NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Ian Hartney, 21, of Newport News, Va., pleaded guilty today to three counts of receipt of child pornography. 

            Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, John P. Torres, Special Agent in Charge for ICE’s, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Washington, D.C., made the announcement after the plea was accepted by United States Magistrate Judge F. Bradford Stillman. 

            Hartney was indicted by superseding indictment on July 11, 2011, by a federal grand jury on multiple counts involving child pornography, including production, receipt, distribution and possession.  Hartney faces a minimum of five years and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each receipt count when he is sentenced on Jan. 19, 2012. 

            In a statement of facts filed with his plea agreement and other court documents, an arrest warrant was issued for Hartney after a computer repair person found child pornography on Hartney’s computer. A search warrant was executed on Hartney’s residence in Newport News and a number of computers and computer media were seized.  Hartney was found to have homemade images of what appears to be several different teenage girls engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

            This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) office in Norfolk,  Newport News Police Department and Chesapeake Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Yusi ICE HSI, Newport News Police Department and Chesapeake Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Elizabeth Yusi is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

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 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. 

            A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.

 

 

Return to Top