Hogsett Announces Another Individual Captured and Charged in Operation Relating to Bloomington Man’s Child Pornography Activities
Washington Man Charged in Conspiracy to Distribute and Receive Child Pornography

INDIANAPOLIS—Joseph H. Hogsett, United States Attorney, announced today that Nicholas J. King, 28, a resident of Bellingham, Wash., and Alvarado, Texas, was charged with conspiracy to distribute and receive child pornography. The investigation, arrest, and charging of King is the result of the significant efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Indiana State Police.

King is charged with being a member of an e-mail group, the members of which were trading child pornography images primarily depicting babies and toddlers. It is alleged that among the co-conspirators was David R. Bostic, a Bloomington resident who pled guilty last month to being part of the conspiracy. King was captured and charged as part of the international operation to apprehend those involved with Bostic in the trafficking of child pornography that was announced in June.

“This office, along with our federal and local law enforcement partners, has worked very hard to protect the Indiana children victimized by David Bostic from further harm by capturing and charging his coconspirators trafficking in those and similar images,” said U.S. Attorney Hogsett. “We will not rest until we have done everything we can do to end the continuing victimization of these Hoosier children.”

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney A. Brant Cook, who is prosecuting the case for the government, King faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. An initial hearing will be scheduled before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.

An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.