Etowah County Man Indicted for Distributing Child Pornography Over the Internet
| U.S. Attorney’s Office April 01, 2009 |
BIRMINGHAM, AL—STEVEN GLENN MEEKS, 29, of Rainbow City, Alabama, was charged in a three-count indictment filed today at U.S. District Court in Birmingham. United States Attorney Alice H. Martin and Charles E. Regan, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, announce today that MEEKS has been indicted by a federal grand jury for Possession, Receipt and Distribution of Child Pornography.
Count 1 of the indictment charges MEEKS with possessing child pornography, and Count 2 charges that Rector distributed images of child pornography on October 23, 2005. Count 3 charges that he received images of child pornography on October 23, 2005.
The maximum sentence for possession of child pornography is not more than ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The charges of receiving and distributing child pornography carry a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum sentence of 20 years, plus a $250,000 fine.
“Those who send and receive images of child pornography via the internet are only perpetuating this deviant crime,” stated United States Attorney Alice H. Martin. “This office will aggressively prosecute those engaged in this type of criminal conduct.”
“The availability of the internet has made trading in child pornography rampant,” stated Charles E. Regan, Acting Special Agent in Charge Federal Bureau of Investigation, Birmingham Field Division. “But that same technology has also been a boost to our jobs as law enforcement officers and helped in the apprehension of hundreds of criminals in this district.”
Special agents of the FBI in Gadsden and Houston, Texas worked together during the investigation and prosecution of this case. Assistant United States Attorney Laura D. Hodge is prosecuting this case on behalf of the United States.
Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.