Prominent Michigan gymnastics photographer arrested on child pornography charges
The FBI in Detroit created a website for the public to help with its investigation of an Oakland County gymnastics photographer and videographer who is facing federal child pornography charges.
David Eric Yellen, of Royal Oak, was arrested June 1 on two charges related to the possession and distribution of child pornography.
Federal authorities said he is well-known in the gymnastics community and was contracted by multiple gymnastics academies in the Michigan area. He also was contracted by the U.S. Women’s Gymnastics Judges Association to create training materials and training films for new judges, authorities said.
Authorities said Yellen has traveled nationally as a gymnastics photographer and videographer.
FBI says Yellen admitted possessing child porn
Anyone with information relevant to the investigation can go to www.fbi.gov/YellenInvestigation and fill out a questionnaire or can contact the FBI Detroit at YellenInvestigation@fbi.gov. Responses to the questionnaire are voluntary, but may be useful in the federal investigation. Based on responses, people entering information may be contacted by the FBI and asked to provide additional information.
"I'm guessing the FBI is doing this because they have not found any child pornography relating to Mr. Yellen's photography business in any of the computers they seized from him," said Yellen's attorney, Margaret Raben.
The case began to surface May 11 during an investigation related to BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer file-sharing program that is sometimes used to exchange child pornography between users, according to a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court.
Files containing child pornography were found, it stated, with the IP address assigned to Yellen. A search warrant was executed at his home June 1. Yellen was interviewed and admitted that he possessed child pornography on his electronic devices in the home, according to the complaint.
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Yellen admitted taking pictures of children's feet
It states Yellen said he used BitTorrent regularly, but denied uploading or downloading child pornography. He claimed he downloaded child pornography 10 years ago, retained that child pornography and did not know the child pornography that he continued to possess was available for download by others, according to the complaint.
“Given his extensive use of BitTorrent, I do not believe that he was unaware that he had his files in a location that allowed for sharing with others,” an FBI special agent wrote in the complaint.
Yellen denied producing child pornography, but said he often surreptitiously photographed the bare feet of children at the gymnastics academy where he was employed and at gymnastics events he attended as an official photographer. He said he found the images sexually arousing, according to the complaint.
It stated investigators recovered a computer with a connected hard drive from Yellen’s home and the hard drive had “at least 1,500 files that were images of child sexual exploitation. At least 500 of the files met the federal definition of child pornography.”
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The hard drive also contained a folder called “BFK.” During the interview, Yellen said that stood for “Barefoot Kids,” according to the complaint. It stated the folder contained at least 200 images of the bare feet of children who attended his gym and gymnastics events.
Yellen was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond during a June 5 detention hearing. He is on home detention, with exceptions, and is to have GPS monitoring.
Other bond conditions include he cannot have sexually explicit or sexually graphic materials, can have no contact with victims or witnesses, and cannot work or participate in volunteer activities where there is unsupervised contact with minors.
Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gymnastics photographer David Yellen arrested on child porn charges
