Durham Man Sentenced to 8 Years in Prison for Transportation of Child Pornography

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – A man who pleaded guilty to transportation of child pornography was sentenced today to eight years in prison, announced Matthew G.T. Martin, United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.

BRIAN ROBERT ACKERMAN, 39, of Durham, North Carolina, pleaded guilty on December 13, 2019, to one count of transportation of child pornography. He was sentenced by Chief United States Chief District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder to 96 months of imprisonment followed by 15 years of supervised release.

ACKERMAN came to law enforcement’s attention following a report to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and an illicit chat conversation with an undercover FBI agent, during which ACKERMAN condoned and encouraged the undercover FBI agent to sexually abuse his purported 9-year-old daughter. Further, ACKERMAN sent child pornography to at least three individuals: an Orange County woman, the undercover FBI agent, and a person purporting to be a 16 year-old girl. The files depicted the sexual abuse of prepubescent children and at least one toddler. At the time of his arrest, investigators found ACKERMAN in possession of 41 images and 49 videos depicting child pornography.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation Task Force and the Durham Police Department with assistance from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. All are members of the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Eric L. Iverson and Whitney N. Shaffer. 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 year 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the Department of Justice. Learn more about the history of our agency at www.Justice.gov/Celebrating150Years.

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