FARGO - United States Attorney Christopher C. Myers announced that on September 5, 2017, former University of North Dakota Flight Instructor ERIC HEWITT BASILE, age 38, of Grand Forks, ND, was sentenced before United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Erickson to serve 16 ½ years in prison for his role in Receiving and Distributing Materials Containing Child Pornography, as well as Possession of Materials Containing Child Pornography. Judge Erickson further sentenced Basile to serve 15 years of supervised release and to pay $24,000 in special assessments to the Crime Victims’ Fund.
This case came to the attention of law enforcement after two University of North Dakota students separately reported to the UND Police Department that Basile, a then-UND faculty member, had engaged in inappropriate behavior. Based upon those reports, the UND Police Department seized Basile’s UND-issued computer for forensic examination. A preliminary search of the computer revealed child pornography, at which point the matter was turned over to agents with the Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation for further investigation. During the course of their investigation, law enforcement obtained search warrants for Basile’s office and home, at which time additional media was seized. A subsequent forensic examination of this media revealed additional child pornography videos and images depicting children as young as babies and toddlers being violently sexually abused. The investigation also revealed that Basile traded some of those images and videos with other individuals and also engaged in online chats with those individuals, wherein he discussed his desire to sexually abuse young children.
This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the University of North Dakota Police Department, Grand Forks Police Department, Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations, and the North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl prosecuted the case.
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nd
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
