Indiana Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Transporting and Possessing Child Pornography

WASHINGTON—William Travis Brown, 39, of Sellersburg, Ind., was sentenced today to 20 years in prison and lifetime supervised release to follow his prison term for transporting and possessing child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Timothy M. Morrison and Indianapolis Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Resident Agent in Charge Daniel T. Dill.

A federal jury in Indianapolis convicted Brown on July 23, 2009, of one count of transportation and one count of possession of child pornography. According to evidence presented during the four-day trial, investigators discovered more than 1,000 images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of minors. The images and videos were obtained through searches on March 20, 2007, of Brown’s rented house in Georgetown, Ind., and the seizure of a computer and CDs. In addition, evidence introduced at trial revealed that Brown used different Internet technologies to chat and trade the images with others online. Brown was tried before U.S. District Court Chief Judge David F. Hamilton.

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 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.

The case against Brown was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. DeBrota of the Southern District of Indiana and Trial Attorney Bonnie L. Kane of the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). The case was investigated by ICE, the Indiana State Police, CEOS’s High Tech Investigative Unit and the FBI.