Registered Sex Offender Senenced To 10 Years In Prison For Processing Child Pornography

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On Thursday, November 7, 2013, U.S. District Court Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. ordered a Charlotte man to serve 10 years in prison for possessing child pornography, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. In addition to the prison term, Jerry Keith Kramer, 58, of Charlotte, was ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to continue to register as a sex offender.

Brock D. Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas joins U.S. Attorney Tompkins in making today’s announcement.

In May 2012, a federal criminal indictment charged Kramer with one count of possession of child pornography. According to filed documents and statements made in court, the investigation began while Kramer was on state probation, after a North Carolina probation officer discovered questionable images involving children on Kramer’s computer during a routine home visit. Court records indicate that law enforcement executed a search warrant at Kramer’s Charlotte residence and seized his home computer. A forensic examination revealed that Kramer’s computer contained several images of child pornography. In December 2012, Kramer pleaded guilty to the charge in the indictment.

Kramer’s registered sex offender status stems from his prior convictions for sexually assaulting two minors, in 1992 and 1997, respectively. At yesterday’s hearing, Kramer’s sentence was enhanced because of his prior state convictions.

Kramer has been in federal custody since May 2012. He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The case was investigated by HSI. In making today’s announcement U.S. Attorney Tompkins thanked the North Carolina Department of Corrections’ Community Supervision Section for their assistance in this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimlani Ford of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimlani M. Ford of the Western District of North Carolina and Trial Attorney Michael W. Grant of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). The investigation was conducted by ICE-HSI.

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 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.