GRAND VIEW MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

Benjamin Allen Burnett, 31, of Grand View, Idaho, pled guilty today in United States District Court in Boise to possession of sexually explicit images of minors, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.

The investigation began when agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce developed suspicion that activity involving sexually explicit images of minors had taken place using a Yahoo! email account assigned to Burnett. The investigation showed that Burnett’s personal information and credit card data had been used to facilitate payments for memberships to commercial websites known to be selling child pornography.

ICE Agents, assisted by Owyhee County Sheriff’s deputies, U.S. Postal Inspectors, and investigators from the Idaho Attorney General’s Office-Criminal Investigation Division, searched Burnett’s home on October 28, 2008, and recovered computer media containing sexually explicit images and videos depicting prepubescent minors in various sexual acts. Investigators were able to identify fifteen minor victims of abuse depicted in 69 of the images. These images were produced in France, Switzerland, Germany, England, Sweden, Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, and Washington State, and had been transmitted in interstate commerce by computer.

Sentencing is set for August 06, 2009, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment, with no possibility of parole, a fine of up to $250,000, and supervised release for at least five years, up to life.

U.S. Attorney Tom Moss praised the cooperative work of the agents from ICE, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Idaho Attorney General’s Office and Owyhee County Sheriff’s Department. “The best way to stop this harmful and persistent crime of exploiting children is through excellent investigations and well-deserved prison sentences.”