Thomas Alan Arthur, Running Child Obscenity Website, Texas 2021

A Texas man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in running a website dedicated to publishing writings that detail the sexual abuse of children, including the rape, torture and murder of infants and toddlers.

Thomas Alan Arthur, 65, of Terlingua, was convicted by a federal jury on Jan. 21, 2021, of three counts of trafficking in obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of a child, five counts of trafficking in obscene text stories about the sexual abuse of children, and one count of engaging in the business of selling obscene matters involving the sexual abuse of children.

According to court documents and evidence introduced at trial, Arthur began operating the Mr. Double website in 1996 and began charging members for access to the site in 1998. The website was taken offline in November 2019 when the FBI executed a search warrant at his residence near Terlingua, where Arthur administered the site.

Pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with the Netherlands, additional evidence was obtained from the server in the Netherlands, where the site was hosted. The evidence at trial showed that all submissions for publication were reviewed and approved by Arthur before he posted them on the site. Some of the author pages contained drawings depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The website was Arthur’s sole source of income for more than 20 years. In addition to the term of imprisonment, Arthur was sentenced to three years of supervised release and a $50,000 fine. Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid and U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff made the announcement.

Arthur sexually assaulted two females who came forward during the investigation of this case. Court documents and statements made in court showed that in approximately 1992, Arthur drugged an adult woman living with him, sexually assaulted her and video recorded it. In another instance, in the early 1980s, Arthur molested a girl when she was four or five years old, who was the daughter of a friend and business associate.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. The FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Brewster County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case. Special thanks are extended to the government of the Netherlands for its assistance.

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