Prison ordered in child porn case
COEUR d’ALENE — An Oldtown man snared in a federal child pornography sweep was sentenced Thursday to 36 months in prison, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.
Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Troy Levi Williamson to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term, Olson said in a news release.
Williamson, 24, fell under scrutiny after the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force developed information in July 2010 that he was the registered user of a desktop computer that contained child pornography, according to court records.
Williamson allegedly used LimeWire, a software program that allows users on a large peer-to-peer network to directly share computer files, to download obscene images. An investigator accessed the peer-to-peer network to view the shared-file directory of a computer registered to Williamson and discovered child pornography.
The task force served a search warrant at Williamson’s home in the 600 block of Silverbirch Lane in September 2010 and seized his computer. Williamson admitted downloading the images, a plea agreement in the case states.
Williamson was originally indicted on a charge of possession of sexually explicit images of minors, an offense that punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Under the terms of the plea agreement, that charge was supplanted with a lesser offense of transportation of obscene material, court records show. The latter offense is punishable by up to three years in prison.
Williamson pleaded guilty in June to having 29 obscene images downloaded over the Internet, court documents indicate.
The Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is a statewide coalition of local, state and federal law enforcement and prosecution agencies. Bonner County’s prosecutor and sheriff’s offices are task force affiliates.
The case against Williamson was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat a growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
n Information: www.icacidaho.org, www.usdoj.gov/psc