Carl Junction Man Sentenced to 12 Years for Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Carl Junction, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving, distributing and possessing child pornography.

Jason Hill, 27, of Carl Junction, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to 12 years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Hill to pay restitution to one of his victims, who is depicted in the images of child pornography. If paid within 30 days, Hill must pay $3,000 in restitution, but if paid after 30 days, he must pay $5,000 in restitution.

On Sept. 27, 2012, Hill was convicted following a three-day trial of one count of receiving and distributing child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography.

An officer with the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force, while conducting an investigation, discovered that Hill was receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet through peer-to-peer, file-sharing software on his computer. The task force officer accessed the shared folder on Hill’s computer and obtained 773 files. Approximately 551 of the file titles indicated that they were pornographic. Approximately 266 of the file titles pertained to child pornography. Of the 266 file titles, 25 files had been identified in previous investigations as containing known child pornography. The task force officer downloaded 10 of these 25 images of child pornography from Hill’s computer.

Officers executed a federal search warrant and seized four computers and various computer media from Hill’s residence. Investigators found three videos that portrayed the sexual abuse of children under the age of 14 and four additional images of child pornography (besides those images that were downloaded by the task force officer). There was forensic evidence that the computers had once contained additional images of child pornography.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randall D. Eggert and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Miller. It was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Office of Homeland Security Investigations and the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force.

Project Safe Childhood

This 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."