Three Sentenced on Child Pornography Charges
Unrelated Offenses Draw Sentences of 97, 200, and 205 Months

GREENSBORO, NC—Three men sentenced this week in federal court on unrelated child pornography charges received a total of 502 months of prison time, announced United States Attorney Ripley Rand.

Jeffrey Wayne Cheek, 45, of Lewisville, NC, was sentenced to 205 months’ imprisonment followed by lifetime supervised release for distribution of child pornography and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Investigators first encountered Cheek on an Internet chat channel and eventually downloaded 53 images of child pornography from his shared folders on GigaTribe, a freeware file-sharing program. During this download, Cheek’s Internet protocol (IP) address was determined and traced to a physical address of a Forsyth County Time-Warner subscriber who was then Cheek’s neighbor. Cheek was previously convicted of second degree sex offense in 1991 in Buncombe County, NC, and transportation of child pornography in the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in 1996. The investigation of Cheek was conducted by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Winston-Salem Police Department.

John James Boyle, 64, of Rockingham County, NC, was sentenced to 200 months’ imprisonment followed by 10 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography. Boyle was charged after investigators gained access to shared folders on his computer using P2P (peer-to-peer) software. Investigators were able to preview the shared images, determined they were in fact images of child pornography, and executed a search warrant at his home in Reidsville, North Carolina. After a complete forensic search of his computers, charges were filed against the defendant. He was previously convicted of state sex offenses in New Jersey. The investigation of Boyle was conducted by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Department.

Daniel Robert Hunsberger, 49, formerly of Chapel Hill, NC, was sentenced to 97 months’ imprisonment followed by 20 years of supervised release for possession of child pornography. Hunsberger was charged after investigators using specialized online tools to detect computers configured to share files previously identified as containing child pornography found 22 known child pornography files on a computer at Hunsberger’s IP address. Hunsberger’s computer was seized and forensic examination confirmed it contained images of child pornography. The investigation of Hunsberger was conducted by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

All three cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anand P. Ramaswamy, and all three defendants were sentenced by United States District Judge N. Carlton Tilley, Jr.

These cases were 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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.