let us all remember pete townshend was picked up for kiddie porn. ended up being dismissed. i hope that the same thing happens here. really like his designs.

What exactly is unhealthy about it?

I actually had something like this happen to me years ago. My PC got infected and started sending and receiving porn through my email. Not sure what all happened but finally all my email accounts got closed and I ended up just tossing my PC. My kids also used my PC so I never went to any porn sites. Anyway, just saying shit can happen.

This is all a sad situation. We will need to let due process take its course.

I was speaking for myself, play what you want, and don't be a douche.

Stupid comment

even more stupid

time to drain this thread, interesting to see how some of u think, actually a little frightening.

Moderator's comment: Just a reminder--any comments that are threatening, violent, or graphic will be removed.

You don't necessarily get a charge per image. If you downloaded 30 images from one file server and another 20 from a different server, that could possibly be two counts, depending on the statute you are charged under. Usually the wire transfer is a higher crime than the possession. Maybe he traded two groups with another person.....there are a number of reasons for just two charges.

I worked child crimes for over 2 years and those were some of the hardest and most heartbreaking cases I ever worked. If we were running a sting operation, we would often charge under the cases we were involved with because we could prove the facts. We would then take into account whatever we found in the subsequent search warrant and evaluate and add possibile additional charges later once we could prove those facts as well.

Everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but traditionally cops don't serve warrants and immediately arrest 69 year old men unless they are pretty sure of what they are looking at. Cops and prosecutors are so gun-shy about getting sued these days, they pretty much don't act without a slam-dunk case. Hopefully he is innocent, but it doesn't look good. This will not be a case of just clicking on a wrong website somewhere.

For those saying they won't buy a pin he designed...it is just a pinball machine, and his guilt or innocence doesn't change the game any. Playing one doesn't make anyone a child molester. Do you check the history of the guy that designed your new Ford? What about former owners? All this guy did was to decide where the ramps went and how wide the flipper gap needed to be. He may be scum, and if guilty he is and should be done in pinball, but that doesn't change anything so far as the games are concerned.

I hope justice is done....conviction or dismissal.

Pete Townsend case was dismissed because of who he was, period! The British hierarchy wanted it all to go away quietly, as they could not have one of their legends with such a black mark, a major money generating legend at that.
In truth: Townsend's an original mudbone wierdo, even admitted he downloaded the underage content for "research" purposes (total bullshit), and should have been nailed.
Gargantuan difference between a 3.6 billion British pound generating singer/songwriter, and a pinball guy...and England could not handle another scandal after Diana.

Love the Who's music
I'll still play Trudeau's pins (it's not the machine's fault who designed it)....but I hope he goes down hard if found guilty.

Guess we should just be glad it wasn't "The Machine: Child-Bride of Pinbot"

y7Z0L (resized).jpg

I could hear the cops know We got one

Except for INS codes, IRS codes, and DUI.

Times have changed.

LTG : )

Yes. Wasn't he doing research for a book on it he was writing ?

That book came out, right ?

LTG : )

Everyone is gonna have their own personal take here. I wouldn't judge anyone who plays his games still, that's for sure!

But I do think Stern is probably rightly worried about what to do with his next unreleased game. Imagine there were some phone calls tonight ...

Oh I am sure you are right, and if they know what is good for them they will kill the design or attribute it to someone else. Coming out with a Trudeau game at this point would be a really bad business decision.

Sad!! I met John at PAGG last year.I sure didn't get any kinda vibe like that at all!!I;know;he's in public and on best behavyer but can we please give him the benefit of doubt before any judgement is concluded ???

As a normal human being and a father of 3 I have zero tolerance for this. God help him if I ever caught the SOB. There is a special place in HELL for those people.

This piece of garbage does not deserve any pinsider ever speaking his name again. Let's all forget who he is. It's sad that some will still associate his name with such a wonderful thing called pinball.

Not sure the scenario but thoughts and prayers to the children and family's directly effected by this awefull tragedy.

The Stern Crew is at a big SW launch party at Logan arcade tonight.

Very sorry to hear this. Have talked to John multiple times at Expo and enjoyed hearing his insights and pinball life. Very sad if this is true.

