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Press Release

Alton Man Pleads Guilty To Child Pornography Charges

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Illinois

Shaun Meyer, 33, of Alton, plead guilty today in the United States District Court to a one-count indictment charging him with Receipt of Child Pornography, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced.

Court documents filed in the US District Court establish that during an undercover Internet investigation, agents from the United States Secret Service Illinois Cyber-Crime Unit determined that Meyer was receiving child pornography using a peer-to-peer file sharing network. Agents obtained and executed a search warrant for Meyer’s residence during which they seized Meyer’s laptop computer. Meyer was interviewed by law enforcement agents and admitted that he had been downloading child pornography from the Internet for approximately two years using a file sharing program. During a forensic examination of Meyer’s laptop computer, agents recovered 171 video files containing child pornography.

Meyer faces a term of in federal prison of not less than five, but not more than twenty years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years up to a term for life. Sentencing is scheduled for October 22, 2015.

This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

The investigation was conducted by the United States Secret Service Southern Illinois Cyber-Crime Unit, the Greenville Police Department and the Madison County Sheriff’s Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ali Summers.

Updated July 10, 2015