Omaha Man Sentenced to Seven Years for Receiving Child Pornography

United States Attorney Deborah R. Gilg announced that Steven D. Fonder, age 33, of Omaha, was sentenced in United States District Court in Omaha for receiving and possessing child pornography. The Honorable Laurie Smith Camp, Chief Judge, sentenced Fonder to 84 months’ imprisonment on count one for receiving and distributing child pornography and 84 months on Count two for possessing child pornography. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently to each other. There is no parole in the federal system. After his release from prison, Fonder will be on supervised release for 10 years and will be required to register as a sex offender.

On September 13, 2011, an investigator with the Nebraska State Patrol was conducting an undercover investigation looking for individuals sharing child pornography on the Internet. The information developed through the investigation was used to obtain a federal search warrant.

On April 4, 2012, agents with the FBI Omaha Cyber Crimes Task Force served a search warrant on Fonder’s South Omaha residence. Forensic analysis of the computer revealed 1,250 videos and 40,000 images of child pornography. The children depicted in sexually explicit conduct ranged from infants to teens. Fonder admitted to collecting child pornography over a six-year period.

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 United States Attorney’s 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.justice.gov/psc.

This matter was investigated by the Omaha FBI’s Cyber Crime Task Force (CCTF), of which the Nebraska State Patrol is a partner. The Omaha CCTF is a multi-jurisdictional task force consisting of 11 federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies from Nebraska and Iowa. The mission of the Omaha CCTF is to investigate and apprehend high technology criminals and to protect our communities by preventing high technology crime and national security threats involving computers and computer networks. The Omaha CCTF was established on the premise that the capabilities of law enforcement agencies to investigate computer and high technology related crimes are enhanced in a task force setting involving the sharing of resources and expertise.