JACKSONVILLE, FL—United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces the return of an indictment charging Christopher Shawn Warnock (43, Jacksonville) with receiving child pornography over the Internet. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum penalty of five years, up to 20 years, in federal prison and a potential life term of supervision. Warnock was arrested on December 17, 2014, at his Jacksonville residence. He was arraigned today and ordered detained pending further proceedings.

According to the indictment, on or about December 14, 2014, Warnock knowingly received a visual depiction of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct over the Internet.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation offices in Jacksonville and Newark, New Jersey, and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.

It is another case 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 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.”