scheduled to be arraigned in this case on July 22.