He’s been dead for nearly a year, but Osama bin Laden was on Tuesday officially removed from the FBI’s most wanted list and replaced with an alleged producer of child pornography.
Eric Justin Toth, who also goes under the alias Davis Bussone, has evaded capture for nearly four years and is wanted for production and possession of child pornography.
Toth has a degree in education and worked as a private school teacher and camp counselor, jobs that put him in close contact with children.
The FBI has been conducting an investigation since 2008 after pornographic images were found on his camera.
He replaces the al-Qaeda leader, who was killed on May 2, 2011 in a raid by U.S. special forces on a compound in Pakistan, as the most wanted man by the United States.
“There is no comparison to be made between Toth and bin Laden,” said FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jacqueline Maguire. “ Although Eric Toth has not murdered anyone and he is not an international terrorist, that does not mean he isn't dangerous.”
An FBI spokeswoman explained that while others placed on the list might be connected to more typically grisly crimes such as murder, it isn’t unusual for a child pornographer to make it on to the top 10.
“The fact that he is a former nanny, former teacher, means he, right now, has access to children, meaning he could currently right now be molesting or victimizing someone’s child as a nanny or school teacher,” spokeswoman Angela Bell told Politico. “It’s imperative that we get him off the streets so he is no longer in a position to victimize others.”
Have your say: Should similar efforts be waged to catch this criminal dark mind as the costly campaign invested into OBL's decade man-hunt?
