James L. Porter, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on May 16, 2016, Ronald W. McNair, Jr., 25, formerly stationed at Scott Air Force Base, pled guilty to Possession of Prepubescent Child Pornography. McNair faces a term of imprisonment of not more than twenty years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of five years to life. Sentencing for McNair is set for September 6, 2016, in Benton, Illinois.
The charge arose after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children ("NCMEC") produced three (3) CyberTipline reports after receiving information from Microsoft that an individual, identified as Ron McNair, was uploading what appeared to be images of child pornography to his Microsoft SkyDrive Account. The first CyberTipline Report noted that Ron McNair, using an e-mail address of "mcnair.ron@outlook.com," had uploaded one image to his SkyDrive account on March 24, 2014. The second CyberTipline Report noted that Ron McNair, using the e-mail address "ronmcnair91@outlook.com," uploaded one image to that account on April 14, 2014. Finally, the third CyberTipline Report noted that the person identified as Ron McNair uploaded twenty-one images to that account, again using the e-mail address "ronmcnair91@outlook.com," on April 14, 2014. All of the CyberTipline Reports reported that McNair used the IP address 75.132.130.141 when he uploaded the images.
An administrative subpoena determined that the subscriber of the IP address used at the time of the uploads belonged to McNair, who was stationed at Scott Air Force Base but resided in Belleville, Illinois.
The Department of Homeland Security executed a search warrant at McNair’s address. When McNair and his roommate were asked if they shared electronic devices, both individuals indicated that they did not. The roommate also indicated that the two even had separate wi-fi accounts. During the search, McNair made some statements about viewing child pornography on the Torrent network but refused to divulge the specific websites that he had visited. Among the items seized from McNair was a Western Digital, My Passport, external hard drive.
A forensic review of the Western Digital, My Passport, external hard drive, revealed that it contained 4,522 image and 144 video files of child pornography. A large number of these image and video files were of prepubescent children.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 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 investigated by the Belleville Police Department, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott and Special Assistant United States Attorney Shane Kelbley.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
