MOSCOW MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Ryan Chambers, 27, of Moscow, Idaho, entered a guilty plea in federal court yesterday to possession of sexually explicit images of minors, U.S. Attorney Tom Moss announced.

In June 2008, a Moscow police detective obtained a search warrant for Chamber’ home in Moscow, Idaho. The detective found two hard drives containing sexually explicit images of minors, many of which featured victims who appeared to be between six and ten years of age. Chambers admitted to intentionally downloading child pornography videos through file sharing software. He admitted to having “thousands” of “mostly underage” images or videos.

Chambers was identified as a suspect after investigators discovered that a peer-to-peer file sharing program on an Internet address associated with Chambers was offering known child pornography images of minors between the ages of five and 12 years for sharing with others.

Sentencing is set for June 23, 2009, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Coeur d' Alene.

Chambers faces a maximum penalty of ten years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and supervised release of not less than five years following the term of incarceration.