Three Northern Nevada Men Sentenced to Prison for Child Pornography Crimes
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 10, 2013 |
RENO, NV—Three men from the northern Nevada area have been sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for their guilty pleas to child pornography crimes, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada.
Matthew Kevin Cowee, 41, of Sparks, and Jarrod Allen Pounds, 28, of Gardnerville, were sentenced on Monday, December 10, 2013, to 97 months and 110 months in prison, respectively; and Byron Trent Davis, 48, of Reno, was sentenced today to 63 months in prison.
“As these cases demonstrate, federal and local law enforcement will work together to put child predators behind bars,” said United States Attorney Daniel G. Bogden. “These lengthy prison sentences should serve as a warning to other child predators. We are looking for you, and we will find you, arrest you, and ensure that you are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Cowee pleaded guilty in August to receipt of child pornography. Cowee possessed over 15,000 images and 200 videos containing child pornography on his computer and computer hard drives. Pounds pleaded guilty in September to possession of child pornography. Pounds possessed approximately 7,500 images and 40 videos of child pornography on his laptop computer and external computer hard drives. Davis pleaded guilty in August to possession by accessing with the intent to view child pornography. Davis accessed and viewed approximately 100 videos and 100 images of child pornography on his desktop computer. The images possessed and or viewed by the defendants included depictions of prepubescent children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including sadistic and masochistic conduct.
Following release from prison, Cowee and Pounds will be placed on lifetime supervised release. Davis will be placed on supervised release for 15 years. All three will be required to register as convicted sex offenders.
The cases were investigated by the Northern Nevada Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which includes the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations, the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office. The cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Carla Higginbotham.
The cases were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), 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, PSC 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 PSC, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.