Hot Springs Man Sentenced for Attempted Receipt of Child Pornography

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Viken has sentenced a Hot Springs, South Dakota, man convicted of Attempted Receipt of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place on April 20, 2023.

Brian Lynn Spitzer, 59, was sentenced to five years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund and a $5,000 special assessment to the Victims of Trafficking Fund. Spitzer will also be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

Spitzer was indicted for Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet, and Attempted Receipt of Child Pornography by a federal grand jury in January of 2021. He pleaded guilty on December 7, 2022.

Spitzer was arrested and federally indicted after attempting to exploit an undercover law enforcement agent posing as a 14-year-old female. Spitzer sent the undercover agent multiple sexually explicit messages between August of 2020 and September of 2020.

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 the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Rapid City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelsey Blair and Heather Sazama prosecuted the case.

Spitzer was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.