FLORIDA
| A series of charges and convictions were announced Friday in connection with an international enterprise based in Florida that operated subscription-based sexually exploitive “child modeling” websites. According to court documents, Kenneth Power (deceased at 58, of Weston) was a principal member of the Newstar Enterprise – an internet-based business aimed at the for-profit sexual exploitation of vulnerable children under the guise of “child modeling” through a collection of websites called the Newstar Websites. Patrice Eileen Wilowski-Mevorah, 53, of Tampa, and Mary Lou Bjorkman, 58, of Lutz, recently pleaded guilty to laundering money for the Newstar Enterprise. Other members of the Newstar Enterprise resided in Europe. Kenneth Power’s wife, Tatiana “Tanya” Power, 41, of Weston, is currently awaiting trial on money laundering charges with the Newstar Enterprise. According to court documents, founded around 2005, the Newstar Enterprise built, maintained, hosted, and operated the Newstar Websites on servers in the United States and abroad. To populate the Newstar Websites with content, Newstar Enterprise members sourced, enticed, solicited, and recruited males and females under the age of 18, some of whom were prepubescent, to use as “child models” for the Newstar Websites. The Newstar Enterprise produced more than 4.6 million sexualized images and videos to distribute and sell on the Newstar Websites using the recruited child victims. Some of those images and videos, though non-nude, depicted minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. For example, images and videos sold on the Newstar Websites depicted children as young as 6 years old in sexual and provocative poses, wearing police and cheerleader costumes, thong underwear, transparent underwear, revealing swimsuits, pantyhose, and miniskirts. Most of the child victims – recruited from Ukraine, Moldova, and other nations in Eastern Europe – were particularly vulnerable due to their age, family dynamics, and poverty. Law enforcement officers have disabled the servers hosting the Newstar Websites. The Newstar Enterprise maintained a membership list for subscribers and customers of the Newstar Websites, which originated from 101 nations worldwide. Images in the websites’ galleries were freely available to the public to preview, but greater access and more content required purchasing a subscription. The sale of purported “child modeling” content on the Newstar Websites generated more than $9.4 million during the course of the conspiracy. Newstar Enterprise members fraudulently opened merchant and bank accounts in the United States and laundered proceeds using a bogus jewelry company to process, receive, and distribute this money. To date, four members of the Newstar Enterprise have been charged in connection with the Newstar Websites. The chart below shows the statuses of each case. |
| Name | Case Number | Charge(s) | Status | Maximum Penalty |
| Tatiana Power | 8:21-cr-244-MSS-AAS | Conspiracy to commit money laundering; international promotion money laundering; concealment money laundering | Indicted, pending trial | 100 years’ imprisonment |
| Kenneth Power | 8:21-cr-00032-SDM-AAS | Conspiracy to advertise child pornography; conspiracy to distribute child pornography | Defendant deceased; case dismissed | 60 years’ imprisonment |
| Patrice Wilowski-Mevorah | 8:21-cr-00206-MSS-TGW | Conspiracy to commit money laundering | Pleaded guilty, sentence pending | 20 years’ imprisonment |
| Mary LouBjorkman | 8:21-cr-00227-SDM-AAS | Conspiracy to commit money laundering | Pleaded guilty, sentence pending | 20 years’ imprisonment |
A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The defendants have also been notified that the United States intends to forfeit a total of $9.4 million, which are alleged to be traceable to proceeds of the offenses, in addition to real property located in Florida.
