Sex Offender Sentenced to Over 21 Years in Prison for Second Child Pornography Conviction

LAS VEGAS—A man who had just been released from federal prison for possessing and trading child pornography over the Internet, and then got caught doing the same thing again, has been sentenced to 262 months (21.8 years) in prison and lifetime supervised release, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States Attorney for the District of Nevada. William Greenfield, 70, of Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada, was sentenced on August 22, 2012, by U.S. District Judge Kent J. Dawson. Greenfield pleaded guilty on May 23, 2012, to one count of transporting child pornography.

“Each time a person receives, views, and downloads child pornography, they re-victimize the children depicted in the images,” said U.S. Attorney Bogden. “Despite a previous federal prison sentence, this defendant continued his victimization of children undeterred. For the sake of his many victims, the lengthy prison sentence is both warranted and justified. We will continue to prioritize the prosecution of these cases through our Project Safe Childhood initiative.”

On November 8, 2011, Greenfield was released from federal prison after serving a 37-month prison sentence for possession of child pornography. In that case, Greenfield possessed and traded child pornography over the Internet. Approximately one month later, on December 13, 2011, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) detective determined that an individual using e-mail addresses traced to Greenfield’s residence in Cal-Nev-Ari, Nevada, was receiving child pornography images and videos through two Yahoo e-mail accounts. On December 20, 2011, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at Greenfield’s residence and recovered computers and digital devices. A subsequent forensic analysis revealed that his computer contained over 600 images and videos of child pornography, which had been received over the Internet. The images and videos contained depictions of prepubescent minors and adults engaged in the sexual penetration of prepubescent minors.

On March 14, 2012, Greenfield met with his federal probation officer in Las Vegas and admitted that he had recently viewed child pornography. Greenfield stated that child pornography is his “thing” and that he was sexually aroused by talking to pedophiles. Greenfield told his probation officer that he used the website Yahoo for his child pornography activities and provided the probation officer his user name and password. Greenfield also told the probation officer that he had a computer at his hotel room in Las Vegas. The probation officer retrieved the computer and found a pornographic image of an approximately 5-year-old child and notified the FBI. Greenfield gave the FBI permission to operate his Yahoo account, and the investigating agent found more child pornography in Greenfield’s Yahoo messaging account and determined that Greenfield had transmitted images and videos of child pornography to other people over the Internet during February and March 2012. The child pornography included depictions of prepubescent minors or minors who had not attained the age of 12, as well as depictions of adults engaged in sexual penetration of prepubescent minors.

The case was investigated by the FBI, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nancy J. Koppe.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 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.”