The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on June 7, 2012, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, JUSTIN ROBERT SNOW, a 29-year-old resident of Kalispell, appeared for sentencing. SNOW was sentenced to a term of:

• Prison: 36 months

• Special Assessment: $100

• Supervised Release: 15 years

SNOW 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 Flathead County Sheriff's Department obtained a search warrant for SNOW's residence in Kalispell.

On March 29, 2011, the search warrant was served. When interviewed, SNOW admitted to downloading child pornography via the Internet for approximately eight years. He admitted he had been downloading the videos with peer-to-peer software. He disclosed search terms which were indicative of search terms used to locate child pornography files.

SNOW's computers, external hard drive, and CDR were forensically analyzed. The examiner located files which had images and videos portraying children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The examiner also found search terms indicative of a search for child pornography.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that SNOW will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, SNOW 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 Flathead County Sheriff's Department, the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force and the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General.

 

 

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