Nebraska Man Sentenced To Prison For Producing Child Pornography

A Nebraska man was sentenced today to 15 years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for producing child pornography in 2015, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General John P. Cronan of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Kelly of the District of Nebraska.

Nicholas Alford, 26, of Bellevue, Nebraska, pleaded guilty on Feb. 15 to one count of production of child pornography before Chief U.S. District Court Judge Laurie Smith Camp of the District of Nebraska, who sentenced him earlier today and remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

According to admissions made in connection with his guilty plea, in July 2015, Alford provided a 13-year-old minor with the username for a Kik Messenger account user who Alford claimed would pay the minor money in exchange for sexually explicit images.  Alford was actually the user of the Kik Messenger account, and, in that capacity, he persuaded the minor to send dozens of sexually explicit images to his Kik Messenger account.  A search warrant executed on Alford’s Bellevue residence resulted in the discovery of dozens of images and videos depicting the minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  

The FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force is investigating this case.  Trial Attorneys William M. Grady and Jessica Urban of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Norris of the District of Nebraska are prosecuting the case.

This investigation is a 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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.justice.gov/psc.