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Press Release

Former Fairfield Community High School Coach Charged With Attempted Sexual Exploitation Of Minors And Possession Of Visual Depictions Of Minors Engaged In Sexually Explicit Conduct

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Illinois

Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on July 28, 2014, Timothy C. Going, 43, formerly of Fairfield, IL, where he worked as the coach for the cross country team, the assistant coach for the track team, and a math teacher at Fairfield Community High School, was arraigned on a four-count Indictment charging him, in Counts 1 through 3, with the Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor or Minors, and, in Count 4, with Possession of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct. A detention hearing has been scheduled for August 5, 2014, to determine whether or not Going should be held without bond pending trial.

Counts 1 through 3 of the Indictment allege that between August 24, 2012, and August 25, 2012, and between October 26, 2012, and October 27, 2012, and between November 1, 2013, and November 2, 2013, Going attempted to sexually exploit minors by using these minors in an attempt to produce child pornography. Count 4 alleges that, on May 9, 2014, Going knowingly possessed a desktop computer and a laptop computer, both of which contained visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

Trial is scheduled for September 30, 2014. The penalties for each count of Attempted Sexual Exploitation of a Minor or Minors are a term in prison of not less than fifteen years, but not more than thirty years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years to life. The penalties for the offense of Possession of Visual Depictions of Minors Engaged in Sexually Explicit Conduct are a term in prison of not more than ten years, a fine up to $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not less than five years to life.

An indictment is merely the method by which federal charges are lodged. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

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 Illinois State Police, the Fairview Heights 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.

Updated February 19, 2015