Fargo, ND Man Sentenced to 32 Years in Federal Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

Fargo – Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl announced today that Dustin Ray Fredrickson, age 37 of Fargo, North Dakota, appeared in United States District Court for the District of North Dakota and was sentenced by Chief United States District Judge Peter D. Welte to serve 32 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime supervised release for the offenses of Receipt of Materials Depicting the Sexual Exploitation of Minors in violation of 18 USC § 2252(a)(2).  Fredrickson was also ordered to pay $18,000 in restitution to the victims that were identified in the videos and images recovered from his cellphone. Fredrickson pleaded guilty on November 20, 2024.

As noted in court documents, Dustin Ray Fredrickson’s criminal activity was discovered after the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force received a Cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children involving a Snapchat account that contained images depicting nude children.  Further investigation revealed that the account was associated Fredrickson.  A search warrant for Fredrickson’s residence resulted in the seizure of a Samsung cellphone that belonged to Fredrickson.  A search of the phone revealed approximately 373 videos and 773 images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, to include children as young as infants.

At the time Fredrickson committed this offense, he had three prior convictions for having sexual contact with minors as an adult.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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 via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by the Fargo Police Department, Homeland Security Investigations and North Dakota Bureau of Investigation and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gary Delorme.

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