Local College Student Sentenced to Prison for Child Porn

SPOKANE—James A. McDevitt, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Zachary Lee Schrock, age 21, of Spokane, Washington, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for possessing child pornography. After he is released from prison, he will be on court supervision for three years and be required to register as a sex offender.

In May 2006, the Pennsylvania State Police conducted an investigation into the trading of child pornography on the Internet. The State Police observed multiple offers to trade child pornography by using common file trading tools on the Internet. The investigation determined that the offer was being made by Zachary Lee Schrock, a 19-year-old community college student, from his home in Spokane, Washington. A federal search warrant was obtained and that resulted in the seizure of Schrock’s home computer. A forensic examination of the computer disclosed 185 individual images and 75 video files containing child pornography. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) identified the known child victims depicted in some of the images. Schrock was arrested and later pleaded guilty to the charge of possessing child pornography on December 5, 2008.

James A. McDevitt, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, said, “This case is yet another example of the fine cooperation and national networking that law enforcement have developed to address child exploitation. Child pornography is not a victimless crime, these are real children being exploited. Just as the child victims are not anonymous, neither are the perpetrators trading child pornography over the Internet.”

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 February 2006 by the Department of Justice. 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov. The Project Safe Childhood (PSC) Initiative has five major components:

• Integrated federal, state, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases, and to identify and rescue child victims
• Participation of PSC partners in coordinated national initiatives
• Increased federal enforcement in child pornography and enticement cases
• Training of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents
• Community awareness and educational programs

To report these crimes, visit www.cybertipline.com or call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s hotline at 1-800-843-5678. This case was investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children assisted in the investigation. This case was prosecuted by Stephanie Lister, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.