I give the benefit of doubt to those accused. If found guilty, I hope for the recovery of victims and perpetrators, and all family involved. It's easy to demonize, much harder to try to understand and attempt to fix society.

My sympathy to many who are likely tragically affected by this news (that has nothing to do with Pinball)

Well, let me start off by saying I have read all 253 post on this topic. I wondered how this community would respond to the news. So far I have been very disappointed. If this story is true John is sick. He has committed a crime and sinned. Lets let the criminal justice system take care of the crime and God deal with the sin. So what is our part? I have seen the pinball community many times come to the aid and support of someone who is ill or in financial trouble. I for one will be praying for John and his family. The employees at Stern will also need our support. I may buy a Iron Madden if the playfield design and program is something I like. I'm not in love with IM music. Let me be clear. I hate child porn, because it harms the child and all involved. I hate adult porn because it harms the women and men involved. It also, in my opinion, harms the viewer.

We have all heard the saying "hate the sin, love the sinner". That's what I intend to do.

Let's all remember, we all sin daily.

I hope this post does not come of as "holier than thou". I certainly don't mean it that way.

Shit, sure the buzz was taken off that one. I feel for them, rough spot, JT really screwed them over.

Edit: I meant the buzz for the Stern employees, sure no one else at the party cares, but downvote away if that still bothers you for some reason.

Well put fingersport! Thank-you!!

Yeah, no, you can take that elsewhere please.

Innocent until proven guilty... but, assuming the latter.

What an asshole.

Also well put Aurich!!!!

Edit: I deleted my post. This is some real life tragedy. I don't need to post on the internet about it.

I deal in a factual world. They confiscated his computer.

If I'm on the jury and they show images on his computer, he's guilty. If there are no images, then they will dismiss all charges.

In order for the police to get a warrant, they must show probable cause. They must have something, otherwise, they couldn't get a warrant.

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/search-warrant-basics-29742.html

BS. Unless you can prove John knew they were children he's not a scumbag.

Do you think the millions of people who watched Traci Lords movies and the people who filmed and performed with her are scumbags? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traci_Lords

To me, it came across as... " I go to church 5x a week and you should to!" Otherwise your a sinner and god will punish you! Very insightful.

This is bonkers. Seems like alot of people are actually defending the accusation. We should all say We hope for everyones sake that it was all a giant misunderstanding. Usually they arrest and confiscate computers for a reason. Police typically do not randomly knock on doors with such accusations. Yes ZERO TOLERANCE! for this is correct anyone thinking differently is delusional and will probably have a knock on there door pretty soon as well.

Again thoughts and prayers to the family's affected.

This is terrible news but I will not get rid of my games like congo and judge Dredd because there where many other people that help make those games. I also don't understand why people would stop playing his games they are machines they have done nothing wrong.

Of course YOU are defending this guy. I've known him to be a real jerk for a long time.

Beat me to it my man.

I've got a very good friend who, as part of his job, participates in the prosecution of a lot of "CP" cases. I will absolutely withhold judgment until JT is convicted.

That said, what my buddy has been able to tell me just on the most general level is that they don't usually bother going after someone who downloads a picture of a model who claims to be 18 but is actually 16. The kind of crime that warrants an actual raid is really deep and dark, and requires the individual to participate to a much deeper level than, for example, just signing up for a website.

Like I said, I won't judge before he's had his day in court, but it really doesn't look good.

I just hope that everyone who has been hurt can find some healing and comfort, sooner rather than later.

Hope that burrito he's most likely wearing right now, on that cold metal bunk is nice and cozy. If charges are proven in court, may he rot in hell and get a warm welcome in Gen Pop....

I've been involved in cases like this as well. Being an ISP for many years, we worked with various Federal agencies to catch people like this. I can't speculate as to what affected JT, but if I were to guess, it was likely one of two things... he fell into some kind of kiddy porn honey pot set up by the Feds, or he interacted with an agent pretending to be someone underage and tried to set up a meeting. That's usually what triggers actions and search warrants. Although it also could have been a family member discovering material and reporting it to the authorities. In the first two cases, they wouldn't even begin to pursue someone unless they'd already clearly established the perp knew the material or person was underage and still made definitive actions.

