Mountlake Terrace, Washington, man sentenced to ten years in prison for possessing and distributing images of child rape

Seattle – A Mountlake Terrace, Washington, man was sentenced today in U.S District Court in Seattle to 10 years in prison and 20 years of supervised release for possession and distribution of child pornography.  CHRISTOPHER LEE WOOD, age 41, pleaded guilty July 15, 2019, about a year after law enforcement served a search warrant on his home.  A Seattle Police detective working with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force had identified WOOD as the person using file sharing software to distribute images of child rape.  At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones noted that every time WOOD sent an image out, someone else is looking at it and multiplying the damage to the child in the image.

According to records filed in the case, WOOD was using peer-to-peer file sharing software to distribute and trade images of child sexual abuse.  When law enforcement seized his electronic devices, they found 42 images and 69 video files showing minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.  Investigators also found seven images of a young child in lascivious poses.  The images had not been distributed, and WOOD had deleted them from his computer.  The images of a young child known to WOOD were a critical reason for the ten-year sentence.

The case was investigated by the Seattle Police led Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Cecelia Gregson.  Ms. Gregson is a Senior King County Deputy Prosecutor specially designated to prosecute child exploitation crimes in federal court.