Nebraska Man Arrested for Child Pornography Offenses
| U.S. Attorney's Office May 06, 2011 |
A York, Nebraska man was arrested in Nebraska on May 6, 2011, on a criminal complaint filed in the Southern District of Illinois, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.
Joshua Robert Hoover, 32, of York, Nebraska, was charged by complaint on May 4, 2011, with production of child pornography and with commission of a felony offense against a minor as a registered sex offender.
Count one of the complaint alleges that Hoover did knowingly persuade, induce, and entice a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct, knowing and having reason to know that such visual depiction would be transmitted using a means or facility of interstate commerce; the complaint further alleges that such visual depiction was so transmitted on April 7, 2011. Count two of the complaint further alleges that Hoover committed the offense charged in count one while being a person who was required by law to register as a sex offender.
Individuals charged by criminal complaint have the constitutional right to have the case presented to a grand jury to decide whether to return an indictment which is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Hoover appeared in federal district court in Omaha, Nebraska, on May 6, 2011, and was ordered detained pending transfer to the Southern District of Illinois for prosecution.
The penalties that may be imposed, upon conviction, for a violation in count one are not less than 15 years’ imprisonment and not more than 30 years’ imprisonment, or a $250,000 fine, or both; a term of supervised release of five years to life; and a $100 special assessment. The penalties that may be imposed, upon conviction, for a violation in count two are 10 years’ imprisonment, consecutive to any sentence imposed for count one; a term of supervised release of five years to life; and a $100 special assessment.
The complaint further alleges that Hoover met a 14-year-old Clinton County girl over the Internet and convinced her to send him nude pictures of herself by computer on or about April 7, 2011.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen B. Clark and Nicole Gorovsky. The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.