Wilkes-Barre Man Sentenced to More Than 11 Years in Prison for Receiving Child Pornography

Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a 40-year-old Wilkes-Barre resident was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge James M. Munley to serve 135 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography.

Pfannenschmidt stated that Leon Krepps pleaded guilty to the offense on February 2, 2009. Krepps, who resided in Pittston at the time of his arrest, committed the offense between 2005 and October 2008.

Krepps’ prosecution stemmed from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Postal Inspectors, and Europol.

Judge Munley also ordered Krepps to be placed on supervised release for life after serving his prison sentence. Krepps was also ordered to pay a fine of $2000 and a $100 special assessment. Judge Munley noted that the determination as to what, if any, restitution is owed to any victims in the case will be made within ninety days.

Pfannenschmidt noted that 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.

Pfannenschmidt noted that the case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.