Lincoln Man Sentenced for Receiving Child Pornography

United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Michael Dale Bouwens, 69, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was sentenced on April 18, 2023, in Lincoln by Senior United States District Judge John M. Gerrard for receipt of child pornography.  Bouwens was sentenced to 84 months in prison and will also serve 10 years on supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.  After serving his prison sentence, Bouwens will also be required to register as a sex offender.

In May of 2021, law enforcement reviewed a cybertip regarding suspected child pornography. The IP address on the cybertip was traced to a residence in Lincoln belonging to Bouwens.

A search warrant was executed on Bouwens’s residence and he was interviewed by law enforcement. He admitted that he had an interest in child pornography and used his laptop to search for child pornography online. He said he had last downloaded child pornography a couple days prior to the interview.  A forensic review of several of the devices seized from Bouwens’s home contained approximately 19,666 files that qualify as child pornography and 262 videos of child pornography.

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 Federal Bureau of Investigation.