Kevin Scott Nessland Found Guilty In U.S. Federal Court

The United States Attorney's Office announced that on December 2, 2013, in Missoula, after a federal district court bench trial before Chief U.S. District Judge Dana L. Christensen held on November 27, 2013, KEVIN SCOTT NESSLAND, a 41-year-old resident of Bozeman, was found guilty of (3) counts of receipt of child pornography. Sentencing is set for March 6, 2014. He is currently detained.

At trial, the following evidence and testimony were presented.

On October 17, 2011, the Bozeman Police Department began a criminal investigation which involved the surreptitious visual observation of two victims in Bozeman. The suspect was NESSLAND.

When the investigation commenced, NESSLAND left the Bozeman area. When NESSLAND left Bozeman, he took some of his computers and equipment from his residence.

On October 18, 2011, NESSLAND spoke to a Bozeman Police detective by phone and the conversations were recorded. During one of the phone conversations, NESSLAND told the detective that he has sex addiction issues and was on his way to a treatment facility out of state. NESSLAND also indicated that he had a computer with him in his vehicle.

On October 18, 2011, the Bozeman Police Department obtained a search warrant for NESSLAND's residence and served the warrant the same day. Photographs of the residence were taken. Law enforcement seized several computers, electronic storage devices and other items. Law enforcement also determined that computers had been removed from the residence prior to the search. A warrant for NESSLAND's arrest was issued.

On November 7, 2011, NESSLAND was located by law enforcement in Idaho. Blackfoot Police officers responded to NESSLAND's vehicle. NESSLAND was located in his vehicle during a suicide attempt. Officers had to break the window of NESSLAND's vehicle, and he was transported from the scene via ambulance.

The contents of the vehicle were inventoried, which included computers, external storage devices and other items. After they learned of the Montana arrest warrant, Blackfoot Police advised the Bozeman Police Department of the items in their custody. The computer and other electronic devices were transferred to the Bozeman Police Department.

On November 7, 2011, a detective began an initial review of the computers, a camera, and storage devices. While the detective was looking for evidence of the crime of surreptitious visual observation/recordation and burglary, he found images of child pornography. All the computers and electronic devices were then sent to the Montana DCI Computer Crime Lab for forensic examination. This included the devices seized from NESSLAND's residence and vehicle.

A Certified Forensic Computer Examiner located more than 1,700 files which were visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The image files were located on multiple external storage devices, and were created between February 2007 and September 2010.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cyndee L. Peterson prosecuted the case for the United States.

NESSLAND faces possible penalties of a mandatory minimum of 5 years in prison and could be sentenced to 20 years, a $250,000 fine, and lifetime supervision for each of the (3) counts.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Montana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), the Bozeman Police Department, the Montana Department of Criminal Investigation, and the Idaho Blackfoot City Police Department.