Willmar Man Indicted for Producing Child Pornography
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 21, 2011 |
MINNEAPOLIS—Earlier today in federal court, a 36-year-old Willmar man was indicted for allegedly taking illicit photographs of a young girl. Christopher Shawn Robison was charged with one count of production of child pornography.
The indictment alleges that on July 22, 2011, Robison induced and coerced a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of such conduct. The photos were found on Robison’s cell phone.
If convicted, Robison faces a potential maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum penalty of 15 years. All sentences will be determined by a federal district court judge.
This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Julie E. Allyn.
Presently, the Justice Department is funding a study concerning the correlation between involvement in child pornography and the hands-on sexual abuse of children. A 2008 study (The Butner Study) published in the Journal of Family Violence found that up to 80 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for possession, receipt, or distribution of child pornography also admitted to hands-on sexual abuse of children, ranging from touching to rape.
The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to combating the sexual exploitation of children, particularly via the Internet. In Fiscal Year 2010, 2,235 defendants pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges, 2,222 of whom were sentenced to prison. In Fiscal Year 2009, 2,083 defendants were sentenced to prison on child pornography charges. For more information about these efforts, please visit the Department’s Project Safe Childhood website, at www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
An indictment is a determination by a grand jury that there is probable cause to believe that offenses have been committed by a defendant. A defendant, of course, is presumed innocent until he or she pleads guilty or is proven guilty at trial.