Jacksonville Man Sentenced To 151 Months For Receipt Of Child Pornography

WILMINGTON – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced that today in federal court, Senior United States District Judge James C. Fox sentenced RONALD LESLIE PIERCE, Jr., 53, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, to 151 months imprisonment, followed by 10 years of supervised release.

 RONALD LESLIE PIERCE, JR. was named in an eleven count Indictment filed on March 3, 2015, charging him with receipt and possession of child pornography.  On November 2, 2015, PIERCE pled guilty to possession of child pornography and on November 9, 2015, PIERCE pled guilty to receipt of child pornography.

On November 6, 2013, Detectives with the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office identified a suspect computer sharing child pornography via an internet peer to peer file sharing network. Detectives were able to identify the IP address from the suspect computer to PIERCE and were able download images of child pornography from PIERCE.  Agents with the SBI subsequently searched the computers and other devices from the defendant’s Jacksonville, North Carolina home, revealing that PIERCE had downloaded thousands of images and videos of child pornography.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation and the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant United States Attorney Carrie Randa represented the government.

 This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level.  For more information about this important national project, Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.