Air Force Reservist Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography Offense
| U.S. Attorney’s Office November 16, 2011 |
NEW BERN—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court yesterday United State District Judge Louise W. Flanagan sentenced ADRIAN G. PEREZ, 33, of Raeford, North Carolina, to 85 months’ imprisonment followed by a life-term of supervised release. The court also imposed a find of $10,000.
On June 16, 2011, a criminal information was filed charging PEREZ with possession of child pornography. August 8, 2011, PEREZ pled guilty to the charge.
According to the investigation, on October 28, 2009, PEREZ, while on Pope Air Force Base, misplaced a set of keys that had a USB flash drive attached. Another service member found the keys and in an attempt to find the owner uploaded the USB drive on his home computer where images of child pornography were found. The service member notified the military police and the tracked the USB drive to PEREZ. Following a search of PEREZ’ residence and computer, forensic analysis revealed 440 confirmed images of child pornography.
This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level. For more information about this important national project, Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
Investigation of this case was conducted by the United States Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Special Assistant United States Attorney Jamal A. Rhinehardt served as prosecutor for the government.