Orange Park Man Sentenced to Five Years in Federal Prison for Receiving Child Pornography Over the Internet

JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney Robert E. O’Neill announced today that United States District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan sentenced Charles Marvin Watkins (66, Orange Park) to five years in federal prison for receiving child pornography over the Internet. Watkins was also sentenced to a 10-year term of supervised release following his incarceration. He was found guilty after a bench trial on November 15, 2011.

According to court documents, on October 24, 2009, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement conducted an interview of Watkins at his Orange Park residence. While at the residence, one of the agents asked for consent to search Watkins’ custom-built desktop computer, and Watkins consented. During this brief search, the agent noticed that a particular Internet file sharing program was actively running on the computer.

On October 24, 2009, Clay County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) detectives interviewed Watkins, at which time Watkins stated that he had viewed and downloaded child pornography approximately 100 times in the past. He admitted using particular Internet search terms to find video files containing child pornography. Later that same day, CCSO officers arrived at Watkins’ residence to take custody of his custom-built desktop computer and two other computers.

A subsequent interview and forensic analysis of Watson’s three computers revealed approximately 16 images and five videos depicting minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. The analysis showed that between May and October 2009 Watkins had received images and videos of child pornography over the Internet using a file sharing program. The analysis also confirmed that Watkins viewed videos while they were downloading, and that he routinely deleted videos of child pornography after viewing them.

This case was investigated by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

It is another case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the 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 locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov and click on the tab “other resources.”