MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA— Phoenix City resident, Thomas Shane Trawick, 30, was sentenced to serve 97 months in prison for receiving child pornography over the internet, Leura G. Canary, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, announced today. Mr. Trawick had previously pled guilty to the charge in February of this year pursuant to a written plea agreement. The crime for which he was convicted – a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252A(a)(2) – mandates a prison sentence of at least five years. In handing down the sentence of just over eight years, the Honorable Mark E. Fuller, Chief United States District Judge for the Middle District of Alabama, noted that child pornography crimes must be punished severely.

Mr. Trawick first came to the attention of law enforcement in June 2004, when agents with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) learned that someone using his email account had sent six child pornography images to a Georgia resident. Agents subsequently obtained consent to search a computer that Trawick had been using and found twenty videos depicting children as young as four or five years old engaging in graphic sex acts with adults. Trawick immediately confessed and admitted that he had been accessing child pornography over the internet for several years. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was able to identify several of the children depicted in the illicit computer files as known child victims from other states and countries.

As part of his sentence, and in accordance with the parties’ written plea agreement, Mr. Trawick will spend the rest of his life on supervised release.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In May 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices, 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/.

The investigation of this case was conducted by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with computer forensic assistance from the Alabama District Attorney’s Association – Office of Prosecution Services. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nathan D. Stump.

 

PRESS CONTACT: Clark Morris
Email: usaalm.press@usdoj.gov
Telephone: (334) 551-1755
Fax: (334) 223-7617

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