Omaha Man Sentenced to 8 years for Distribution of Child Pornography

Acting United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Joseph Knipe, age 43, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for distribution of child pornography.  United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Knipe to 8 years of imprisonment.  There is no parole in the federal system.  After completing his term of imprisonment, Knipe will begin a 10-year term of supervised release and will also be required to register as a sex offender. 

On May 3, 2017, Knipe used his online DropBox account to transfer images of child pornography to other DropBox users.  Agents later executed a search warrant of Knipe’s DropBox account and located about 2,000 images and 1,000 videos of child pornography.  On October 31, 2019, agents executed a search warrant at Knipe’s residence in Omaha.  Agents located a USB card containing about 105 images of child pornography.  Knipe admitted to possessing child pornography. 

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and 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.justice.gov/psc.

The case was investigated by the Omaha FBI's Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.