White Oak Man Pleads Guilty to Receipt of Child Pornography

GREENVILLE—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court yesterday ANDREW FRANKLIN HOOD, 52, pled guilty before United State Magistrate Judge David W. Daniel to receipt of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2).

According to the investigation, while conducting undercover operations of peer to peer sharing of child pornography via the Internet, it was discovered that HOOD was logging onto several known child pornography sites. On February 15, 2011, a search warrant was executed at HOOD’s residence where two desktop computers, several external hard drives, multiple recordable CD’s, and a handwritten ledger listing file names were seized. Forensic analysis of the computers, hard drives and CDs revealed 16,673 photos of child pornography and 227 videos.

At sentencing, set for February, 2012, HOOD faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment followed by up to five years’ supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. If HOOD has had prior convictions that relate to sexual abuse or the production, possession, receipt, mailing, sale, distribution, shipment or transportation of child pornography, HOOD faces up to 40 years’ imprisonment with up to a life-term of supervised release.

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 North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Ethan Ontjes is serving as prosecutor for the government.