Washington State ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2011: Leif O’Neil Christensen Sentenced to 13 Years in Federal Prison For Child Pornography And Gun Possession

Defendant Had 2006 State Convictions for Possession of Child Pornography

A Skagit County felon was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 13 years in prison for possession of child pornography and being a felon in possession of a firearm, announced U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan. Leif O’Neil Christensen, 32, of Anacortes, Washington, had been convicted in 2006 in Snohomish County of possession of child pornography. Due to that conviction, Christensen faced a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence and was prohibited from possessing a firearm. U.S. District Judge James L. Robart imposed 20 years of supervised release following the prison term.

Jenny A. Durkan

Christensen came to the attention of law enforcement in February 2010 when an FBI agent working online in an undercover capacity identified an Internet protocol (IP) address that was using peer-to-peer file sharing software to distribute child pornography. The IP address was linked to Christensen. As officers were preparing search warrants, Christensen was arrested for failing to register as a sex offender.

In December 2010, a second investigation led to a different IP address associated with Christensen in Anacortes, Washington. In March 2011, law enforcement searched that home and found both child pornography and a Ruger firearm in Christensen’s living space. Christensen was arrested. He was indicted in October 2011 and pleaded guilty in January 2012.

In asking for a 15-year sentence, prosecutors wrote to the court that Christensen’s criminal history “reveals a combustible mix of sexual deviancy, violence, poor impulse control, and drug abuse and addiction. He has admitted to molesting three boys when he was in his late teens and early 20s.

The abuse he suffered as a child undoubtedly affected him and most likely contributed to his current criminal history and the instant offense. Understanding his background may help explain his situation somewhat, but it does not mitigate the danger that he poses now, to the community at large, and to young children that he might meet. The overriding concern is that the defendant be prevented from molesting another boy.”

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Illinois ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2009/2012: Eight Self-Identified ‘Boy Lovers’ Sentenced to Federal Prison for Sexual Exploitation Crimes

Three years after several self-identified “boylovers,” who met in person and online to discuss their sexual interest in children and trade child pornography, were arrested in an FBI sting during or soon after a purported party at a hotel in suburban Skokie, a total of eight defendants have been convicted and sentenced to federal prison terms as a result of the investigation. The sentences ranged from nine years for a suburban Crest Hill man sentenced last week in Chicago to 120 years for a Missouri man sentenced last year in St. Louis.

Six of the eight defendants pleaded guilty and three of them cooperated against others, while the Crest Hill man and a Missouri defendant were convicted after separate trials. All were prosecuted as part of an investigation by the Chicago FBI’s Innocent Images Task Force, which culminated with the undercover sting in September 2009.

“The sentences in these cases reflect the stark reality that defendants who prey upon children by sexually exploiting or abusing them will be punished severely,” said Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He announced the sentences together with William C. Monroe, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Mark McGill, 27, of Crest Hill, was sentenced to nine years in prison, followed by 20 years’ supervised release, by U.S. District Judge Joan Gottschall on October 9th, 2012. McGill was convicted of possessing and distributing child pornography after a trial in March 2012. Evidence at McGill’s trial showed that he had attended at least one party with other “boylovers.”

In August 2009, McGill gave a cooperating defendant a thumb drive containing approximately 3.500 images and nearly 60 videos containing child pornography.

Jose Garcia, 25, of Schererville, Indiana, was sentenced to 33 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, by U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve on July 23. Garcia, who cooperated, pleaded guilty to producing, possessing, and distributing child pornography.

Jacob Elliott, 32, of Matteson, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by 10 years’ supervised release, by U.S. District Judge John Grady on July 18. Elliott, who cooperated, pleaded guilty to producing and possessing child pornography.

Corey Stinefast, 30, of Kenosha, Wisconsin, sentenced to 18 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, by Judge St. Eve on June 13. Stinefast pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography, and he was found to have amassed a collection of more than 191.000 images of child pornography.

Neal Maschke, 42, of West Chicago, was sentenced to nine years in prison, followed by five years’ supervised release, by U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan in October 2010. Maschke pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

McGill, Maschke, Garcia, Stinefast

Donald Peppers, 38, of Hoffman Estates, sentenced to 27 years in prison, followed by lifetime supervised release, by the late U.S. District Judge William Hibbler in December 2010. Peppers, who cooperated, pleaded guilty to producing, transporting, and possessing child pornography, including an admission that he had produced a video of himself sexually molesting a 1-year-old child. Peppers’ arrest and subsequent cooperation touched off the investigation that resulted in the other prosecutions.

