BRUNSWICK, GA - Dustin Francisco Struckman, 24, of Peoria, Illinois was sentenced on yesterday by United States District Court Judge Lisa Godbey Wood to 11 years in prison, followed by 10 years of supervised release, for attempting to distribute child pornography. Struckman will be required to register as a sex offender. At the conclusion of the sentencing, Struckman was returned to the custody of the United States Marshal Service to serve his sentence.
According to the evidence presented at Struckman’s plea and sentencing hearings, in January and May of 2011, Struckman, who was then enlisted in the U.S. Navy and located in Kings Bay, was making available for distribution over a peer to peer network various child pornography videos and images. When interviewed by a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, Struckman admitted that he had been downloading and viewing child pornography images for several years, and utilizing a peer to peer network for that purpose. Struckman’s computer was found to contain at least 33 videos and 16 still images depicting child sexual abuse, with at least one video depicting a child as young as three years old.
United States Attorney Edward J. Tarver stated, “The distribution of images depicting the sexual abuse of innocent children is a heinous crime. The abuse to these young victims continued every time the Defendant viewed these images and made them available to others through a file-sharing network. There is no higher priority within the Department of Justice than the protection of our Nation’s children. There should be no doubt that the United States Attorney’s Office will prosecute those who facilitate and create a market for the violent sexual assault of children."
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. 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 identify and rescue victims.
The case was the result of an investigation conducted by the Kingsland Police Department, the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, and the Coast Guard Investigation Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy Greenwood prosecuted the case. file://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/file://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/For additional information, please contact First Assistant United States Attorney James D. Durham at (912) 201-2547.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
