Former Lincoln Man Sentenced for Possessing Child Pornography

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Bryan James Christensen, 26, formerly of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced yesterday in Lincoln, Nebraska, to two years in prison by United States District Judge John M. Gerrard for possession of child pornography. After serving his prison term, Christensen will also be required to serve five years of supervised release and register as a sex offender. The computer equipment used by Christensen was also forfeited to the United States.

In January 2008, the FBI was conducting a nationwide initiative targeting the transmission of child pornography over peer-to-peer networks. At that time, an FBI agent was able to download various files of child pornography using an Internet protocol address that the agent could access. The IP address was assigned to an address in Lincoln, Nebraska, which had been the residence of Mr. Christensen. The FBI further determined that the IP address that belonged to Christensen in January 2008, had up to 200 images of child pornography that were available for distribution over the peer-to-peer network. A later forensic exam of the computer equipment utilized by Christensen confirmed the possession of child pornography.

This case was brought as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a comprehensive national strategy that creates local partnerships with law enforcement agencies to effectively enforce existing gun laws. It provides more options to prosecutors, allowing them to utilize local, state, and federal laws to ensure that criminals who commit gun crime face tough sentences. PSN gives each federal district the flexibility it needs to focus on individual challenges that a specific community faces.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.