Garcia and Maschke were arrested when they showed up for what they believed was going to be a “boylovers” party at the Skokie hotel in September 2009. McGill and Stinefast were arrested a short time later. Two other defendants, Michael Martin and Matthew Klopfenstine, were convicted in federal courts in St. Louis and Kansas City, respectively, based on evidence gathered during this investigation. Martin was sentenced last year to 120 years in prison for producing child pornography, and Klopfenstine was sentenced recently to 15 years and eight months for producing child pornography.

Marylands ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2011/2012: Roger Allen Repp, III, age 45, Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Sexually Exploiting a Minor to Produce Child Pornography

U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Roger Allen Repp, III, age 45, formerly of Hagerstown, Maryland, on September 6th, 2012, to 25 years in prison, followed by supervised release for life, for sexually exploiting a minor to produce child pornography. Judge Blake also ordered that upon Repp’s release from prison he must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee, and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA).

Roger Allen Repp

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Acting Special Agent in Charge Timothy P. Groh of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; Colonel Marcus L. Brown, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Washington County State’s Attorney Charles P. Strong, Jr.

According to Repp’s plea agreement, Repp produced sexually explicit and lascivious photographs of a teenage girl under the age of 16 via a pinhole camera he set up in the girl’s bedroom and bathroom, without her knowledge. Repp admitted that he distributed those images to other pedophiles via a file sharing program over the Internet, in return for other child pornography being sent to him. Repp’s conduct was discovered during an undercover investigation of file sharing activities on the Internet, when on March 11th and March 16th, 2011, respectively, two separate undercover investigators downloaded images and videos of child pornography from Repp’s collection via a file sharing program.

Judge Blake

As a result of the undercover investigation, a search warrant was executed at Repp’s residence on April 22nd, 2011, by members of the Maryland State Police Computer Crimes Unit. Law enforcement seized two laptop computers, an external hard drive, and digital media. A subsequent forensic examination of the external hard drive revealed numerous files of child pornography, including 125 video files depicting the victim that were surreptitiously filmed by Repp. There were also several chat logs between Repp and others where he offered to share files of the victim and chats where Repp is looking for other individuals to share files with him.

SOURCE: http://www.examiner.com

Wisconsin ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2012: David Whitworth, 40, of Monroe, arrested and charged with production and receipt of child pornography via Internet

U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced on March 15th 2012 that David Whitworth, 40, of Monroe, Wisconsin, was arrested and charged by criminal complaint with production and receipt of child pornography. The charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, a fine of 250.000 USD or both.

U.S. Att. William Hochul

Assistant U.S. Attorney Maura K. O’Donnell, who was handling the case, stated that according to the complaint, the defendant posed as a modeling agent online to induce minors in the Western District of New York and elsewhere to produce pornographic images of themselves, which they then forwarded to Whitworth via the Internet.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The charges are the culmination of an investigation on the part of special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Christopher M. Piehota; Officers from the Lancaster Police Department, under the direction of Chief Gerald J. Gill, Jr.; and Officers from the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief David Zack.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

Source: http://www.justice.gov/

Connecticut ONLINE CHILD PREDATORS 2012: Arthur Galloway, 38, of Shelton Sentenced to 30 Months in Federal Prison for Trading Child Pornography on the Internet

Deirdre M. Daly, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that Arthur Galloway, 38, of Shelton, was sentenced on June 27th, 2013, by United States District Judge Janet Bond Arterton in New Haven to 30 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for trading child pornography on the Internet.

According to court documents and statement made in court, on March 14, 2012, the Connecticut State Police Computer Crimes Unit, Shelton Police Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted a court-authorized search of Galloway’s residence and seized a laptop computer, an external hard drive, and other items. Investigators determined that Galloway used the Internet to trade numerous images and video of child pornography, and he was arrested at that time.

Subsequent forensic analysis of the seized items revealed that Galloway possessed 11 printed photographs, 913 images, and 45 videos of children engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Some of the videos exceeded 20 minutes in length.

On January 11, 2013, Galloway pleaded guilty to one count of receipt and distribution of child pornography.

The Connecticut Child Exploitation Task Force, which is housed at the main FBI field office in New Haven, investigates crimes against children occurring over the Internet and provides computer forensic review services for participating agencies.