Eric Dufresne Sentenced In U.S. District Court

The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Missoula, on April 18, 2013, before Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen, ERIC DUFRESNE, a 39-year-old resident of Stevensville, appeared for sentencing. DUFRESNE was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 18 months

Special Assessment: $100

Forfeiture: Computers

Supervised Release: 15 years

DUFRESNE was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to possession of child pornography.

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

As part of a Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force investigation, the Missoula County Sheriff's Office determined an IP address was offering known child pornography files available for download via the Internet. A Missoula County Sheriff's Office detective determined DUFRESNE was the registered subscriber for the IP address. A search warrant for DUFRESNE's residence was obtained, and the residence was searched on March 27, 2012. Agents seized a laptop computer which they determined belonged to DUFRESNE.

During the search, DUFRESNE was interviewed. He admitted he used peer to peer software, FrostWire, on his laptop computer to download files which depicted videos and images of child pornography.

A certified forensic computer examiner analyzed DUFRESNE's laptop. The examiner located video and image files which depict children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The files creation dates were between December 2011 and March 2012.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that DUFRESNE will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, DUFRESNE does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Missoula County Sheriff's Office, and the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), 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 the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC 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 PSC, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab "resources."