The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on December 21, 2011, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, ROBERT MATTHEW WANBERG, a 24-year-old resident of Missoula, appeared for sentencing. WANBERG was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 18 months

Special Assessment: $100

Supervised Release: 5 years

WANBERG was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

As part of an Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force investigation, the Missoula County Police Department obtained a search warrant for WANBERG's residence in Missoula.

On February 23, 2011, the search warrant was served and WANBERG was interviewed. WANBERG admitted to downloading child pornography via the Internet. He admitted he had been downloading the videos with peer-to-peer software for approximately one year. He disclosed search terms which were indicative of search terms used to locate child pornography files.

WANBERG's computer was seized and forensically analyzed. The examiner located files on the computer which he determined were downloaded via the Internet. The files were videos portraying children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that WANBERG will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, WANBERG does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Missoula Police Department, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.

 

 

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