Project Safe Childhood | Project Safe Childhood
United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man convicted of Transportation of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place on February 13, 2023.
Terry Zoppe, age 49, was sentenced to 11 years and three months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and a special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund in the amount of $100.
Zoppe was indicted by a federal grand jury in December of 2021. He pleaded guilty on November 8, 2022.
The conviction stemmed from incidents between September 19, 2017, and March 23, 2021, when Zoppe knowingly transported child pornography over the internet. After searching the internet for child pornography, he downloaded the files containing child pornography to his two e-mail accounts with Google domain. Zoppe also had child pornography on three cell phones. He knew the files contained child pornography before he chose to download them.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, SD Division of Criminal Investigation, SD Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Sioux Falls PD, and the U.S. Marshal’s Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey C. Clapper prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.
Zoppe was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Original source can be found here
