GenQ - For the not so straight individual

Disclaimer: Please note that GenerationQ.net and the author of this article in no way supports or condones individuals or groups who exploit or manipulate minors for sexual gratification. We are not supporting pedophilia or boy-love. It is part of our charter to protect young people and we have a duty of care to protect anyone we feel is being harmed. The purpose of this article is to raise issues and questions that have been made apparent by this case and hopefully to bring balance to the reporting of this story.

On September 21st, 2005 my life changed forever. It was on this day late in the evening that I was paid a visit by the FBI as part of a major investigation into the dealings of a person I hardly even knew. In the past year, as I have sat in jail for crimes he committed, that person has become famous and is enjoying profiting off his crimes while I do the time. They say that crime doesn't pay, but in his case it did, and it paid very well.

The person I am referring to is the now famous Justin Berry. At the time of my arrest I knew very little about him. It wasn't until I sat in front of a Federal Court Judge that I first learned of the ?secret life? that he was living. I listened to federal agents as they testified about Justin's cocaine and marijuana addictions, which were allegedly the cause of his addiction to pornography which ruined his life. As a result of these horrible addictions the agents explained how Justin seduced, molested, and video taped himself in sexual acts with a 14 year old boy from Virginia. These videos were later uploaded to Justin's website, which was housed on my server and I had no knowledge of what he was up to.

This information was a shock to me. What confused my lawyer and me at the time was why am I was being charged instead of Justin? After all he is the one that recruited, molested, and paid the teenager for his performance. Upon questioning the agents about what charges Justin would face, they played dumb as if they didn't know the answer. It wasn't till after the hearing that we would learn that Justin was provided complete immunity for a laundry list of crimes, including the production of this video, weeks before my arrest.

I soon learned exactly what the American justice system was all about. Previous to this date I naively believed that the Federal Court System would be fair, that the FBI would be objective, and most importantly that I would be considered innocent until proven guilty. The agents involved were doing everything possible not to investigate the case, but to confirm Justin's version of the story. Despite the fact that they were well aware of the immunity agreement that Justin had been given, during my bond hearing the FBI agent refused to answer my lawyers questions regarding Justin's immunity deal. The reason I believe is because this could have affected the Judges outlook on my bond. After all if the person responsible for the crime can be given immunity, why should you hold the server administrator without bond?

Over the next few months I watched the government go to extreme lengths to keep me held, and to keep the truth from coming out. They took every achievement in my life and turned it into a crime. The fact that I had traveled internationally (and despite the fact they had my passport) and that I had a pilot's license all made me a ?major flight risk? in the eyes of the Government. The presumption of innocence was completely lost in the theatric presentation on the reasons of hearsay that was flying around the court. I was made into the devil and Justin was made into the angel.

Perhaps the most disturbing misrepresentation they presented to the court was there interpretation of my website CaseyandDew.TV. For those of you who aren't familiar, this website was a G rated reality online video program that followed the lives of me and my best friends. Viewers followed my adventures around the world with my costar Dew (a 14 year old gay teen). My best friend, Dew's mother, was a frequent guest on the program as well. This experimental website had become a hub for the gay community. Among other things, this web site focused on coming out and gay issues. For the first time people of all ages had a place where they could gather to communicate with other gay people at a website that did not even contain sexually related matter.

Despite all the positive parts of this website, the government chose to present it to the court as a similar website to Justin's pornographic websites. They wrongfully accused Dew of being a ?teenage porn star? as part of the huge child pornography enterprise that Justin claims exists. The problem with this theory is that it's completely untrue. Dew would never have participated in any form of pornography, nor would his mother or I ever allow him too. None of this mattered to the court, they quickly concluded that the government was correct, and ordered me held without bond awaiting trial.

I returned to jail and sat in my pod, bewildered at what had happened. Why was Justin lying about me? Why was the government making up so many lies? What was the purpose of all this? All my questions were answered on December 19th, 2005. That was the day that Justin and Kurt Eichenwald ran multiple articles on Justin's life of crime, and his ?cyber seduction? by 1500 men on the internet in the New York Times. As I read through the article I learned about Justin's history, including websites he had run long before he met me. I also read about his prostituting himself in exchange for money to many of his subscribers.

This article was so well written, that even I felt sorry for him. Despite the fact that I had personal knowledge that at least part of the article was a complete misrepresentation of the truth. I quickly spoke with my attorney's. Finally we knew what was going on. The government wasn't investigating a crime as much as they were trying to avoid negative publicity and bowing to the pressures of the NY Times. Even Justin himself would later admit in his congressional testimony that the government was not interested in his case until the NY Times threatened to publish an article saying that the government was not doing enough to protect the victims of child exploitation.

The problem is that Justin was no victim, at least not in the present day. This is the part of the story that the NY Times and other members of Justin's team don't want you to hear. The fact is that there was never a gang of 1500 pedophiles, who teamed up to seduce Justin. In fact all of Justin's subscribers were not even aware they were purchasing child pornography, because of the multiple statutory disclosures that all performers were over the age of 18. This maybe hard to believe after reading the NY times article, and watching Oprah and other such programs that Justin has appeared on. How could a subscriber to Justin's site not know the difference between a 13 year old and an adult? The idea seems ridiculous, and that's because it simply isn't the truth.

