DALLAS - Jeremy Blackburn, 33, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle to 188 months in federal prison, following his guilty plea to one count of transporting and shipping child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Blackburn has been in custody since he entered that guilty plea in March 2013.
According to documents filed in the case, an undercover operation to identify persons who participate in the distribution of child pornography and the sexual exploitation of children through the use of peer-to-peer file sharing networks resulted in the identification of Blackburn. A search warrant was executed at his residence in Mesquite, Texas, in July 2012, and computer equipment was seized. There were more than 600 images and videos of child pornography available to share on his file-sharing program.
Blackburn admitted than in February 2012, he used the Internet and file-sharing software to share and transmit image and video files depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He admitted that he preferred younger girls but not babies, and he admitted to downloading child pornography just 30 minutes prior to the execution of the search warrant. He also admitted that he sought, received and possessed images and videos that included bondage and other sadistic acts involving minors.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative, which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals, who sexually exploit children, and identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/. For more information about internet safety education, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc/ and click on the tab “resources."
The investigation was conducted by the Mesquite Police Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Camille Sparks was in charge of the prosecution.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
