For several years, someone calling himself "Fat Longpig" haunted a variety of online forums, discussing with anyone who shared it his unique interest in "abducting, raping, murdering, and eating children," trading child pornography, and, in at least one case, attempting to arrange a kidnapping.
Meanwhile, away from the keyboard, as court documents reveal, Longpig was building a basement dungeon, stocked with a cage, a child coffin, a butchering kit—and two freezers.
Longpig, real name Geoffrey Portway, pleaded guilty on Monday to soliciting the kidnapping of a child and to the distribution and possession of child pornography. According to the Department of Justice, Portway, a UK citizen born in Spain and living in Worcester, Mass., had solicited a Kansas man, Michael Arnett (pictured), to kidnap a child whom Portway "would ultimately rape, kill and eat." ("Longpig" is slang for human flesh when cooked, and appears frequently on cannibal-fetish sites.)
Arnett has since been arrested, and the statement of facts released by U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz reveals an alarming flirtation:
At least as early as 2010, PORTWAY utilized Skype and other programs to communicate with ARNETT. PORTWAY and ARNETT traded child pornography and images of injured, mutilated and deceased children while chatting about the sexual abuse, rape, abduction, murder, and cannibalism of children. Over months, PORTWAY repeatedly solicited and endeavored to persuade ARNETT to kidnap a child for him, with the intent that ARNETT would do so and PORTWAY would ultimately rape, kill and eat that child. These solicitations for help abducting a child included discussing real children, by name and photo, that ARNETT claimed to know and have access. In the chats, PORTWAY and ARNETT discuss different ways to kidnap children and the age range PORTWAY prefers. During the time that PORTWAY was soliciting ARNETT, he had been told that ARNETT had helped others with such requests before and that he had experience with the abduction and sexual abuse of children.
Portway was arrested in June of last year, and officers serving the search warrant on his home unearthed a sickening scene:
During the execution of the search warrant at PORTWAY’s residence, HSI agents also discovered a locked door in the basement of the residence. Inside the door was a sally port that led to a second door (with a keyed lock). Inside the second door was a dungeon, which was lined with acoustical sound-deadening material and contained a chair, television, and what appeared to be cable access to the internet. Also located in this room were a child-sized homemade coffin (with large speakers covered in wire mesh at one end) with exterior locking devices, a steel cage (approximately 3' wide, 2' high and 4' long) with multiple locking devices, and a steel table top (with steel rings at 6 points, presumably for restraints). Outside these rooms were a cabinet freezer, an upright freezer, disposable scalpels, butchering kits, and castration tools. This dungeon was described in detail by PORTWAY in recovered chats as a place he intended to use to keep kidnapped children while he sexually abused them and as a place to eventually murder and cannibalize the children.
Portway was arrested as part of the Justice Department's Operation Holitna, an online sting operation that investigators say has resulted in 51 arrests and the rescue of 160 children. Portway will serve 18 to 27 years in jail, and will be deported on his release.
Here's the Statement of Fact from the case. Warning: graphic descriptions of child pornography.