Columbia Man Pleads Guilty To Receipt Of Child Pornography

Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on August 9, 2017, Steven D. Blosser, 40, Columbia, IL, pled guilty to an Indictment charging him with Receipt of Child Pornography which carries a penalty of a term of imprisonment of not less than five (5) years but not more than twenty (20) years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five (5) years to life.

Facts stipulated to by the parties were that, on March 2, 2016, a search warrant was executed at Blosser’s residence in Columbia, Illinois. Among the items seized from the defendant’s residence were an Apple iPad and a Dell desktop computer. While the search warrant was being executed, Blosser provided a voluntary, videotaped statement. During his statement, the defendant admitted having child pornography on his Apple iPad, stating that it had been on there "for years." The defendant also admitted downloading child pornography and provided the officers with a name of a website that he visited to find child pornography. He said that he had been downloading child pornography "as far back as I can remember."

Blosser also stipulated that a forensic review of his Dell computer revealed that it contained 84 image files of child pornography while a forensic review of his iPad revealed 2,124 image files of child pornography. In addition, the forensic review of the two devices revealed that, from on or about September 16, 2015, until on or about February 19, 2016, the defendant received images of child pornography, including those charged in the indictment.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."

The case was investigated by the Columbia, Illinois, Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Springfield Child Exploitation Task Force. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.