Alaskan Physician Convicted of Distributing and Receiving Child Pornography

A federal jury convicted an Alaskan physician of distributing and receiving child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Karen. L. Loeffler of the District of Alaska.

Greg Alan Salard, 54, of Wrangell, Alaska, was found guilty after a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess of the District of Alaska.  Sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 9, 2015, in Juneau, Alaska.

According to evidence presented at trial, in June 2014, during an FBI investigation concerning the trading of child pornography using peer-to-peer (P2P) software, investigators discovered that an Internet Protocol (IP) address linked to Salard was used to share files of known child pornography and that one of those files contained a video of child pornography.  The evidence also showed that a laptop computer subsequently seized from Salard’s home contained the same P2P software used to share the video.

Testimony regarding a forensic examination of the laptop demonstrated that the computer contained a child pornography video as well as evidence of hundreds of other files with names indicative of child pornography; the jury reviewed the contents of 11 of those files.  The testimony also showed that multiple searches had been run on the laptop for a term associated with child pornography, and that videos of child pornography had been viewed on the computer.  Finally, the evidence introduced at trial revealed that a program designed to erase or “wipe” computer files had been used multiple times, including on the morning the search warrant was executed.

This case was investigated by the FBI, with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service, Petersburg, Alaska Police Department, Wrangell, Alaska Police Department and Juneau, Alaska, Police Department.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Leslie Williams Fisher of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Reardon of the District of Alaska.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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.