Cary Man Sentenced to 180 Months' Imprisonment for Receiving Child Pornography

RALEIGH—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court today John Warren Courtney, 47, was sentenced by Senior United States District Court Judge Malcolm J. Howard to 180 months’ imprisonment, 15 years of supervised release, and a $4,000 fine for receipt of child pornography.

Courtney pled guilty to a criminal information filed on February 15, 2013, charging him of one count of receipt of child pornography. According to the investigation during the years 2011 and 2012, Courtney did knowingly receive 4,883 visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct on files containing digital images and 246 videos, all in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2). The defendant was caught attempting to photograph a child urinating in a public bathroom at Adventure Landing in Raleigh. A subsequent examination of the defendant’s computer revealed numerous videos of nude and partially nude young boys in public restrooms at local restaurants and a swimming pool.

This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level. For more information about this important national project, Project Safe Childhood, go to www.justice.gov/psc.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Raleigh Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney Jay Exum prosecuted the case for the United States.