Jacksonville Man Sentenced To 5 Years In Federal Prison For Receiving Child Pornography Over the Internet

Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan today sentenced Dwaine Charles Idleman (66, Jacksonville) to 5 years in prison for receiving child pornography over the Internet.  Idleman was also ordered to serve a 5-year term of supervised release, following his incarceration, and to register as a sex offender.

According to court documents, an agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) began an undercover operation to identify persons using the Internet to receive and share child pornography.  The agent identified a host computer using a particular Internet Protocol (IP) address that was sharing images of child pornography on a file sharing network.  Further investigation revealed that the subscriber for this IP address was Dwaine C. Idleman, located at a residence in Jacksonville, Florida.

In June 2012, HSI agents and other law enforcement officers executed a federal search warrant at Idleman’s residence.  During an interview, Idleman stated, among other things, that he had come across pornography sites with people that were too young but that he got out of it.  When told that the agents knew that he was downloading child pornography files into his residence and that he was sharing it back out of the residence, Idleman stated, I know I got a problem and if this escalates into an arrest, my life is over.  Idleman further stated that he would type in certain keyword searches and usually downloaded files from the file sharing program when he was alone in his home. 

A subsequent forensic analysis of Idleman’s laptop computer revealed that it contained at least four images and one video depicting child pornography, along with other files containing titles indicative of child pornography.  The analysis also showed that several videos were downloaded by Idleman using the file sharing program on the morning of June 28, 2012, just before the arrival of the HSI agents.
This case was investigated by ICE-HSI and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.  It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."