Springfield Man Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Receiving and Possessing Child Pornography

BOSTON, MA—A Springfield man was sentenced today in federal court for receiving and possessing child pornography.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Robert Bethel, Postal Inspector In Charge of United States Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent In Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Investigations; and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, announced today that BRIAN WILKERSON, age 39, of Springfield, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to five years' imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release. WILKERSON pleaded guilty to four counts of receiving child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2242(a)(2), and one count of possessing child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(4)(B).

At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the court that had the case proceeded to trial, the government’s evidence would have proven that on or about August 29, 2005, WILKERSON received through the mail a video file containing a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which he ordered over the Internet from a website called youngvideomodels.net. On September 7, 2008, WILKERSON received over the Internet three other digital files containing a visual depiction of other minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Lastly, on September 16, 2008, WILKERSON possessed computers and computer media which contained other visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The case was investigated by the United States Postal Inspection Service, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office.