Bettendorf Man Sentenced on Child Pornography Charges
Davenport, IA- On September 8, 2009, Jeremy Allen Gatton, 35 of Bettendorf, IA, was sentenced to 90 months imprisonment for one count of Receiving and Distributing Child Pornography and 90 months imprisonment for one count of Possessing Child Pornography, with the terms of imprisonment to be served concurrently, announced United States Attorney Matthew G. Whitaker. United States District Judge John A. Jarvey also ordered that Gatton serve a term of 10 years supervised release following his incarceration and pay $200 to the Crime Victim Fund.
Gatton received and distributed the child pornography through the use of the peer to peer file sharing software Morphius. The initial tip in the case came from the webmaster of an internet site, misterpoll.com. The tip concerned a posting by username “dadof3unrulygirls” regarding how he should sexually discipline his 8, 10 and 12 year-old girls. While Gatton actually has no children, the investigation ultimately led back to him. A search warrant executed at Gatton’s residence led to a computer found in his bedroom which contained numerous images and videos of child pornography. A number of the images were of known child victims previously identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. When interviewed by law enforcement Gatton admitted to searching for child pornography, including for images of children as young as four. He also admitted that before sharing child pornography with another individual he would ask that person to first e-mail child pornography to him so as to make sure that the other individual was not law enforcement.
This investigation was conducted by the Bettendorf and Davenport, IA, Police Departments.