US clown faces child porn charges

A clown who goes by the name of Spanky has been arrested on child porn charges while travelling with legendary the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus in the US.

Thomas Riccio, 23, of Jacksonville, Florida, faces ten counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Leads from an FBI investigation in New Jersey linked Riccio to a company in Belarus that provided credit card billing services for more than 50 child pornography websites internationally, said US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement spokesman Dean Boyd.

About 100 people have been arrested in the United States based on the Belarus investigation and 100 others were arrested in Denmark earlier this year, he said.