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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
April 17 , 2009
OVERLAND PARK MAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS IN CHILD PORN CASE THAT STARTED IN GERMANY
KANSAS CITY, KAN. – In a case that began with an investigation by German police, an Overland Park, Kan., man has been sentenced to 121 months in federal prison, Acting U.S. Attorney Marietta Parker announced today.
Ryan Chapman, 27, Overland Park, Kan., pleaded guilty in January to one count of posting an advertisement offering to receive and distribute child pornography. According to the plea agreement, in March 1997 the German National Police (BKA) began an operation designed to identify individuals who send and receive child pornography on the Internet. In December 2003, the German police compiled information about an individual using the name “Milkman66" on an Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channel. In January 2004, they provided the information to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Cybercrimes Center.
Investigators with ICE tracked the information to Chapman in Overland Park, Kan. Contacted by an undercover officer, Chapman offered to distribute child pornography over a file server. Chapman indicated he could provide images of child pornography including images of babies, pre-pubescent children and teenagers engaged in oral and anal sex.
In March 2004, investigators served a search warrant at Chapman’s home. Among the materials they seized were 2,319 still images of child pornography and 70 movies containing child pornography. The material depicted boys and girls from 1 to 14 years old engaged in sexual activities.
Parker commended the German police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Martin for their work on the case. The case is being prosecuted under the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood, which aims to protect children from sexual predators. For more information, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov
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