The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a 49-year-old Dingmans Ferry resident who admitted to receiving and distributing child pornography during January through May of 2013, was sentenced today to serve 15 years in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Malachy E. Mannion.
According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, the defendant, Richard A. Lewis, pleaded guilty to the crime on September 5, 2013.
Lewis was indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2013 for using a computer to receive child pornography from a resident of Ontario, Canada, and distribute the child pornography to others.
The charge against Lewis resulted from an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and the Ontario Provincial Police.
Judge Mannion also ordered that Lewis be placed on supervised release for life following his prison sentence. Lewis must also receive sex offender treatment and abide by sex offender registration requirements after his release from prison.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
