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 Technology News | February 2006 
Defendant Ordered To Serve Life In Prison For Child Pornography
 USNewswire
| | A Spanish policeman examines a computer screen during an investigation against child pornography in this undated picture released by the Spanish Police January 28, 2006. Spanish police said on Saturday that they have arrested six people and shut down 62 international Internet communities that exchanged child pornography. (Reuters) |
United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein announced today that U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis sentenced James A. Reigle, Jr., 46, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to life in prison in connection with his December 8, 2005 conviction by a federal jury of sexually exploiting minors to produce child pornography; conspiracy to transport, ship, and possess child pornography; and transportation and shipment of child pornography.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein said, "This case is significant for two reasons. First, the arrest stemmed from a new law enforcement initiative in which we take images of unknown adults from photographs that show them engaging in sex with children, then we broadcast the faces of the adults over the internet and on television. We employ the same technology that child molesters use to spread child pornography anonymously, but we use it to identify the child molesters and catch them. Second, this is the first time that a defendant has been sentenced to serve a mandatory sentence of life in prison for repeated sex offenses against children, under the 'two strikes and you're out' law enacted in 2003."
According to evidence established at trial, between 1998 and September 2002, Reigle developed relationships with several minor males and took pictures of them engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Reigle, an avid Internet user, developed a relationship with Thomas Evered, 39, of Lolo, Montana, whom he met in a chat room. The two formed a close friendship and traded pictures with each other from their child pornography collection.
The evidence showed that in 2002, Reigle was sentenced by a U.S. District Judge in Harrisburg, to a 37 month federal prison term for possession of child pornography-that same year, a state judge in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania sentenced Reigle to a concurrent sentence for sexually molesting a Harrisburg boy.
Witnesses testified that shortly after he reported to federal prison on September 23, 2002, Reigle contacted Evered and asked him to take possession of his collection of child pornography until Reigle was released from prison. Thereafter, Evered, who was a cross-country tractor trailer driver, kept the collection with him at all times during his travels, including two trips that took him through Maryland.
In a related case, Loren Williams, 45, of Edgewater, Maryland was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for production of child pornography in Maryland. The photographs in his collection included photographs produced and transmitted over the internet by Reigle.
Evidence presented to the court showed that Reigle has been convicted on three previous occasions in Pennsylvania state courts of offenses relating to the sexual molestation of children. His 2002 federal conviction for possession of child pornography was his fourth conviction for a child sexual exploitation offense.
On January 27, 2006 Evered was sentenced to 10 years in prison followed by supervised release for life in connection with his February 16, 2005 guilty plea to sexually exploiting a minor boy for the purpose of producing child pornography.
FBI Cyber Division Assistant Director Louis M. Reigel III, said, "The FBI, through our Innocent Images Unit, is committed to aggressively pursuing individuals who engage in the online sexual exploitation of children. In 2004, we established the Endangered Child Alert Program (ECAP) along with our law enforcement partners. Through ECAP and with the assistance of national media outlets and their viewers worldwide, to date, we have been able to identity and arrest five of the six "John Does" and one "Jane Doe" we profiled."
"Mr. Reigle committed heinous acts of abuse against innocent children. A sentence of life in prison will ensure that he cannot hurt another child," said John Fox, Assistant Special Agent-In- Charge for ICE's Office of Investigations in Baltimore. "Those of us in law enforcement - ICE agents, prosecutors and local officers - share a commitment to ensure that child pornographers won't find a safe haven in cyberspace. We will use every available tool at our disposal to combat violators such as Mr. Reigle."
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Baltimore Police Department for the investigative work they performed as part of the Innocent Images Task Force. Mr. Rosenstein also commended "America's Most Wanted" for the extraordinary assistance that program has provided to law enforcement in this and many other cases.
Mr. Rosenstein praised Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew G. W. Norman and Jonathan Mastrangelo, who prosecuted the case.
Contact: Vickie E. Leduc of the U.S. Department of Justice, 410-209-4885; Web: http://WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MD |
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