Jacksonville Man Sentenced To More Than Eight Years For Receiving Child Pornography Over The Internet

Jacksonville, Florida – United States District Judge Marcia Morales Howard has sentenced Craig Harry Lipinski (50, Jacksonville) to eight years and one month in federal prison for knowingly receiving images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children from the internet. Lipinski was also sentenced to serve a seven-year term of supervised release and ordered to register as a sex offender.

Lipinski had pleaded guilty on June 5, 2018.     

According to court documents and testimony, agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations conducted an undercover child exploitation investigation and determined that a host computer connected to Lipinski’s residence was using a file-sharing program to share videos of child pornography over the internet. On January 30, 2018, law enforcement executed a federal search warrant at Lipinski’s Jacksonville residence and made contact with him. At that time, agents observed that a computer at the residence was actively downloading files using the same program. Some of the files contained the terms “teen” and “young” in their titles. 

During an interview with law enforcement, Lipinski stated that he had downloaded movies from the file-sharing program, and that he “probably downloaded some miscellaneous, some inappropriate stuff.” A forensic examination of Lipinski’s computer media revealed that it contained at least 206 videos and 8,755 images depicting children being sexually abused. At sentencing, Lipinski admitted that he viewed child pornography because of “sexual curiosity” and for his own “sexual gratification.” 

This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case 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. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals 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."