Man Sentenced for Possessing Sexually Explicit Material Involving Minors

MUSKOGEE, OK—The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, announced that Mark Benjamine Purdom, II, age 43, of Whitefield, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 110 months’ imprisonment, followed by five years of supervised release for possession of certain material involving the sexual exploitation of minors, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2252(a)(4)(B) and 2252(b)(2).

The charge arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The defendant was indicted in September 2011 and pled guilty in February 2012.

The indictment alleged that between on or about December 30, 2009 and March 23, 2010, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant knowingly possessed and attempted to possess matters which contained visual depictions, as that term is defined in Title 18, United States Code, Section 2256(5), the production of said visual depictions involved the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, as that term is defined in Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2256(2)(A)-(B), and said visual depictions were of such sexually explicit conduct and had been transported in interstate commerce by computer.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee presided over today’s hearing. The defendant will remain in the custody of the United States Marshals Service pending transportation to the designated federal prison at which he will serve his non-parolable sentence.

Assistant United States Attorney Chris Wilson represented the United States.