EXCLUSIVE: Youth baseball coach is first American out of 76 identified as pedophile trapped in global sting that rescued 400 children

David Scott Engle, from Lake Lucerne, Washington, is believed to be the first US child sex offender officially identified as someone caught by investigators from Project Spade
Last month MailOnline reported Engle, a divorce lawyer, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after amassing thousands of child pornography images
He will now stand trial on child rape charges after investigators found dozens of videos of him allegedly sexually assaulting on two boys
So far Project Spade has led to the rescue of 386 young children worldwide and the arrest of 348 people, among them nearly 80 American nationals

PUBLISHED: 05:57 GMT, 15 November 2013 | UPDATED: 15:41 GMT, 15 November 2013

Child rape: Baseball coach David Engle, pictured, 'repeatedly filmed himself raping two boys and had 450 sexual photos of his youth baseball players'

A youth baseball coach was exposed as a prolific pedophile in one of the world's biggest ever child porn busts, it can be revealed today.

David Scott Engle is believed to be the first American child sex offender officially identified as someone caught by investigators from Project Spade.

Last month MailOnline reported Engle, a divorce lawyer from Lake Lucerne in Washington, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after amassing thousands of child pornography images.

The 50-year-old will now stand trial on child rape charges after investigators found dozens of videos of him allegedly carrying out sickening sexual assaults on two boys.

He was arrested in November last year when he was detected buying child pornography online, leading to the discovery that he had a collection of 450 images showing the clothed genitals of the boys he coached.

And MailOnline can for the first time reveal that he was caught after operatives from sweeping child pornography investigation Project Spade discovered his internet activity.

Members of the global team alerted local law enforcement who searched his home and a storage unit and discovered a stash of horrific home-made and purchased child pornography.

Last night Emily Langlie from the United States Attorney's office told MailOnline: 'Project Spade put him on the radar of law enforcement officers.

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'Then following the serving of warrants it became clear that Mr Engle was involved in not only the production of child pornography, but in child molestation against young victims.'

So far Project Spade has led to the rescue of 386 young children around the world and the arrest of 348 people, among them nearly 80 American nationals.

'It is alleged that officers seized hundreds of thousands of videos detailing horrific sexual acts against very young children, some of the worst that they have ever viewed,' Toronto Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins said.

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Massive haul: Canadian police described the Project Spade operation as one of the largest child porn busts they've ever seen

Police have revealed 108 people were arrested in Canada, 76 in the U.S and 164 in countries from Spain to South Africa and Australia. Forty school teachers, nine doctors and nurses, and more than 30 people who volunteered with kids were among those taken into custody.

The list of suspects also includes nine clergymen, six police officers and three foster parents. Police said the children were 'rescued from child exploitation' but did not give more details.

Beaven-Desjardins said the investigation began with a Toronto man accused of running a company since 2005 that distributed child pornography videos to the tune of $4million in revenue, CTV News reported.

Police allege Brian Way, 42, instructed people around the world to create the videos of children ranging from 5 to 12 years of age, then distributed the videos via his company, Azov Films, to international customers.

The videos included naked boys from Germany, Romania and Ukraine, which it marketed as naturist movies and claimed were legal in Canada and the United States.

The head of the Toronto police sex crimes unit told the Toronto Star that the X-rated images displayed 'horrific acts of sexual abuse — some of the worst (officers) have seen.'

Police said they executed a search warrant at Way's company and home, seizing about 1,000 pieces of evidence: computers, servers, DVD burners, a video editing suite and hundreds of movies.

Teachers and doctors among 348 child porn arrests

Global collaboration: More than 30 police officers from around the world gathered to announce the end of a 3-year child pornography investigation in Toronto

Way was charged with 24 offences, including child pornography. Police also designated Azov Films as a criminal organization, charging Way with giving directions on behalf of a gang. TheAzovfilms.com website has been shut down.

And MailOnline can reveal Engle was part of the global network of paedophiles. Last month he was sentenced on federal child pornography charges but allegations that he raped one boy 'countless' times over six years remaining outstanding in state court.

The baseball coach for 11 and 12-year-olds had gone to great lengths to have contact with children, and amassed an extensive collection of child pornography featuring boys the same age as the ones he taught, the court was told.

Before his arrest, Engle had coached a youth baseball team, was president of Maple Valley Pony Baseball and Fast Pitch, served on two regional baseball organizations and one baseball business.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marci Ellsworth said the former coach abused the trust parents placed in him.

'While [Engle] was purportedly serving as a role model and mentor for these young boys, he was sexually interested in them,' Ms Ellsworth said in court papers.

'When [he] was taking pictures and shooting video of baseball games, his camera was focused on the players’ crotches, not on their batting stance, pitching arms, or any other aspect of their athletic performance.'

