Defendant Sentenced to 12 Years for His Second Federal Possession of Child Pornography Conviction

EUGENE, OR—On September 24, 2013, Christopher Lyn Sparks, 48 years old, was sentenced by U.S. District Chief Judge Ann Aiken to 12 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography and violating the terms of his supervised release. After serving his sentence, Sparks will be on lifetime supervised release.

Defendant was first sentenced to 51 months in prison in Eugene federal court in 2007 for possession of child pornography. In early 2013, after being released from custody and while on federal supervised release, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the defendant’s home and seized a number of items that contained additional child pornography. As a recidivist, this time around the defendant faced an increased mandatory minimum and multiple supervised release violations and eventually pled guilty on June 18, 2013.

U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall praised the sentence imposed on Sparks: “My office aggressively prosecutes child exploitation offenses. This defendant did not get that message the first time. The 12-year sentence imposed today is a clear reminder to those who seek gratification from the exploitation of children that their conduct will not be tolerated, especially when they are repeat offenders like Christopher Sparks.”

"Not once, but twice this defendant has been caught exploiting children through his possession of images and videos showing those children being violently abused," said Gregory Fowler, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Oregon. "The FBI, in concert with our law enforcement partners, will continue to pursue those who seek to abuse and exploit children."

This case was investigated by the FBI and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan J. Lichvarcik.