David Russell Hargrove Pleads Guilty In U.S. Federal Court

The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on May 1, 2013, before Senior U.S. District Judge Jack D. Shanstrom, DAVID RUSSELL HARGROVE, a 33-year-old resident of Livingston, pled guilty to possession of child pornography. Sentencing has been set for August 7, 2013. He is currently detained.

In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura B. Weiss, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:

Between approximately 2010 and December 2011, in Livingston, HARGROVE possessed computer files containing images of child pornography.

After executing a search warrant at HARGROVE's residence, law enforcement analyzed his computer and located and identified child pornography images and videos. HARGROVE admitted to using the peer-to-peer file sharing program Limewire and searching for terms such as "father/daughter." He admitted to knowing some images were child pornography. The images involved prepubescent minors engaged in sadistic or masochistic conduct. During the analysis of HARGROVE's computer, law enforcement also located child pornography in a separate folder on the desktop.

HARGROVE faces possible penalties of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and lifetime supervision.

The investigation was conducted by the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.