Cops, firefighters and youth leaders among 70 busted in NYC child porn ring

NEW YORK, May 21 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in and around New York City have arrested over 70 people, including police officers, firefighters and a religious leader for creating and distributing child pornography.

The arrests come after a month-long investigation by Homeland Security agents into activity on peer-to-peer file sharing networks and linked servers. Hard drives and other data storage devices were seized, which authorities expect to lead to more prosecutions and arrests.

Federal agents will announce the arrests at a press conference this afternoon, where they are expected to detail how this investigation will go nationwide once they use the seized data to map the distribution of the illegal images.