Worcester Sex Offender Sentenced to 17 Years on Child Pornography Charges

BOSTON – Neil Sweeney, 51, was sentenced on Monday, March 13, 2017, by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to 17 years in prison and 10 years of supervised release. In October 2016, Sweeney was convicted by a federal jury of possessing and distributing child pornography.

The charges arose from a federal online operation. In April 2015, an individual, later determined to be Sweeney, used Gigatribe, an internet file sharing program, to distribute dozens of videos and images of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct to an undercover federal agent in Newark, NJ. The investigators established through subscriber records, email records and other internet social networking activity that Sweeney was the user of the Gigatribe account. The investigation further revealed that Sweeney resided in Worcester, and in May 2015, law enforcement agents arrested Sweeney.

In 1995, Sweeney was convicted in Worcester Superior Court for the indecent assault and battery on two boys, both under the age of 14. As a result of those convictions, Sweeney was required to register as a Level 3 sex offender.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Harold Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Worcester Police Chief Steven Sargent, made the announcement today. Homeland Security Investigations and the Massachusetts State Police assisted with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Greg A. Friedholm and Karin M. Bell of Weinreb’s Worcester Branch Office prosecuted the case.