Liberty Lake Man Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for Attempted Posession of Child Pornography

SPOKANE, WA—Michael C. Ormsby, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Dale Allen Rockliffe, age 28, of Liberty Lake, Washington, was sentenced after having pleaded guilty in May of this year to the crime of attempted possession of child pornography. Senior United States District Court Judge Edward Shea sentenced Rockliffe to a 10-year term of imprisonment to be followed by a life term of court supervision after he is released from federal prison.

According to information disclosed during the court proceedings, Rockliffe admitted to chatting with minor males via a webcam over the Internet and attempting to obtain pornographic images from those minors. At the time of this offense, Rockliffe was a registered sex offender living in Liberty Lake, Washington and was being supervised by the Washington State Department of Corrections. He had previously been convicted in Washington state for offenses relating to the sexual abuse of a minor.

Michael C. Ormsby stated, “The United States Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Washington continues to aggressively prosecute child pornography crimes. Prosecution of this case was particularly important given the history of the defendant and the use of an Internet webcam. I commend the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI for their tenacity and joint investigative efforts in this case. “

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, 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, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.

The Project Safe Childhood (PSC) Initiative has five major components:

• Integrated federal, state, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases and to identify and rescue child victims;
• Participation of PSC partners in coordinated national initiatives;
• Increased federal enforcement in child pornography and enticement cases;
• Training of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents;
• and community awareness and educational programs.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

This investigation was conducted by Spokane County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Stephanie J. Lister, an Assistant United States Attorney and PSC Coordinator for the Eastern District of Washington.