A Boston man charged in a high-profile child pornography case was denied bond Wednesday by a federal judge in Roanoke.

Aaron Campbell Brown, 25, is accused of processing payments for several child pornography Web sites, including one site operated by Gregory John Mitchel, 38, of Dublin.

Mitchel pleaded guilty in January to the production, possession, transportation and sale of child pornography in interstate commerce. Because Mitchel's case is already being prosecuted in the Western District of Virginia, Brown's also will be handled here.

According to FBI Special Agent Monique Winkis, the case began in July 2005 with the confession of a 19-year-old California man named Justin Berry, who told federal agents he had started his own child pornography Web sites at age 13. Berry has been granted immunity from prosecution.

Berry soon met Mitchel, who helped him operate one of his sites, and the two began having a sexual relationship, records show.

At some point, Winkis said, Berry allegedly arranged for Brown's company, neova.net, to process credit card payments for membership to his site.

According to Brown's indictment, he distributed proceeds from Berry's sites to Berry and Mitchel and kept a cut for himself.

Officials estimate that total profits topped $300,000.

Winkis testified that Brown voluntarily visited a Boston FBI office after he saw his company mentioned in a New York Times article about Berry in December 2005. And after his indictment, Brown returned to Boston from Stockholm, Sweden, to face authorities.

Brown's attorneys, David Damico and Ray Ferris, argued that their client's cooperation should make him a good candidate for bond. But prosecutor Joe Mott said Brown did not know he was under indictment when he returned to the United States.

Mott argued that Brown, a seasoned traveler who speaks French, German and some Swedish, would be a flight risk if released.

But because Brown's passport has been seized, that wasn't what gave U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Urbanski pause.

Although no evidence exists that Brown himself ever abused a child, Urbanski was disturbed by Winkis' testimony that Brown had uploaded pornography onto Berry's sites, helped to install a hidden camera in a shower and was filmed in an apparently innocent video with a 14-year-old boy who was a known pornography victim.

Brown's father, Methodist minister Kenneth Brown of Maryland, testified that if his son came to live with him on bond, he would unhook his Internet connection and put up his six-figure equity as collateral.

Urbanski called Kenneth Brown "one of the most outstanding individuals I have ever seen in this courtroom" and told Aaron Brown that his father was the only thing he had going for him.

Nevertheless, Urbanski decided that Aaron Brown's full-time working father could not keep an eye on him at all times, so he denied bond.

"There is no way I can be assured that he will not gain access to the Internet," Urbanski said.

A third man, Timothy Ryan Richards, also has been charged in the case. Richards, a longtime friend of Aaron Brown, allegedly ran several child pornography sites and ran his payments through neova.net.

Richards is under indictment in Tennessee.