Online filth: Police allege Brian Way, 42, instructed people around the world to create the videos of children ranging from 5 to 12 years of age, then distributed the videos via his company, Azov Films

Engle pleaded guilty in July to federal child pornography charges and admitted possessing hundreds of videos of children being sexually abused.

Now he has been sentenced on those charges, the child rape case can proceed with any state sentence following on from the 25-year term just handed to Engle.

King County prosecutors have charged him with three counts of child rape over allegations that he was shown raping a boy in several videos.

About 1,400 photos and 40 videos allegedly show Engle raping one boy, and three videos show abuse of a second child.

In one Engle filmed himself watching baseball on TV as the boy he was raping struggled and told him 'No'. The assaults only stopped after his arrest.

'This is a heart-wrenching betrayal of trust of the victims and the community,' U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said in a statement.

Engle was caught after postal inspectors joined an international investigation into Azovfilms.com.

All walks of life: Police said 108 people were arrested in Canada, 76 in the U.S and 164 in countries from Spain to South Africa and Australia, among them teachers, doctors and priests

He spent $2,300 on videos and photos sent to him by the company between 2005 and 2011, according to Q13Fox, but when police raided his home they found child pornography well beyond the purchases he made from the website they had been investigating.

His 'collection of child pornography consisted predominantly of young boys in the same age range as those [he] coached in youth baseball,' Ms Ellsworth told the court.

She added: '[Engle] had many pictured of the boys he coached – including nearly 450 pictures of their clothed genital regions – which, although … not pornographic in nature, are nonetheless disturbing.'

His conviction is a significant result for Project Spade, which began in 2010 and worked with Interpol in more than 50 countries including Australia, Spain, Mexico, Norway and Greece.

More than 350,000 images and over 9,000 videos - about 45 terabytes - of child sexual abuse were found during the probe, and arrests are continuing.

Norwegian police spokesman Bjoern-Erik Ludvigsen said in a statement: 'This operation shows that international police cooperation works. Despite large amounts of material and that this is time-consuming work, this shows that the Internet is not a safe haven for crimes against children,'

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service said it began its investigation by accessing the company website and making undercover purchases.

In one of the biggest such operations ever seen, investigators uncovered an octopus-like child-porn network centred on a now-shuttered sex-film business in Toronto. Its tentacles extended across Canada, where 108 people have been taken into custody, and to six continents. In the US, 76 people were arrested while others have been rounded up in several European countries.

While the investigation, Project Spade, was led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), it was pursued with the collaboration of the US Postal Inspection Service and law enforcement agencies in Sweden, Spain, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and Hong Kong, officials said.

While it is not the first such ring to be uncovered, it is the identities of some of those accused of consuming and helping to create the material that will attract attention.

“The arrests included 40 schoolteachers, nine doctors and nurses, 32 people who volunteered with children, six law-enforcement personnel, nine pastors or priests and three foster parents,” said inspector Joanna Beavan-Desjardins.

Accused of being at the ring’s hub is a Toronto resident identified as Brian Way, 42. Police alleged that Mr Way, as the owner of Azov Films, solicited and distributed on a global basis vast volumes of videos featuring underage and usually naked boys, as well as criminal sex acts.

Investigators who raided Azov Films in 2011 found hundreds of thousand of the images featuring “horrific acts of sexual abuse – some of the worst they have seen”, added Ms Beavan-Desjardins, who heads the Toronto police sex crimes unit.

As it unfolded, the investigation triggered 341 arrests around the world and the taking into care of 386 children. Some of those arrested have already pleaded guilty and are behind bars, while others are still before the courts. Mr Way is charged with 24 offences including making, possessing, distributing, exporting and selling the explicit images of boys, said to range in age from toddlers to teenagers.

The Toronto Star newspaper, which said it had been granted exclusive background access to Project Spade, reported that clients of Mr Way in Canada alone included an Ontario ice-hockey coach, a Toronto teacher, a priest, a Scout leader in Quebec and a retired high?school headmaster in Nova Scotia. Mr Way himself is in custody and faces a first preliminary court hearing in December.

The sweep of arrests worldwide began after investigators viewed more than 100 of Azov’s films and cross-referenced online purchases of those titles with people on a customer list found at Mr Way’s premises. His business is alleged to have made $4m in revenues. Customers could visit the home page of a website with a top 10 of the most popular movies and purchase them as if it were Amazon.

The films were made with video clips allegedly sent to Mr Way by collaborators around the world. Films viewed by police included sequences of naked boys shot in Romania, Ukraine and Germany.

“This is a crime which is hidden, and which without this kind of operation we can put to the light,” Spain’s chief inspector Luis Garcia told the Toronto Star. “We can find hands-on abuse, and we could never have known about this in any other way.”