Grand Island Man Sentenced for Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced today that James B. Haugh, 57, of Grand Island, Nebraska, was sentenced on March 21, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to seven and a half years in prison by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard, for receipt and distribution of child pornography.  After his release from prison, Haugh will be required to serve a 5 year term of supervised release and be registered as a sex offender.  Haugh was found guilty by a jury in December of last year following a 3 day jury.  In addition, United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard ordered that the property used to commit the crime be forfeited to the United States.   

Haugh came to the attention of investigators of the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office through a proactive investigation conducted by the Nebraska Attorney General into the receipt and distribution of child pornography through file sharing software.  Investigators used automated software to determine that a computer utilizing a specific IP address was sharing child pornography through the Internet.

The investigation led to the execution of a search warrant on December 28, 2012, at Haugh’s residence in Grand Island, Nebraska.  A forensic examination of a computer and other storage media seized at the residence revealed numerous videos child pornography that had been received and distributed between January 3, 2009 and December 28, 2013.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (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.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This case was investigated by the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office.