United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a Corsica, South Dakota man charged with Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography was sentenced on March 4, 2012 by US District Judge Karen E. Schreier.
Shawn E. Stevens, age 26, was sentenced to 188 months in custody, 5 years supervised release, and will be required to register as a sex offender.
Stevens was indicted for Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography and Possession of Child Pornography by a federal grand jury on December 6, 2011. The conviction stems from Stevens’ use of two different computers and external hard drives. The computer files that contained images of child pornography were distributed and received between October of 2009 and March of 2011. He pled guilty to the charge of Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography on Nov. 15, 2012.
The case was investigated by the Sioux Falls Police Department and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case. Stevens was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshal.
This case is being 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 United States 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.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
