LONDON - A former state employee in London, Ky., who previously admitted to downloading images of child pornography from the internet while at work, has been sentenced to 13 years in federal prison.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove sentenced 51 year-old Gordon Bowers for receiving child pornography. Under federal law, Bowers must serve at least 85 percent of his prison sentence, and following his release, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years. Judge Van Tatehove also ordered Bowers to pay $35,000, in restitution to multiple victims, for costs associated with psychological counseling services.
According to his plea agreement, in February of 2014, law enforcement identified several child pornography images and videos online. Authorities traced the source of the images to a computer at the London State Office Building. Agents executed a search warrant at Bowers’ office and found over 40,000 images of child pornography on his state-issued computer and other electronic storage devices. The images depicted children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.
Bowers pleaded guilty in January of this year. He worked as an environmental scientist.
Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky;, Jack Conway, Kentucky Attorney General;, and Gary Hartwig, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), jointly made the announcement.
The investigation was conducted by the Office of the Kentucky Attorney General and HSI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Coffey prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
