William James Lyon, IV Sentenced to 105 Months for Receipt of Child Pornography

GREENEVILLE, TN—William J. Lyon, IV, 48, of Kingsport, Tenn., was sentenced to serve 105 months in federal prison by the Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court, Greeneville. Upon his release from prison, Lyon will be subject to supervised release by the U.S. Probation Office for the remainder of his life. The sentence was the result of a guilty plea by Lyon on February 23, 2011, to a federal grand jury indictment charging him with receipt of child pornography.

Lyon used personal computers to access the internet from his residence and elsewhere to download images of minor children engaged in sexually explicit conduct. Investigators associated with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) discovered Lyon’s conduct through an undercover operation in which investigators pose online as parties interested in obtaining child pornography.

U.S. Attorney Bill Killian said that this case represents his office’s continuing commitment to eradicate the trade of images of children being sexually exploited.

The case was investigated by the Morristown Police Department ICAC and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. J. Gregory Bowman, Assistant U.S. Attorney represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project 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.