Teh One Who Knocks
11-08-2013, 12:34 PM
By Paula McMahon, Sun Sentinel
A South Florida nudist, arrested on charges that he helped take pornographic photographs of his three young daughters and shared them with other men, is putting on an unusual defense.
Brian Martens, 53, who was living at a nudist colony in Palm Beach County, is arguing that there is nothing pornographic about the pictures and that they are regular family portraits of a naturist family.
Federal prosecutors say they believe several of the photographs are clearly inappropriate and the final judgment call should lie with a trial jury. A grand jury has already voted there was enough evidence to indict Martens on one count of producing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bill Matthewman agreed with the U.S. Attorney's Office after reviewing the photographs during a hearing Wednesday in federal court in West Palm Beach.
"Several of these photos the court has reviewed are lascivious. … They are, in the court's opinion, sexually explicit," Matthewman said.
The judge ordered Martens detained without bond pending his trial — on the grounds that he is a serious flight risk and poses "a clear risk of danger to the community, and specifically to his daughters."
Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations began scrutinizing Martens earlier this year when they found inappropriate photographs of his daughters on a computer that belonged to Leslie Grey Vanaman, 44, a neighbor of Martens in the private, gated Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee Groves in western Palm Beach County. The girls were between ages 8 and 12 when the photographs were taken, prosecutors said.
Marten's attorney James Eisenberg agreed that one of the photographs is child pornography — one the judge described as a close-up shot of one of the girl's genital area — but said his client did not know the photograph was taken and never gave his permission for it to be shot. Martens hired a professional family photographer to take family portraits, Eisenberg said.
"The girls have no clothes on … but they're not doing anything of a sexual nature," Eisenberg said. "If they were young ladies who had clothing on, no one would consider them pornographic."
"Totally nude … is the normal state of all the people who live there," Eisenberg said. "In the context that everybody in this family are naturists … these photos are not lewd or pornographic in any way."
Martens, who was arrested Oct. 29, would face between 15 and 30 years in federal prison if convicted of the child porn production charge, and five to 20 years if convicted of receiving child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Vanaman, who billed himself as a professional photographer and owned A Shade of Grey Photography, was arrested on child porn production and receipt charges earlier this year.
Vanaman is serving 60 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of receiving and possessing child pornography — including the photographs of Martens' daughters and other children, prosecutors said. Vanaman already had a 2004 state conviction in New Jersey of possessing child pornography downloaded from the Internet, court records show.
When agents questioned Martens about the photographs in April, he told them he did not know that any inappropriate photographs had been taken, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Brentari Galler said.
"He cried as he viewed the images," Galler said.
Martens told the agents he only gave permission for Vanaman to take naturist photos.
But further analysis of Vanaman's computer revealed a very different story, Galler told the judge. Martens had signed releases and received on several occasions more than 50 photographs that contained child pornography of the three girls taken between 2010 and 2012, Galler said.
Agents also found emails between Martens, Vanaman and a third man in which they discussed Vanaman's "craft" and "the sensuality and sexuality" of the images.
Martens wrote about "using his daughters as a passport " and said they "opened doors" for him in the naturist community, Galler told the judge.
The photographs did not depict any sexual activity and included no images of overt sexual abuse or adults sexually abusing children, prosecutors and agents said. Indeed, some of the photographs showed the children innocently baking cookies while naked, they said.
But prosecutors and the judge said the photographs – which were not visible to the public in court – included much more disturbing images.
Among the other disturbing images, the judge and prosecutor said, were photographs that showed the girls naked or with just a black lace shawl in unnaturally "sexually suggestive poses" for a child.
By law, prosecutors said, child porn is defined as images that are designed to evoke a sexual response from its audience — it does not have to involve explicit sexual activity.
"At the end of the day, it's all a fact question for the jury [to decide]," Galler said.
Florida's Department of Children & Families took the three girls away from Martens after Vanaman's arrest, prosecutors said. DCF spokeswoman Paige Patterson-Hughes said Wednesday the girls were still in foster care.
Martens' attorney said the girls will be returned to their mother in Illinois, who knew about and supported their decision to live in a nudist community, Eisenberg said. DCF officials said they could not comment Wednesday on that aspect of the case.
Prosecutors said the family had been the topic of prior child welfare investigations in other states, including one in Illinois in 2010, but Eisenberg told the judge the Illinois case was closed without incident.
Morley Schloss, the major shareholder in and spokesman for Sunsport Gardens, said Wednesday that the allegations against Martens and Vanaman were an "isolated" aberration and the nudist community has operated safely and without scandal for decades.
"We investigate people, and Mr. Martens had no record of any kind," Schloss said. "This has always been a safe, happy community and we would never tolerate any exploitation."
