SHREVEPORT, La. - United States Attorney Stephanie A. Finley announced today that a Shreveport man was sentenced to 360 months in prison for receiving child pornography.
Aaron Wikkerink, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge S. Maurice Hicks Jr. on one count of receiving child pornography. He was also sentenced to serve five years of supervised release and is required to register as a sex offender. According to evidence presented at the Oct. 1, 2014, guilty plea, Wikkerink admitted to downloading child pornography online from April 7, 2012 until April 24, 2012. Law enforcement agents executed a search warrant at Wikkerink’s residence and found child pornography on several electronic storage devices depicting prepubescent children in sexually explicit situations. Wikkerink was previously convicted of child molestation.
“This office is dedicated to the protection of children," Finley stated. “We have and will continue to make the prosecution of child exploitation and child pornography cases a priority. Those who hide behind technology to conduct these heinous acts should know that the internet is not a safe haven for their crimes. I want to thank our federal, state, and local partners who work so diligently to investigate and uncover these threats to children."
United Stated Department of Homeland Security (Shreveport) and the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Earl M. Campbell prosecuted the case.
This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a U.S. Department of Justice nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ 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 exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security/Homeland Security Investigations/Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at (866) DHS-2ICE. Investigators are available at all hours to answer hotline calls. Tips or other information can also be submitted to ICE online at www.ice.gov/exec/forms/hsi-tips/tips.asp.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
