PRIOR SEX OFFENDER SENTENCED TO OVER ELEVEN YEARS IN PRISON FOR POSSESSION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
Defendant Collected Child Pornography Less Than Five Years After Being Released from Prison
RAYMOND W. HICKMAN, 42, of Seattle, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 135 months in prison and a lifetime period of supervised release for possessing child pornography. A Snohomish County jury convicted HICKMAN of molesting his six-year old relative in 1998, and he was released from custody in 2003. Less than five years after being released, HICKMAN was discovered collecting and e-mailing child pornography. At sentencing, U.S. District Judge James L. Robart ordered that HICKMAN spend the rest of his life under the supervision of the United States Probation Office when he is released from prison.
According to records filed in the case, detectives with the Seattle Police Department served a search warrant on HICKMAN’s residence in Seattle in July 2008 when it was discovered that HICKMAN had e-mailed a lengthy child pornography video. They seized his computer equipment, which was forensically analyzed. Detectives determined that there were at least 1,000 images and 17 videos of child pornography, as well as thousands of images of child erotica. HICKMAN pled guilty on May 6, 2009, to possessing child pornography.
In asking for a significant sentence, Assistant United States Attorney Aravind Swaminathan wrote that a significantly lengthy sentence was necessary to protect the public “given Hickman’s proven inability to control his sexually deviant preoccupation with children and the fact that a lengthy sentence [for molesting his relative] has not deterred him from exploiting children again.”
This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, the U.S. Department of Justice launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys 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/.
The case was investigated by the Seattle Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Aravind Swaminathan.
For additional information please contact Assistant United States Attorney Aravind Swaminathan at (206) 553-7970.
