Grand Forks Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charges

GRAND FORKS—United States Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on August 2, 2011, Mark Alan Lindgren, 28, of Grand Forks, North Dakota, pleaded guilty before United States District Court Judge Ralph R. Erickson to distribution of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors and possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors.

The investigation of Lindgren began after an undercover special agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Innocent Images Unit downloaded 41 child pornography files from Lindgren’s computer via peer-to-peer software. Based on this information, a special agent with the FBI obtained and executed a search warrant on Lindgren’s residence where the agent found various electronic media containing child pornography.

The forensic examination of the media revealed that Lindgren had stored child pornography on an internal hard drive and other CDs and DVDs. Lindgren possessed 35,133 images and 252 videos of child pornography. Such pornography depicted prepubescent children engaged in various sexual acts with adult males and animals. Other images depicted children in bondage. The incidents occurred from June of 2009 through September of 2009.

The charge of distribution of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors carry a statutory minimum mandatory sentence of five years’ imprisonment and a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment. The charge of possession of materials involving the sexual exploitation of minors carries a statutory maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment. The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Homeland Security Investigations.

Sentencing for Lindgren has been scheduled for October 26, 2011, in United States District Court in Grand Forks, North Dakota, at 10:45 a.m.

This case was brought as a 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 United States 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, visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Klemetsrud Puhl is prosecuting the case.