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Press Release
FARGO - U. S. Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on Feb. 3, 2015, Devon Cole Reed, 27, Fargo, N.D., pleaded guilty before U. S. District Judge Ralph R. Erickson to two counts of receiving and distributing child pornography and three counts of possession of child pornography.
This case came to the attention of law enforcement after the electronic service provider Google notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that a specific Gmail account contained child pornography. Law enforcement traced the account to Devin Reed residing in Fargo, North Dakota. A search warrant of Reed’s email accounts revealed that he was using them for the purpose of trading child pornography with other users located throughout the country. Law enforcement also recovered various media from Reed’s residence which also contained child pornography.
The maximum penalty for Counts One and Two is 40 years’ incarceration and the maximum penalty for Counts Three, Four, and Five is 20 years’ incarceration including a term of supervised release for up to life.
The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Fargo Police Department.
Assistant U. S. attorney Jennifer Puhl is prosecuting the case.
This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood in conjunction with Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) help Federal, State and Local law enforcement agencies enhance their investigative responses to offenders who use the Internet, online communications systems or computer technology to sexually exploit children. The ICAC Program is a national network of 61 coordinated task forces engaging in proactive investigations, forensic investigations and criminal prosecutions. Project safe childhood also helps to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.