Omaha Man Sentenced to Ten Years for Possessing Child Pornography
United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Robert E. Cover, 68, was sentenced in the United States District Court in Omaha for possession of child pornography. The Honorable Laurie Smith Camp sentenced Cover to ten (10 ) years imprisonment. After his release from federal prison Cover will be on supervised release for ten years.
On May 5, 2011, agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) served a search warrant seeking evidence of the receipt and possession of child pornography at Cover’s west Omaha home. A forensic review of the computer seized from the home revealed three videos and 39 images of child pornography that had been downloaded within a day of agents serving the warrant. The videos and images involved prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit activity. The computer from Cover’s residence had previously connected with Liberalmorality.com, a site that hosted images of child pornography for others to view and access. When the site was taken down by HSI, follow-up investigations were done on a number of computers, such as Cover’s, that had accessed child pornography on the Liberalmorality’s web page.
Cover had a prior conviction in 1998 for Sexual Assault of a Child. He received a term of probation. This prior conviction increased the statutory mandatory minimum sentence for possessing child pornography to ten years as his prior conviction involved a crime on a child involving sexual abuse or sexual contact.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
