Urbana, Ill. – Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey today sentenced a Kankakee, Ill., man, John Christopher Keith, 30, of the 200 block of Orchard Avenue, to serve 20 years in federal prison for receiving, possessing and distributing child pornography. Upon release from prison, Keith was ordered to remain on supervised release for life.

On Jul. 21, 2010, a jury convicted Keith of seven charges related to the distribution (one count); receipt (three counts); and possession (two counts) of child pornography; and one count of destruction of evidence. Keith has been detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest on Oct. 13, 2009.

During the 1½ days of trial, the government presented evidence that Keith used the Limewire file-sharing software to download images of child pornography to his computer in 2007, 2008 and 2009. On Oct. 3, 2008, members of the FBI Innocent Images Task Force executed a search warrant at Keith’s residence. As agents entered Keith’s home, evidence was presented that Keith began deleting and moving his child pornography files onto a portable disk drive. Evidence was also presented that Keith continued to use Limewire to download more images of child pornography even after the FBI executed the search warrant at his home and seized his computer media. Jurors were also presented with evidence that Keith’s collection of images and videos included violent depictions of rape and torture of infants and toddler-age children.

The charges were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Innocent Images Task Force and the Bloomington Police Department.

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 U.S. 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.