Yes, I know this could go elsewhere. There are reasons for posting it here.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3920501/

Highlights:

Tood Bertrang and his slave were arrested follawing an FBI sting operation. Two 'parents' contacted Todd, and met with him regarding the circumcision of their two daughters, aged 8 and 12. He agreed to perform the procedure, with the aid of his slave. Both were arrested as a result.

The news is still breaking, so details beyand those presented in that news article are not know at this point. It is also not know how much publicity this will recieve.

Some of you may know Tood, or at least know of him. For those that don't he is a prominent piercer, and has been very open about his performing other modifications, primarily female circumcision. To the best of my knowledge though, he has never performed a castration, although he did express interest in doing so at one point.

This incident does have relevance to the Eunuch Archive. He is one of a number of underground 'cutters' that perform illegal surgeries upon people. He is also the second arrested in the US in the last few months alone. This means that the awareness of such people is growing, and is not a good thing. There is a strong, and growing, backlash in the law enforcement community against such people. There may also be a similar backlash in the general population.

Todd's arrest, combined with other recent events (such as the cannibal in Germany, and the cutter/killer in Missouri), could easily bring a spotlight upon sites such as BME, and the Eunuch Archive. Frankly, I'm not sure the EA could handle such a spotlight.

We may need to consider the possibility of an investigation aimed at the EA. In the current political climate, with the recent events considered, it is entirely possible.

The Eunuch Archive gets 5,000 hits a day. That may not sound like much to some, but it is far more than enough to put us on the radar, if someone chooses to look.

You may disagree about the possibilty of such an investigation as a result of Todd's arrest, but I hope you agree that there is an amazing chance of such an investigation occurring at some point in the future. We should probably consider our response, or ways to prevent/minimize the risks and potential damage.

The issue should not be ignored.

For those of us that know Todd or of him I dont think this comes as a big suprize. I was talking with him about a year ago and asked if he did castrations. He said he would do them for $1000, I then asked how many he had done, he said none but he has read up on it and it did not seem that hard. I think this guy has been a loose cannon for a long time, you cant post pictures of and bost as to what you are doing and put your name on it. I dont think it was a matter of what if he gets arrested again but when. I do think that you all should take note that this is the FBI that made the arrest and this is a federal case.

I agree with IEunuch that we need to be carful because there is no doubt that we are being watched. Once again I will add that the only way to be castrated is by a doctor.

I think there are several of us eunuchs that agree that there needs to be a way for a person to get a castration just like the SRS folks. I am not sure what it is but I do think this is the right place to take a stand on this issue.

Once again a cutter is putting us in the spotlight, the difference from Todd and our friend in Detroit is that one is in it for the publisity and the other as a service to the community.

So here we go again.

River

Of course River is right.

I personally believe that there are some law enforcement types that monitor this site from time to time.

It is a service to them also, so that they may see what is going on in the community and keep things legal, safe and sane. I believe their presence to be beneficial and in some cases essential.

As long as the Archive is ran as it is being ran now, I believe that there is nothing to worry about. Nobody wants to harm anyone here and this site is valuable to those types in our society as much as it is to the rest of those who frequent the Archive s and discussion boards. The literature here is not any worse than that that could be found at numerous adult book stores and in some cases, book stores in your downtown areas or in the malls of suburbia.

Of course Todd along with that poor girl who claims to be his "slave" have an outlook that is very much different than most here. Once again, Todd has brought this on himself. Similar to what Michael JAckson is doing, at least in principle. Those who cut between peoples legs without the proper training stand to be in great trouble if they get caught.

Such "stings" are not "entrapment" and even if they are innocent the charges put a person on welfare after the legal fees are billed.

River is right, however. More later as things develop...

A-1

Of course there is no way to monitor everything everyone says in private chat on the chatroom, or in PMs on the message board, but if there are law enforcement folks reading the Archive they can't say that we have consistantly said that in real life (yes, we have a healthy fantasy section here too with the stories) that the only safe way to be castrated or have any surgical procedure done is with a competant, qualified doctor.

If you wouldn't have your appendix removed in a Motel 6 by your next door neighbor Bob, why in the world would you have your penis and/or testicles removed under those same conditions?

I am very proud that the Archive message boards and other areas have never become an advertisement for various 'cutters' -- and I hope that remains the policy from here on out.

Law enforcement officers -- welcome to the Archive While you may not (or may??!!) be interested in the subject matter you have to believe from the evidence of what goes on here that we have been and are dedicated to keeping people safe, to giving them an outlet for their fantasies and desires, to giving them accurate information, and to try to convince them not to do anything dangerous.

They didn't have to monitor anything. Not this site or any other site. Don't assume these police monitor anything.

They simply approached him and asked if he would do a female circumcism (spelling) ... That's the simplest police sting in the book. Pretend you want what the person is willing to give. Be sincere and wait for the person to trust you or to give in to your persistence.

And he wanted to make a legal point by doing these things.

Does anybody know any more about this?

I was just curious....

A-1

Two friends of mine were present at Todd Bertrang's house when he was arrested though they are a bit camera shy. According to them, Todd DID NOT agree to cut the young girls but said he would consider it.

I wasn't there so I don't know the facts. I do know that Todd and Robyn are my very close friends. I have been to Todd's house many times and never witnessed anything illegal.

I trust Todd to make the correct decision and I distrust the FBI for various reasons.

I just had to add my 2 cents worth.

MacTheWolf

Mackie,

I just wanted to bring everybody up to speed regarding this issue.

A-1