LaVista Man Sentenced for Child Pornography Offense

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Richard G. Treadwell, 44, of LaVista, Nebraska, was sentenced for receiving child pornography. The Honorable Lyle E. Strom sentenced Treadwell to six years in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons. After his release from prison, Treadwell will begin a five-year term of supervised release.

On February 1, 2010, an investigator with the FBI Cyber Crimes Task Force was conducting investigations into individuals sharing images of child pornography. The investigation led to the execution of a federal search warrant at Treadwell’s home on November 1, 2010.

A forensic review of the computer revealed more than 4,500 images of child pornography and child erotica. The images included a substantial number of prepubescent children. Treadwell was interviewed and admitted downloading the images.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, 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 about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

This matter was investigated by the Omaha FBI’s Cyber Crime Task Force (CCTF), of which the Nebraska State Patrol and LaVista Police Department are partners. The Omaha CCTF is a multi-jurisdictional task force consisting of 11 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies from Nebraska and Iowa. The mission of the Omaha CCTF is to investigate and apprehend high technology criminals and to protect our communities by preventing high-technology crime and national security threats involving computers and computer networks. The Omaha CCTF was established on the premise that the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to investigate computer and high technology related crimes are enhanced in a task force setting involving the sharing of resources and expertise.