Man Who Harassed and Stalked Victim of Child Pornography Series Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison
Las Vegas, Nev. – A former Las Vegas resident has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison and lifetime supervised release for stalking, harassing, and sending emails to a woman whose pictures have been circulated for years over the Internet in a known series of child pornography, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Gregory Hoffman, 41, was sentenced on Monday, April 26, 2010, by U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones. Hoffman was indicted in 2008 and pleaded guilty to one count of transporting child pornography and one count of stalking on November 30, 2009.
Between June 26 and July 8, 2007, the defendant sent repeated emails to a female victim and to her friend via "MySpace" accounts causing substantial emotional distress to the victim. The female is a victim of a known child pornography series, who was nine and 10 years old when pornographic images of her were produced and used. The defendant harassed the victim about why she was not writing back, asked her why she planned to testify against the person who produced the child pornography series wherein she was a victim, asked her for new pictures, and asked her to make pornographic films with him. The defendant also sent pornographic images of the victim from the known child pornography series to the victim's friend. On August 15, 2007, federal law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at the defendant's residence in Las Vegas. The defendant's wife informed them that he no longer lived there, but gave them two compact discs which contained almost 1,500 images of child pornography. The defendant was charged and arrested in Middletown, New York, where he had relocated.
Hoffman's sentence was increased because the images were of prepubescent minors or minors who had not attained the age of 12 years; because the defendant distributed pornographic images to a minor; because the images portrayed sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence; and because the offense involved more than 600 images.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nancy J. Koppe.
The 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 United States 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.
