By RUSS OLIVO

Nine men and two boys were ensnared in an unprecedented law enforcement dragnet targeting online traders in child pornography Tuesday, including two from the Blackstone  Valley.

Among those seized in the early-morning sweep across the state were Jon H. Roberts, 46, of 211 Sandy Brook Road, Glocester, and Joseph Fisher, 34, of 453 Wood Ave., Woonsocket, the state police said.
All were preliminarily charged with one count of possession of child pornography, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of $5,000. But Attorney General Patrick Lynch, one of the chief architects of the investigation, said some could face additional charges as computers seized in the raid undergo further scrutiny by forensic analysts.
In a telephone interview, Lynch said 14 specialized teams consisting of a broad range of state and federal law enforcement agencies executed the warrants that led to the arrests.
He said the investigation began several months ago and employed groundbreaking computer software developed by a private Florida company for the express purpose of cracking peer-to-peer computer networks often used by those who traffic in child pornography.
Anyone who's heard of Napster, the infamous software that enabled Web users to share music files, knows something about peer-to-peer networks. Basically, such networks allow two computer users to have what amounts to a private conversation online, making it difficult for their computer addresses to be traced through a central server like those that route garden-variety e-mails, says Lynch.
“We have the beauty of the Internet and the burden of the Internet,” said the attorney general. “While it's not true that all peer-to-peer use of the Internet is bad, child pornography is.”
Lynch said the software that was used to penetrate the peer-to-peer networks was developed by the TLO company of Florida. He said the raid marked the first time the software was ever used by law enforcement in New England. A onetime colleague, former Mississippi Attorney General Michael Moore, is a principal of the company and supplied the software free of charge to the state.
Detective Cmdr. David Neill of the Rhode Island State Police, said the scope of state and federal cooperation in the raid was staggering. But one of the most unique aspects of the effort, he said, was that the dozens of law enforcement officers involved were armed with warrants that allowed them only to search the computers of those suspected in trafficking in child pornography – not to make any arrests.
One member of each law enforcement team, however, was a forensic computer analyst who performed a preliminary scan of each suspect's computer for illegal images, said Neill. Out of 14 search warrants the teams executed, they ended up making 11 arrests after discovering pornographic images stored on computer hard drives. Some of the images were “horrific,” said Neill, depicting graphic and sometimes violent images of the sexual exploitation of very young children.
During a press briefing at the state police barracks in Scituate, one of the men arrested, John G. Hathaway, 32, of Warwick, was said to be among the largest traders in child pornography in the country.
“I think the success of the operation was overwhelming,” said Neill. “We're hoping this sends a message that law enforcement is not going to stop. It's going to continue and people who are involved in this are going to be embarrassed when the police come knocking on their door with a search warrant.”
The state and Providence police departments identified nine of the suspects by monitoring known peer-to-peer computer networks suspected of trafficking in child pornography, the state police said in a statement. Additional searches were based on complaints from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, officials said.
Overall, over 75 law enforcement officers from five federal agencies, two state police agencies and nine local police departments participated in the raid. They included the state Department of the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney's Office, ICE, the U.S. Naval Command, U.S. Marshal's Service, Wyoming State Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Rhode Island State Police. Municipal police from Warwick, Cranston, Woonsocket, Newport, West Warwick, Coventry, South Kingston and Glocester also took part.
The Rhode Island Army National Guard Cyber Warfare Squadron and the University of Rhode Island Digital Forensic Center, among others, also played supporting roles, officials said.
In addition to Roberts, Fisher and Hathaway, the following adults were also arrested:  Robert M. Lopes, 41, of Coventry;  William E. Webster, 49, of Wakefield; Edward Alberec, 18, of Providence; Michael E. Hodge, 53, of Newport; Zachary J. Houde, 23, of Exeter; Frank A. Ferro, 65, of Cranston.