The truth of the matter is the first subscriber on Justin's now famous ?pedophile list? joined his website in October 2003. Doing some quick math, any federal agent should be able to see the problem here. Justin Berry was not 13 when the first ?pedophile? joined his site, but 17 and 2 months. He was not an innocent little boy, but a full grown teenager just a few months from his 18th birthday. So its time to throw out all those photos that were included in the NY Times, of poor innocent Justin at 13 years of age, because his sites contained nothing even remotely close to those images. On his website he looked exactly the same as he does today.

The question that any reasonable person must ask is how all these ?pedophiles? can be responsible for a crime they didn't even know was occurring. Justin advertised his website along side other legal adult websites and followed all the rules of legal pornography. His website even had a disclaimer stating ?THIS SITE CONTAINS NO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY OR ANY OTHER ILLEGAL CONTENT. This site contains nudity and gay erotica, all models are 18 years of age or older. 18 U.S.C. 2257 Statement?.

As I dug deeper into the truth, I couldn't believe that the federal government was even considering this a valid investigation. Justin had hidden the truth from his subscribers and business associates by representing his website as a legal adult pornography site. Companies of all size from Ebay.com to Verotel.com fell for his scheme, by simply moving his date of birth up one year, he had gone from child porn star, to adult porn star. This opened his world up beyond his small group of predators he was able to sell to as a younger teen. Now he could reach a world wide audience and attract 100's of subscribers, and who would know the difference right?

Given my new found information, I was quick to contact the government. Maybe they have fallen for this story the same way the American people had. I was hopeful they would be interested in the truth. Sadly, I couldn't have been more incorrect. They quickly indicated that they were aware that I may have a different version of the events, but that wasn't what they were interested in. They needed someone to help testify and confirm Justin's story, and they made it quite clear what the penalty would be if I didn't agree. I needed to help them convict others (who I believe are innocent) or they would find a way to add new charges, meaning I would be facing a minimum of 65 years in prison. I was furious?

It was time for a very tough decision, do I join up and become a government ?witness? and help them present a half truth and convict hundreds of innocent people? Or do I go up against the most powerful government in the world, backed by every major news network in America, and risk the rest of my life in jail? Well believe it or not, the answer was easy. It only took a quick read through the mail some of my most dedicated fans had sent into the jail, before I knew the answer. For years people had looked to me for support and I had helped more then a few come out to friends and family, all with great results. Justin's website represented possibly 1500 innocent gay man, who had fallen for the charm of an attractive 19 year old man. I could not turn my back on these people, I could not be a part of this corruption, and I would not let my community down.

A quick phone call to my lawyer was all it took. I informed him that there would be no more talks with the government, unless they were to change there tune. War had officially been declared. Since that date Justin has continued his rein of terror by appearing in front of congress and recommending that police issue search warrants against every one of the subscribers to his website. Without a doubt, most of these people are scared to death, many still in the closet themselves. Imagine your family finding out your gay, as part of a national child pornography investigation? What a terrifying way to come out. The question we must all ask is, are these people truly criminals?

For now, that is all I can say about this matter. I have chosen to include only information which is currently available to the public, but promise to update queerplanet with all the inside details when this case has concluded. Please keep an open mind when reviewing the news, in some cases you may be getting just a small portion of truth. If you have any information about Justin Berry, or would like to share your findings with us, please visit our website http://www.thetruthaboutjustin.com. We have already received tons of great tips which will be very hopeful in exposing the truth about Justin Berry.

It is of utmost importance that the gay community ban together and dispel these lies which have been placed upon us. As we have recently learned the NY Times will use every power they have, including the United States Congress, in order to see these 1500 completely innocent gay men behind bars. I want it to be known that I intend to testify on behalf of everyone of the 1500 people who gets accused in this and i wont rest to every innocent person is set free.

Myth: Justin Berry did not want federal immunity; he only wanted to help children that were in danger.

Fact: Justin's team withheld key details of the investigation that would have led investigators to the alleged children that were in danger until Justin was granted full immunity.

 

Myth: Over 1500 pedophiles worked together to help seduce Justin into a life of pornography and prostitution.

Fact: All of the people who subscribed to Justin Berry's websites believe they were buying legal adult pornography. His website contained legal disclaimers and was advertised along side other adult websites.

 

Myth: Justin was 13 years old when predators first approached him by offering him $50 to take off his t-shirt. The predators taught Justin how to setup a paypal account where he received the money and complied with there request. Justin thought these people were his friends and were seduced by them.

Fact: Justin's Paypal account wasn't created until July 2002, at the time Justin was 16 years old. The first member of Justin's commercial websites didn't join until October 2003 when Justin was 17 years old. This website advertised Justin as an 18 year old male living in Mexico.

 

Myth: Adult predators made most of the money of Justin's website and kept him addicted to drugs in order to assure his participation in the websites.

Fact: Justin received close to $500,000 from the operation of his websites from 2002-2005, over 90% of these funds went directly to Justin. Most of the companies Justin used were owned by people only a few years older then him.

 

Myth: Tons of children across the United States are doing the same thing Justin was. Justin's team was able to located one portal that contained over 400 child pornography webcam sites.

Fact: Justin has been unable to identify one single website besides his own. The portal which Justin's team referred to was actually populated with adult websites.

 

Myth: Children were saved as a result of Justin approaching the FBI.

Fact: Only one child has been identified as being saved. That child was the same boy that was molested and filmed by Justin Berry.

 

Tim Richards (Casey)

We would be happy to receive a response from Justin Berry to this letter and we will publish it unedited.