Mt. Clemens convicted sex offender charged with child porn, sending obscene material
Glen Vellner, 45, has two prior sex offender convictions. He was arrested Wednesday for multiple child pornography charges following an investigation by the FBI.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Mount Clemens man who was convicted in 2001 and 2006 of criminal sex charges(crimes) has been arrested and charged with possession of child pornography and more charges after authorities said he sent nude pictures of himself to what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl.
Glen Vellner, 45, was arraigned in federal court on Wednesday on multiple charges of child pornography, attempting to send obscene material to a minor, and coercion and enticement of a minor.
WARNING, DISTURBING CONTENT
According to the criminal complaint filed in the United States Eastern District in Detroit, the FBI was contacted in early January by an adult woman who doesn't live in the United States but poses as a 13-year-old girl online. The woman said she had been involved in communications with a man who said he was from Detroit and went by the name Frank Rizzo.
The woman said she had been communicating with the man in a chatroom where he went by the user name "Vorteks" and that he told her she looks "younger than 13". The "Vorteks" profile picture was what appeared to be an adult man hold part of his anatomy, the FBI said.
The FBI reports that "Vorteks" had been on the chatroom for three days before meeting with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl.
On January 7, the conversation was moved to Google Hangouts where his display name was Frank Rizzo. While talking on Google, she asked him for a picture of his face, which he sent back a photo of an adult man wearing sunglasses and a baseball hat. The FBI said she then sent a picture of what appeared to be a young girl and Rizzo responded with "ur beautiful".
That same day, Rizzo sent a video chat to the "girl". She didn't turn on her camera but she told the FBI that the man had his camera on and was touching himself when she opened the chat.
The FBI said a phone number linked to the Gmail account Rizzo was using which was on a VPN, many of which ended in Costa Rica. VPNs are used to allow a user to obtain an IP address from a different geographic location, and most of them are not able to be tracked to a user, according to the FBI.
As Rizzo and the "girl" continued talking, he asked her to turn her camera on and show him her genitals and said "I like to see girls privates, especially if she's a good friend like u", the FBI said. According to the complaint, he said that since he sent her his, he wanted to see hers. The next day, they met for a video chat where Rizzo appeared on camera again wearing a ying-yang necklace and exposed himself to the "girl". She did not have her camera on and gave multiple reasons why she couldn't turn it on.
On January 24 when Rizzo sent her another message on Google Hangouts, saying that he had money problems that took him away from chatting. During that conversation, he reportedly encouraged her to show the pictures he's sent to her friends and said "A long time ago, I used to show it to little girls like you."
On March 10, a search warrant was obtained for his Google account and over 6,000 IP addresses were linked to his computer or smartphone, plus at least two other email addresses.
A week later, a search warrant on those other two email addresses was obtained. In those email addresses, one was set up for two-factor authentication with a different number than Rizzo had been using. That number was connected to Glen Vellner, the convicted sex offender and the FBI said Vellner was using a fake name and information.
Vellner is listed on the Michigan Sex Offender Registry and has a conviction of criminal sexual conduct in 2001 and 2006, including possession of child pornography of a child as young as 6 years old. MDOC records showed a tattoo that matched one that Vellner had sent to the "girl".
On March 24, the FBI served a search warrant at his apartment in Mount Clemens where Vellner did not come to the door. The FBI entered the home, with the warrant, and said they found Vellner wearing the same ying-yang necklace and also spotted the tattoo from his MDOC photo.
During the search, the FBI said it found several items which were visible from video chats with the "girl", plus a conversation with a teenage girl where the two discussed meeting up for sex.
The FBI also said it found a video of a 9-year-old girl performing a sex act on his computer, plus a notebook with usernames and passwords to Internet-based accounts. The FBI said one of those passwords, which was commonly used, was a reference to a sex crime with little girls.
The FBI also reported finding three other files of child porn, some of which are performing sex acts.
With all of the evidence, Vellner was arrested and charged with attempted production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, possession, of, child, pornography, attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor, and coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.