Madison, Wis. - John W. Vaudreuil, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Bryan Erbst, 49, of Marshfield, Wis., was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William Conley to 90 months in prison for possession of child pornography. This prison term is to be followed by a lifetime period of supervised release. Erbst pleaded guilty to this charge on August 28, 2012.

In February 2011, an undercover officer downloaded several videos from a peer-to-peer file sharing program Erbst was using. A search warrant was later executed at the defendant's residence and computer equipment was seized. When officers analyzed the equipment, they found numerous child pornography videos and images.

In addition to the prison sentence and supervised release, Erbst was ordered to forfeit the computer equipment that contained the images and to pay $4,000 in restitution to the victims in the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

The charge against Erbst was the result of an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman.

 

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