Nelson County Man Sentenced To 151 Months In Prison For Violating Federal Child Pornography Laws
LOUISVILLE, KY – A Nelson County, Kentucky man has been sentenced to12½ years in prison followed by a life term of Supervised Release by United States District Judge Charles R. Simpson III earlier this week, after previously pleading guilty to possession, receipt, and distribution of child pornography images announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.
David W. Morris, age 30, of Bardstown, Kentucky, pled guilty on July 29, 2011, to a three-count federal indictment. He had previously been arrested by the Kentucky State Police in September 2009.
According to court records, between March 26, 2009, and July 1, 2009, a detective with the KSP Electronic Crime Branch conducted a peer-to-peer undercover investigation. The investigator identified the IP address of an individual with known child pornography images for sharing and downloaded some of the images. Law enforcement officials requested, obtained, and executed a state Search Warrant on a residence in Nelson County, Kentucky, on July 1, 2009.
Law enforcement officials identified Morris as the person responsible for the child pornography. They seized two computers and several pieces of storage media from the residence and another laptop located at a Bardstown, Kentucky, pawnshop. The forensic examination revealed 70 child pornography videos and approximately 181 still images and 1,675 still slides of a child pornography video. The files were found in the “david” profile in a folder associated with file sharing / peer-to-peer software.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s 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 identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jo E. Lawless and was investigated by the Kentucky State Police Electronic Crime Branch through Kentucky’s Internet Crimes Against Children “ICAC” task force.
