Columbia County Man Indicted on Federal Charges of Receiving Child Pornography

JACKSONVILLE—Acting United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announced today that a federal grand jury in Jacksonville has returned an indictment against Samuel Franklin Crews (31, Lake City), charging him with three counts of receiving child pornography over the Internet. Crews faces a mandatory minimum penalty of not less than five years, up to 20 years in federal prison on each count, and a potential life term of supervised release. Crews was arrested on December 31, 2013, in Lake City, and has been ordered detained pending his trial in March 2014.

The indictment alleges that between on or about April 28, 2013 through on or about April 30, 2013, in the Middle District of Florida, Crews knowingly received visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct over the Internet.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of the federal criminal laws, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. It is being 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, 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.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "Resources."