4 Arrested During Child Porn Raids

Arrests were made in metro Atlanta Wednesday in connection with an alleged worldwide child porn operation.

Only Channel 2 Action News was there as federal agents hauled away boxes of evidence linking a group of men to an international network of pedophiles.

Agents arrested four men in all.

The men are facing charges ranging from weapon possession to child molestation.

Federal agents arrested the men at homes in Cumming and Roswell.

Two of the men had hearings in federal court Wednesday afternoon. Records showed the men were part of a huge worldwide network of pedophiles on a Web site called boylover. It has since been shut down.

Frank Ewing lives next door to a home on Chadwick Drive in Cumming that federal agents swarmed Tuesday night. Agents arrested his neighbors.

“I (came) out when I heard the boom and then when I saw everybody running with guns and all that I said, ‘Whoa, wait a minute.’ I went back inside,” said Ewing.

Wednesday morning, the agents from Immigration Customs Enforcement were still at the home carrying out computer hard drives and boxes of other evidence.

Joseph Gittings sketch Joseph Gittings Joseph Gittings

Court records showed Joseph Gittings was the number two leader in a worldwide network operation a Web site called boylover.net. Thousands of pedophiles shared obscene pictures of children, and according to the Web site, members must post their own content in order to stay registered.

"That's what's frightening…that they share their ideas and techniques. We know they're out there. When they band together that means the threat is all the greater,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert McBurney.

Federal prosecutors also charged Dale Hodges and raided his Roswell home Wednesday morning.

Hodges worked tutoring children at the Huntington Learning Center in Alpharetta.

Dale Hodges sketch Dale Hodges Dale Hodges

ICE agents will check all of the seized computers from both men for evidence of contact with children. There could be more charges.

SLIDESHOW: Dale Hodges On Facebook

"We're hopefully getting someone off the street who is dealing in these images and maybe more having contact offenses with children,” said McBurney.

During the two raids, local authorities also arrested Hodges’ next door neighbor on child molestation charges.

Gittings' roommate was arrested on drug and weapons charges.

Agents also seized their computers and they could also face additional charges based on the evidence.

The Web site has been shut down.