Emporia Man Gets Over Six Years in Federal Prison for Distributing Child Porn on Limewire

TOPEKA, KS—Norman S. Kidd, 41, Emporia, Kan., has been sentenced to 80 months in federal prison for distributing child pornography, U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said today.

In March 2009, Kidd pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography. According to court documents, the investigation began in July 2007 when an agent with the FBI Innocent Images Unit in Maryland searched for child pornography on Limewire, a peer-to-peer file sharing program. Rather than downloading or uploading files to a central computer, Limewire users store files on their own hard drives. Limewire allows them to download files from other users’ hard drives and to offer files for download by other users.

The agent downloaded images of child pornography stored on Kidd’s computer in Emporia, Kan. On Jan. 31, 2008, agents executed a search warrant at Kidd’s home, where they seized computer equipment containing images of child pornography including images of prepubescent females being penetrated by adults.

Welch commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Kenney for their work on the case. This case is being brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the U.S. Department of Justice designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. For more information, see www.projectsafechildhood.gov.