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Press Release

Boise Man Sentenced to 78 Months in Federal Prison for Possession of Child Pornography

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Idaho

BOISE – Jonathan Schmidt, 41, of Boise, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 78 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Bart M. Davis announced today. Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye also ordered Schmidt to pay a $2,000 fine and serve 20 years of supervised release following his prison sentence. Schmidt pleaded guilty to the charge on February 21, 2020.

According to court records, between January 22 and January 26, 2019, a detective with the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force downloaded several files depicting computer-generated child pornography that were made available by Schmidt’s computer via a peer-to-peer network. A federal magistrate judge issued a search warrant for Schmidt’s Boise residence. ICAC Task Force members executed the search warrant and seized a hard drive and several CDs from Schmidt’s residence. A forensic examination of these items revealed approximately 120 videos and 11 images depicting child pornography and over 500 images depicting computer-generated child pornography. Schmidt admitted to detectives that he had been viewing child pornography on and off for a couple of years and that he had child pornography on his devices. Schmidt admitted to using a peer-to-peer network to download files of child pornography and to knowing that files he downloaded from the network would be available for other users on the network to download.

Chief Judge Nye also ordered Schmidt to pay $3,000 in restitution to a victim in the images he possessed and to pay a $5,100 special assessment. As a result of his conviction, Schmidt will be required to register as a sex offender.

This case was investigated by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Postal Inspection Service, and Boise Police Department.

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. As part of Project Safe Childhood, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho and the Idaho Attorney General’s Office partner to marshal 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.”

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Contact

CASSIE FULGHUM
Public Information Officer
(208) 334-1211

Updated June 26, 2020

Topic
Project Safe Childhood
Component