BOISE - Jonathan Dillard, 49, of Kuna, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to possession and access with intent to view child pornography, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Dillard was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 15, 2015.
According to the plea agreement, Dillard admitted accessing a Yahoo chat group to access and view images of child pornography in November and December of 2013. In January of 2014, investigators with the Idaho Attorney General's Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit executed a search warrant at Dillard's residence in Kuna, Idaho and seized computers and electronic storage devices. In his plea agreement, Dillard admitted possessing 57 images of child pornography, and 13 videos containing child pornography, on his laptop computer, a flash drive, and two DVDs. Dillard also admitted that he had previously been convicted of Possession of Child Pornography in U.S. District Court in 2003. Sentencing will be scheduled at a later date before U.S. District Judge Stanley A. Bastian, serving by designation from the Eastern District of Washington.
Possession and access with intent to view child pornography is punishable by a mandatory minimum 10 years, and up to 20 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a term of supervised release of not less than five years and up to life, and a $100 special assessment. As part of his plea, Dillard also agreed to forfeit a laptop computer, a flash drive, and 2 DVDs used in the commission of the charged offense.
The case was investigated by the Idaho Attorney General's Office's Internet Crime Against Children (ICAC) Unit, with assistance from the Ada County Sheriff's Office. The ICAC Unit is a coalition of state and local law enforcement agencies that works with the ICAC Task Force to investigate and prosecute individuals who use the internet to criminally exploit children.
The 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."
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
