Evansville man sentenced for possession of child pornography

Created internet blog and shared child pornography files

PRESS RELEASE

Evansville – United States Attorney Josh J. Minkler announced today that Joshua J. Walker, 28 of Evansville, Indiana, was sentenced to 120 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Richard L. Young following his guilty plea to possession and distribution of child pornography. This case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation Violent Crimes Task Force and the Evansville Police Department.

October 19, 2016, at the time of his guilty plea, Walker admitted to the Court that he used file sharing software on numerous occasions to search for images of underage girls. Walker stated he used file sharing software to conduct searches and to download images depicting children under the age of eighteen (18) years old, engaged in sexual acts and/or poses. Walker also admitted that he created his own internet blog site that was used to share depictions of minors engaged in sex acts with blog members.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd S. Shellenbarger, who prosecuted the case for the government, Judge Young imposed 5 years of supervised release following Walker’s release from prison. Walker must register as a sex offender, must not have unsupervised contact with minors, and must participate in a sex offender treatment program while on supervision. The devices Walker used to commit the offenses must be forfeited to the government as a part of the sentence.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 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."