A LaFayette, Ga., man who authorities say produced an infamous set of videos for a worldwide child pornography ring pleaded not guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court.

James Bartholomew “Bart” Huskey, a 38-year-old father and private tennis instructor, is charged with one count each of distributing child pornography, receiving child pornography and forcing a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography.

Now in the custody of U.S. marshals at an undisclosed location with no bond, Mr. Huskey entered his plea during a 90-second court appearance in Rome, Ga.

Mr. Huskey was the subject of a two-year investigation that originated in Australia, where the videos he is accused of producing first came to the attention of authorities. He could face up to 70 years in federal prison if found guilty of all the charges.

The criminal complaint against Mr. Huskey describes an increasingly violent series of videos in which a girl who appears to be between the ages of 5 and 9 is subjected to different sexual assaults in various locations, including a home bedroom, a hotel room and two different cars.

Patrick Crosby, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Atlanta, said no trial date has been set. A pre-trial conference will take place Aug. 13, he said.

Through “painstaking” analysis of objects seen in the videos such as bedspreads, paintings on the walls and even certain background images that seemed to match those seen in MySpace photos, authorities were able to trace the suspect to his Highway 193 home in LaFayette, according to the criminal complaint.

“This is a truly great day in the world of child exploitation,” U.S. Attorney David E. Nahmias said shortly after Mr. Huskey was arrested June 16 at his residence.

According to the complaint, Mr. Huskey at the time admitted to sexually molesting for the past three years the girl who appears in the videos. In a police interview the next day with the girl, she said Mr. Huskey had been abusing her for years and had raped her within the last 24 hours.

At the time, Mr. Nahmias said the case is exceptional because it usually is very difficult to identify the victims of child abuse depicted in child pornography.

Mr. Huskey’s children have been taken into protective custody by Georgia authorities, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

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