A U.S. court has sentenced an individual described as "the owner of the largest child exploitation website in the world" to 27 years in prison. Irish authorities identified "Eric Owen Marques," the owner of the "Freedom Hosting" network, after using hacking software to breach his personal computer.
Marques, 36, created and operated computer servers on the dark web that allowed users to anonymously access millions of illegal images and videos, some involving the rape and torture of infants and young children. Judge Theodore Chuang stated that Marques's actions were comparable to those of a drug dealer, adding, "His acts were extremely vile."
Before the sentencing, Marques apologized to the victims for his crimes and asked the court for forgiveness, saying, "I have destroyed my reputation and my family's reputation... Please give me a second chance." One of the attorneys mentioned that no one in the courtroom accepted what his client did, clarifying, "But he regrets it and will not do it again."
U.S. Attorney Ralph Paradiso asserted that Marques created "an online community for sexual predators to abuse and exploit children and share horrific images." He continued, "They all gathered with the aim of sexually exploiting children... and were pleased with their actions."
The judge agreed to credit the eight years Marques spent in detention in both Ireland and the United States since his arrest in 2013 but imposed a fine of $87,000 to be paid to the victims of the child abuse images he helped disseminate. Marques pleaded guilty in February 2020 to creating and operating the "Freedom Hosting" network on the dark web between 2008 and 2013, with investigators finding over 8.5 million images and videos of child sexual abuse.
Marques was living in Ireland at the time of the crimes but was extradited to authorities in Maryland in March 2019.
