Lincoln Man Sentenced for Producing Child Pornography

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that John Randall, 31, formerly of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced in Lincoln, Nebraska, to 19 years in prison by United States District Judge Richard G. Kopf, for the production of child pornography.  Randall was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,250 to the two minor victims in the case.  Following his release from prison, Randall will be on supervised release for 10 years and be required to register as a sex offender. 

In August 2014, Homeland Security Investigations received a request from the British Columbia Integrated Child Exploitation Unit for assistance identifying the user of a Skype and Instagram account who was allegedly involved in the transmission and receipt of sexual images with a minor female victim in British Columbia, Canada.  Investigation of the email and IP addresses lead agents to Randall, who had been residing in California in 2014 and moved to Nebraska in 2015.  Randall was subsequently interviewed and gave agents his cell phone and provided consent for them to analyze the phone.  

An examination of the cell phone revealed several videos and images that appeared to be child pornography.  The exam also located several conversations with another individual who appeared to be creating child pornography videos containing things specifically requested by Randall in return for payment.  Randall was then arrested and interviewed.  He admitted he had been trading child pornography with people on an internet based messenger system.  Randall was asked about the conversations found on the cell phone and Randall admitted it was a fraud/scam.  Randall would offer money to get videos and then he would not pay.  As a result of the investigation, law enforcement was able to identify the two minor victims involved who admitted they sent child pornography to Randall because he had offered them money. 

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 Department of Homeland Security