Former Johnson City Resident John Samuel Caskey Sentenced to 13 Years in Prison for Child Pornography Offenses

GREENEVILLE, TN—John Samuel Caskey, 47, formerly of Johnson City, Tennessee, residing in Columbus, Mississippi at the time of his arrest, was sentenced on September 2, 2010, in United States District Court at Greeneville by the Honorable Ronnie Greer, to 13 years (156 months) in prison. The sentence was the result of a his guilty plea on February 7, 2010, to a federal grand jury indictment charging him with the receipt, distribution, and possession of child pornography. Caskey has remained in federal custody since his arrest on November 19, 2009.

The indictment and subsequent conviction of Caskey was the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI. He became the subject of an investigation after an undercover FBI agent in New York received child pornography files from him via the Internet, using a computer file-sharing program known as mIRC.

In addition to the prison sentence, Caskey was ordered to remain under federal supervised release for the remainder of his life, to register as a sex offender, to pay a $100 special assessment, and ordered to forfeit the instrumentalities of his offense.

The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Helen Smith and Greg Bowman.

This case was brought as part of Public Safe Childhood (PSC), a Department initiative launched in 2006 that aims to combat the proliferation of technology-facilitated sexual exploitation crimes against children. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, tribal, 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 visit ProjectSafeChildhood.gov.