FARGO - United States Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on February 23, 2012, Mark Alan Lindgren of Grand Forks, North Dakota, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Erickson to 12 years’ imprisonment on charges of distribution of child pornography.

Lindgren, 29, pleaded guilty on August 2, 2011, to distribution of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors and possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

Lindgren was a member of an encrypted network whereby individuals shared child pornography with one another. Based upon this evidence the FBI executed a search warrant at Lindgren’s residence on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks. As a result of the search of his residence various electronic media was seized.

An analysis of the electronic media revealed more than 35,000 image files and 250 video files of children depicted in sexually explicit activity. Much of the material depicted children engaged in hard-core sexual activity and other violent conduct.

Judge Erickson sentenced Lindgren to 12 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Lindgren was ordered to pay a $200 special assessment to the Crime Victim’s Fund. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $6,000, to be paid to the victims depicted in the child pornography.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This case was brought as a 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl prosecuted the case.

 

 

 

 

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