Skowhegan Man Pleads Guilty to Receipt and Possession of Child Pornography

Bangor, Maine:  United States Attorney Halsey B. Frank announced that Christopher Kruse, 50, of Skowhegan, Maine, pled guilty today in U.S. District Court to receiving and possessing child pornography.

According to court records, in November 2017, Kruse used the internet to receive several videos depicting child pornography, some depicting children under 12 years old.  He added these videos to a collection of child pornography he had kept on his personal computer since 2015.  The collection was discovered on November 28, 2017 when law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Kruse’s home.  

Kruse faces between five to 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and between five years and life on supervised release.  He will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the U.S. Probation Office.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office and the Bangor and Skowhegan Police Departments. 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. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.