Ventura County Man Arrested on Federal Indictment for Alleged Attempted Enticement of Minors to Produce Child Pornography

          LOS ANGELES – A Ventura County man was arrested today by FBI special agents on a five-count federal grand jury indictment charging him with using the Skype internet messenger service to pay facilitators overseas to live-stream the sexual and physical abuse of female minors.

          William Hayes, 57, of Newbury Park, whose online aliases include “ko hong,” “hokong69,” and “brianwilson2461,” is charged with one count of attempted production of child pornography, two counts of attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, and two counts of possession of child pornography.

          Hayes is expected to make his initial appearance in United States District Court this afternoon.

          According to the indictment, from April 2017 to August 2019, Hayes used Skype to attempt to entice underage girls to engage in illicit sexual activity that would be live-streamed on the internet for him to watch. Hayes allegedly offered to pay money after the acts were live-streamed. In other messages, he offered to pay to have acts of torture and cruelty inflicted on the minors, the indictment alleges.

          Hayes also allegedly possessed images child pornography – depicting prepubescent minors – on his personal computer and a hard drive.

          An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

          If convicted of all charges, Hayes would face a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years.

          The FBI investigated this case. Anyone with information concerning this matter is encouraged to contact the FBI’s Los Angeles field office at (310) 477-6565.

          This matter is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Jeffrey M. Chemerinsky and Kevin J. Butler of the Violent and Organized Crime Section.