November 8, 2007
For more information contact:
Managing AUSA
Karen Rhew
(850) 942-8430
FEDERAL GRAND JURY INDICTS THREE
ON CHILD EXPLOITATION CHARGES
Tallahassee, Florida – United States Attorney Gregory R. Miller, Northern District of Florida, announces that a federal grand jury returned three separate indictments today charging Charles S. Faris, III, Bobby Albert McGee, and Muhammet Avarogullari with federal child exploitation offenses.
Faris (54 ), of Tallahassee, was charged with two counts of attempting to persuade an individual who had not attained the age of 18 to engage in illegal sexual activity in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422(b). The affidavit in support of a criminal complaint filed earlier in the case alleges that between October 4 and 5, 2007, during an internet chat with an undercover officer posing as a mother of 7 and 11 year old girls, Faris arranged to have sex with the girls, and traveled to the “mother’s” house for that purpose.
In a separate indictment, Bobby Albert McGee, (62 ) of Linden, Tennessee, was also charged with attempting to persuade and entice an individual who had not attained the age of eighteen to engage in illegal sexual activity in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2422(b). The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint filed previously in the case alleges that between October 1 and 4, 2007, during an internet chat with an undercover officer posing as a mother of a 9 year old boy and an 11 year old girl, McGee attempted to persuade the mother to travel with the children to Tennessee for the purpose of his engaging in sexual contact with the children. McGee was arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and officers of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department and Memphis Police Department when he arrived at a prearranged location in Tennessee to meet the undercover agent and her “children.”
If convicted, McGee and Faris each face a mandatory term of ten years to life imprisonment on each count. McGee is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Eric Mountin. Faris is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert Davis.
In a third indictment returned today, Muhammet Avarogullari (33) , a Turkish national who attended Florida State University, was charged with receipt, transmittal, and possession of child pornography. The indictment charges Avarogullari with one count of transmittal and receipt of child pornography between May 15, 2006, and April 17, 2007, and one count of possession of child pornography on April 17, 2007, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252 .
If convicted, Avarogullari faces a minimum of five years and a maximum of twenty years in prison on the first count of the indictment and a maximum of ten years’ imprisonment on the second count of the indictment. Avarogullari is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert Davis.
An indictment is merely a formal charge by the grand jury. A defendant is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mr. Miller praised the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida’s Office of the Attorney General, the Tallahassee Police Department, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, the State Attorney’s Office, the Florida Highway Patrol, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for their commitment to the investigation and prosecution of these child exploitation offenses.