November 4, 2011
AURORA MAN SENTENCED TO SERVE 100 MONTHS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR RECEIPT OF OVER 30,000 IMAGES OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
DENVER – John Heckart, age 64, of Aurora, Colorado, was sentenced recently to serve 100 months (over 8 years) in federal prison for the receipt of child pornography. The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn. Following his prison sentence, Heckart was ordered to serve 5 years on supervised release. Judge Blackburn also ordered him to pay $5,000 in restitution to the victims of his crime. Heckart who appeared at the hearing free on bond, was immediately remanded following sentencing. During the course of the investigation, ICE agents determined that the defendant possessed over 30,000 images of child pornography.
Heckart was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on March 1, 2011. He pled guilty before Judge Blackburn on June 21, 2011. The defendant was sentenced on September 30, 2011.
According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Denver learned that the defendant had used his email address to subscribe to two websites that made images and videos of child pornography available to their members for a monthly fee. Access logs showed that over a two day period Heckart accessed approximately 2,000 images of child pornography. Law enforcement was able to track Heckart’s home address based on the Internet Protocol address he was using.
As the investigation continued ICE HSI requested assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), who initiated an undercover operation targeting Heckart. During this portion of the investigation Heckart ordered large amounts of child pornography, including “custom made” DVDs. He then mailed a money order to purchase the child pornography. Part of Heckart’s order included requests for “custom made” videos where he provided the details of the child exploitation. Ultimately he received a package in the U.S. Mail. Once he received it his residence was searched. Agents seized computers and various forms of storage media from the residence. Some of the child pornography found in his residence dated all the way back to 1977.
ICE HSI conducted a forensic analysis of the defendant’s computer and his four hard drives. They determined that he possessed over 30,000 images and videos of child pornography. Among the 30,000 images and videos included sexually explicit images of infants, sexually explicit images of pre-pubescent children, and sexually explicit images of children that involved other sadomasochistic conduct.
“Child pornography continually victimizes the innocent children depicted in the images,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh. “Thanks go to ICE HSI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for their excellent work on this case.”
“ICE HSI’s nationwide ongoing ‘Operation Predator’ program helps protect children by specifically targeting sexual predators, sex tourists, child pornographers and child sex traffickers,” said David M. Marwell, special agent in charge of ICE HSI in Denver. “We work closely with the U.S. Attorney’s office and other law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute these criminals who prey on those most vulnerable in our society.”
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE HSI), and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Heckart was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Lillian Alves, on assignment from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Assistant U.S. Attorney Judith Smith, chief of the Special Prosecutions Section of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado.
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, 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 .
####
