Judge Sentences Philadelphia Man To Nine Years For Child Exploitation

PHILADELPHIA - Tony Myers, 30, of Philadelphia, PA, was sentenced today to 108 months in prison for two counts of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.  Myers pleaded guilty, on September 21, 2015, to receiving and possessing images of child pornography between August of 2013 and April of 2014. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Mitchell S. Goldberg ordered restitution of $5,000, 20 years of supervised release, and a $300 special assessment.

In May of 2013, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) sent a lead to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that on April 26, 2013, an individual operating a particular Dropbox account uploaded five files that contained child pornography.

On April 2, 2014, a search warrant was executed at the defendant’s residence. Myers made a number of admissions during the course of an interview with HSI agents. He stated that he watched and downloaded child pornography and preferred images of children between the ages of 12 and 14. He admitted to a pattern of binging on child pornography for three to four days and then breaking his addiction for months. Agents seized 16 forms of electronic media from Myers’ home and, through analysis, found approximately 500 images and more than 50 videos of child pornography.

This case was brought as 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) and was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Josh A. Davison.