Springfield, Ill. – On Tuesday, Mar. 15, U.S. District Judge Richard Mills sentenced Tony Nepute, 43, of Benld, Illinois, to serve five years in federal prison for possessing images of child pornography. Nepute was also ordered to remain on supervised release for the remainder of his life following completion of his prison sentence. Nepute was ordered to report on June 1, 2011, to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his sentence.

On Aug. 31, 2010, Nepute waived indictment and pled guilty to a one-count information charging him with possession of child pornography. Nepute pled guilty to possession of an estimated 1,064 images of child pornography recovered from his computer and related equipment in 2007. Nepute also consented to forfeiture of his computer and related equipment.

The charges are the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of Homeland Security Investigation, with assistance by the Decatur Police Department and Macoupin County Sheriff’s Office.

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.