Taking Advantage of The System

Most people describe Robert Martin Carey as a loner. He has worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for more than 30 years. Because he was working with satellite images, it wasn't uncommon for him to download a lot of large images onto his work computer on a daily basis. What no one knew was that a majority of the images being downloaded were child pornography, according to police.  Cops say more than a million images had been downloaded over a ten-year span.

Some heightened security measures led the government to take a look at what Carey was really downloading. For the past several months, agents from the Office of Inspector General have been investigating the case. While searching Carey's office and apartment, agents say they collected a cache of filth -- millions of images on 3 computers, more than 3,000 CDs, 35 mm slides, VHS tapes and mountains of books and magazines. Police say almost all were child pornography.

Assessing The Damage

Most disturbing to agents was the discovery of a full pictorial history of Carey allegedly sexually abusing and exploiting young girls. The pictures appear to have been taken over a period of several years. Agents are hoping to identify the young girls, and trying to find out if there may be any more victims. 

With the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, agents say 16 young children have been identified from the pornographic images Carey is accused of downloading from the web. Agents say as soon as Carey knew he was under investigation, he immediately took off.

Hot on His Trail

Agents say that they tracked Carey to a home in Rosamond, Calif. in December 2005, but when they went to nab him, they had missed their man by just 26 hours. Authorities discovered that Carey had fled to a train station in Lancaster, Calif., where he bought a ticket to Los Angeles. Two surveillance cameras caught Carey trying to buy a ticket at the train station.

Agents received information that Carey caught a flight to Vancouver, Canada and was staying in a hotel. With help from authorities in Canada, they went to arrest Carey, but once again, Carey escaped. When authorities arrived at the hotel, Carey was gone -- all he had left behind was six unopened beers, some change and two rolls of duct tape. Agents are wondering what Carey may have had planned, and now believe he left Canada and may be in Prague.

Storm Closed in On Carey

Just two days after being on America's Most Wanted, Robert Carey turned himself in to authorities in Rome. Agents say that Carey called the U.S. Embassy on Janurary 23, 2005 and told them he was a wanted fugitive. He explained to the Embassy that he wanted to turn himself in. Agents believe that Carey heard he was featured on America's Most Wanted and decided that it would be too hard to remain anonymous. Carey is now waiting for extradition back to the U.S.