Spence, sorry it came across that way. For the record I do go to church, but normal only 1 time a week. Sometimes two, when they have a interesting speaker or a adult education program. Back on topic, my post was my way of encouraging others to look at this situation a different way. Some of the pinsiders seem to be putting down the sinner, in this case men who view child pornography, which elevates other who don't. I know I am just as bad. I sin daily. I don't mean to make this post a dissertation on sin but it fits the topic. My second goal was to show concern for all involved. Especially John. Yesterday most of us would have loved to sit down and have a meal with John. Talk pinball and how his games have made our lives a little better. He's a human being who is probably in a great deal of pain. Yes he may have brought this on himself but if the allegations are true, I hope he can turn his life around. I don't want to do anything that will make that process harder. Once again I apologize.

Sad news. If he ever gets to design another pin again, it definitely won't be his dream theme, "The Beatles."

I keep thinking of Beatles jokes (JT dream theme) and I can't stomach posting them because this is just sad to hear about and it's also a very serious offense. Sad day for the community and his family.

Dude, who gives a fuck about pinball machines he designed right now.

People's lives are being changed. Children were sexually assaulted against their will. Potential serious jailtime is up in the air. His name is tarnished, and his family will have to deal with the fallout. Moving forward, Stern has a decent "oh shit" case on their hands.

WHO CARES about "Well, don't know now if I can buy a pinball machine with his name on it now....I mean, I guess I could. The game didn't commit the act, so I guess maybe, I could buy one cause...you know...I can..."

Children have been emotionally scarred for life over these crimes. Pinball machines should be the very last things on our minds.

Even if Trudeau is found innocent, there will always be suspicions, and I wonder what his employment future would be like even if he is cleared of all charges. If he's guilty, then he is; but if he isn't, there's some serious damage here.

My point: this has damages well beyond what most people can recover from. Even if proven/declared innocent, he will wear a metaphorical Scarlett Letter the rest of his life. So, please, step back and think to yourself "What is more important here? The indelible implications of this situation and the scarring effects of these transgressions placed upon children without their consent, or...... gee, really wanted a CFTBL...but now..."

We need to get some serious perspective on things.

This is sad news , I'm just now reading about it and in shock.
It makes me want to take a Magic Eraser to all the plastic's I had him sign at the TPF this past spring.

If anyone feels like they can't hold onto their Spirt.. msg me.

I hope this is not true as you do I am sure.

John was always really cool to me at the shows. I thought he was a nice guy. Generally speaking
I can see this being a case of Pirate downloading.. I hope it is.

But honestly... you have to be in a really Dark part of the web period. Whether its peer to peer or a website that has misleading file names.

Take Limewire for example. File could be named one thing..turns out to be another. I'm hoping it's something along these lines.

Sad on so many levels. I hope it turns out to not be what it looks like. I feel sick right now.

sorry, i cannot agree
the town i live in was an epicenter of a group of pedophile priests (offenses happened in the 70's), i know a few victims
these people never offend once, it was time and time again. destroying many lives, for their own personal gratification
child porn is wrong
child sex is wrong

Im sorry but ANYONE who can possibly find any kind of levity in telling jokes regarding child porn and the people involved are complete simpletons and beyond idiots !! I consider myself the king of tasteless jokes but this subject is not to be joked about! EVER !!!

"We have all heard the saying "hate the sin, love the sinner". That's what I intend to do.
Let's all remember, we all sin daily."

Probably the stupidest fukn thing I have read on this site, ever.

You're still changing the subject by trying to ask something entirely different. Nothing you are saying is 'things that only have ever happened to guilty people.' I'm putting you on ignore. Not because I have an issue with making this point third time, but because you aren't going to listen and will just keep throwing up strawman arguments and have no desire to have an actual logical debate. And if there is one thing I won't tolerate, it's repeating myself ad infinitum.

Well kenada loves being rubbed the wrong way he said so in the last podcast. I wonder what kind of ten foot pole he buys when repooping, rescouping, I mean reporting this story.

Not a good day for pinball fans for sure.