R. Richard
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Nudist dad facing child porn charges says photos are 'family portraits'
A South Florida nudist, arrested on charges that he helped take pornographic photographs of his three young daughters and shared them with other men, is putting on an unusual defense.
Brian Martens, 53, who was living at a nudist colony in Palm Beach County, is arguing that there is nothing pornographic about the pictures and that they are regular family portraits of a naturist family.
Federal prosecutors say they believe several of the photographs are clearly inappropriate and the final judgment call should lie with a trial jury. A grand jury has already voted there was enough evidence to indict Martens on one count of producing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bill Matthewman agreed with the U.S. Attorney's Office after reviewing the photographs during a hearing Wednesday in federal court in West Palm Beach.
"Several of these photos the court has reviewed are lascivious. … They are, in the court's opinion, sexually explicit," Matthewman said.
The judge ordered Martens detained without bond pending his trial — on the grounds that he is a serious flight risk and poses "a clear risk of danger to the community, and specifically to his daughters."
Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations began scrutinizing Martens earlier this year when they found inappropriate photographs of his daughters on a computer that belonged to Leslie Grey Vanaman, 44, a neighbor of Martens in the private, gated Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee Groves in western Palm Beach County. The girls were between ages 8 and 12 when the photographs were taken, prosecutors said.
Marten's attorney James Eisenberg agreed that one of the photographs is child pornography — one the judge described as a close-up shot of one of the girl's genital area — but said his client did not know the photograph was taken and never gave his permission for it to be shot. Martens hired a professional family photographer to take family portraits, Eisenberg said.
"The girls have no clothes on … but they're not doing anything of a sexual nature," Eisenberg said. "If they were young ladies who had clothing on, no one would consider them pornographic."
"Totally nude … is the normal state of all the people who live there," Eisenberg said. "In the context that everybody in this family are naturists … these photos are not lewd or pornographic in any way."
Martens, who was arrested Oct. 29, would face between 15 and 30 years in federal prison if convicted of the child porn production charge, and five to 20 years if convicted of receiving child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Vanaman, who billed himself as a professional photographer and owned A Shade of Grey Photography, was arrested on child porn production and receipt charges earlier this year.
Vanaman is serving 60 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of receiving and possessing child pornography — including the photographs of Martens' daughters and other children, prosecutors said. Vanaman already had a 2004 state conviction in New Jersey of possessing child pornography downloaded from the Internet, court records show.
When agents questioned Martens about the photographs in April, he told them he did not know that any inappropriate photographs had been taken, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Brentari Galler said.
"He cried as he viewed the images," Galler said.
Martens told the agents he only gave permission for Vanaman to take naturist photos.
But further analysis of Vanaman's computer revealed a very different story, Galler told the judge. Martens had signed releases and received on several occasions more than 50 photographs that contained child pornography of the three girls taken between 2010 and 2012, Galler said.
Agents also found emails between Martens, Vanaman and a third man in which they discussed Vanaman's "craft" and "the sensuality and sexuality" of the images.
Martens wrote about "using his daughters as a passport " and said they "opened doors" for him in the naturist community, Galler told the judge.
The photographs did not depict any sexual activity and included no images of overt sexual abuse or adults sexually abusing children, prosecutors and agents said. Indeed, some of the photographs showed the children innocently baking cookies while naked, they said.
A South Florida nudist, arrested on charges that he helped take pornographic photographs of his three young daughters and shared them with other men, is putting on an unusual defense.
Brian Martens, 53, who was living at a nudist colony in Palm Beach County, is arguing that there is nothing pornographic about the pictures and that they are regular family portraits of a naturist family.
Federal prosecutors say they believe several of the photographs are clearly inappropriate and the final judgment call should lie with a trial jury. A grand jury has already voted there was enough evidence to indict Martens on one count of producing child pornography and one count of receiving child pornography.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Bill Matthewman agreed with the U.S. Attorney's Office after reviewing the photographs during a hearing Wednesday in federal court in West Palm Beach.
"Several of these photos the court has reviewed are lascivious. … They are, in the court's opinion, sexually explicit," Matthewman said.
The judge ordered Martens detained without bond pending his trial — on the grounds that he is a serious flight risk and poses "a clear risk of danger to the community, and specifically to his daughters."
Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations began scrutinizing Martens earlier this year when they found inappropriate photographs of his daughters on a computer that belonged to Leslie Grey Vanaman, 44, a neighbor of Martens in the private, gated Sunsport Gardens Family Naturist Resort in Loxahatchee Groves in western Palm Beach County. The girls were between ages 8 and 12 when the photographs were taken, prosecutors said.
Marten's attorney James Eisenberg agreed that one of the photographs is child pornography — one the judge described as a close-up shot of one of the girl's genital area — but said his client did not know the photograph was taken and never gave his permission for it to be shot. Martens hired a professional family photographer to take family portraits, Eisenberg said.
"The girls have no clothes on … but they're not doing anything of a sexual nature," Eisenberg said. "If they were young ladies who had clothing on, no one would consider them pornographic."
"Totally nude … is the normal state of all the people who live there," Eisenberg said. "In the context that everybody in this family are naturists … these photos are not lewd or pornographic in any way."
Martens, who was arrested Oct. 29, would face between 15 and 30 years in federal prison if convicted of the child porn production charge, and five to 20 years if convicted of receiving child pornography. He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Vanaman, who billed himself as a professional photographer and owned A Shade of Grey Photography, was arrested on child porn production and receipt charges earlier this year.
Vanaman is serving 60 years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of receiving and possessing child pornography — including the photographs of Martens' daughters and other children, prosecutors said. Vanaman already had a 2004 state conviction in New Jersey of possessing child pornography downloaded from the Internet, court records show.
When agents questioned Martens about the photographs in April, he told them he did not know that any inappropriate photographs had been taken, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandy Brentari Galler said.
"He cried as he viewed the images," Galler said.
Martens told the agents he only gave permission for Vanaman to take naturist photos.
But further analysis of Vanaman's computer revealed a very different story, Galler told the judge. Martens had signed releases and received on several occasions more than 50 photographs that contained child pornography of the three girls taken between 2010 and 2012, Galler said.
Agents also found emails between Martens, Vanaman and a third man in which they discussed Vanaman's "craft" and "the sensuality and sexuality" of the images.
Martens wrote about "using his daughters as a passport " and said they "opened doors" for him in the naturist community, Galler told the judge.
The photographs did not depict any sexual activity and included no images of overt sexual abuse or adults sexually abusing children, prosecutors and agents said. Indeed, some of the photographs showed the children innocently baking cookies while naked, they said.
