Brainard Man Sentenced for Child Pornography

Acting United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Samuel Richardson, 57, of Brainard, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for Possession of Child Pornography. United States District Court Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Richardson to 70 months of imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system. Following the completion of his incarceration, Richardson will serve a 10-year term of supervised release. Richardson was also ordered to pay $5,100 in special assessments.  

Richardson came to law enforcement’s attention stemming from multiple cyber tips from Microsoft (Bing) for activity occurring between March and May 2021 involving images of child pornography.

On February 10, 2022, the Nebraska State Patrol executed a search warrant at Richardson’s home in Brainard. During the search warrant, law enforcement seized Richardson’s computer, phone, and an external hard drive. Richardson was interviewed and admitted to having seen at least one of the images from the cyber tips. Richardson admitted to viewing child pornography and that law enforcement would find child pornography on his computer and external hard drive. Richardson’s devices were forensically examined, and 5,000 images of child pornography were found.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, 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 Nebraska State Patrol.