A South Florida nudist, arrested on charges that he helped take pornographic photographs of his three young daughters and shared them with other men, is putting on an unusual defense.
Brian Martens, 53, who was living at a nudist colony in Palm Beach County, is arguing that there is nothing pornographic about the pictures and that they are regular family portraits of a naturist family.
Federal prosecutors say they believe several of the photographs are clearly inappropriate and the final judgment call should lie with a trial jury. A grand jury has already voted there was enough evidence to indict Martens on one count of producing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bill Matthewman agreed with the U.S. Attorney's Office after reviewing the photographs during a hearing Wednesday in federal court in West Palm Beach.
"Several of these photos the court has reviewed are lascivious. … They are, in the court's opinion, sexually explicit," Matthewman said.
The judge ordered Martens detained without bond pending his trial — on the grounds that he is a serious flight risk and poses "a clear risk of danger to the community, and specifically to his daughters."
Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations began scrutinizing Martens earlier this year when they found inappropriate photographs of his daughters on a computer that belonged to Leslie Grey Vanaman, 44, a neighbor of Martens in the private, gated Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee Groves in western Palm Beach County. The girls were between ages 8 and 12 when the photographs were taken, prosecutors said.
Marten's attorney James Eisenberg agreed that one of the photographs is child pornography — one the judge described as a close-up shot of one of the girl's genital area — but said his client did not know the photograph was taken and never gave his permission for it to be shot. Martens hired a professional family photographer to take family portraits, Eisenberg said.
"The girls have no clothes on … but they're not doing anything of a sexual nature," Eisenberg said. "If they were young ladies who had clothing on, no one would consider them pornographic."
"Totally nude … is the normal state of all the people who live there," Eisenberg said. "In the context that everybody in this family are naturists … these photos are not lewd or pornographic in any way."
Martens, who was arrested Oct. 29, would face between 15 and 30 years in federal prison if convicted of the child porn production charge, and five to 20 years if convicted of receiving child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Vanaman, who billed himself as a professional photographer and owned A Shade of Grey Photography, was arrested on child porn production and receipt charges earlier this year.
Vanaman is serving 60 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of receiving and possessing child pornography — including the photographs of Martens' daughters and other children, prosecutors said. Vanaman already had a 2004 state conviction in New Jersey of possessing child pornography downloaded from the Internet, court records show.
When agents questioned Martens about the photographs in April, he told them he did not know that any inappropriate photographs had been taken, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Brentari Galler said.
"He cried as he viewed the images," Galler said.
Martens told the agents he only gave permission for Vanaman to take naturist photos.
But further analysis of Vanaman's computer revealed a very different story, Galler told the judge. Martens had signed releases and received on several occasions more than 50 photographs that contained child pornography of the three girls taken between 2010 and 2012, Galler said.
Agents also found emails between Martens, Vanaman and a third man in which they discussed Vanaman's "craft" and "the sensuality and sexuality" of the images.
Martens wrote about "using his daughters as a passport " and said they "opened doors" for him in the naturist community, Galler told the judge.
The photographs did not depict any sexual activity and included no images of overt sexual abuse or adults sexually abusing children, prosecutors and agents said. Indeed, some of the photographs showed the children innocently baking cookies while naked, they said.
But prosecutors and the judge said the photographs – which were not visible to the public in court – included much more disturbing images.
Among the other disturbing images, the judge and prosecutor said, were photographs that showed the girls naked or with just a black lace shawl in unnaturally "sexually suggestive poses" for a child.
By law, prosecutors said, child porn is defined as images that are designed to evoke a sexual response from its audience — it does not have to involve explicit sexual activity.
"At the end of the day, it's all a fact question for the jury [to decide]," Galler said.
Florida's Department of Children & Families took the three girls away from Martens after Vanaman's arrest, prosecutors said. DCF spokeswoman Paige Patterson-Hughes said Wednesday the girls were still in foster care.
Martens' attorney said the girls will be returned to their mother in Illinois, who knew about and supported their decision to live in a nudist community, Eisenberg said. DCF officials said they could not comment Wednesday on that aspect of the case.
Prosecutors said the family had been the topic of prior child welfare investigations in other states, including one in Illinois in 2010, but Eisenberg told the judge the Illinois case was closed without incident.
Morley Schloss, the major shareholder in and spokesman for Sunsport Gardens, said Wednesday that the allegations against Martens and Vanaman were an "isolated" aberration and the nudist community has operated safely and without scandal for decades.
"We investigate people, and Mr. Martens had no record of any kind," Schloss said. "This has always been a safe, happy community and we would never tolerate any exploitation."