Bloomington Man Charged with Using Internet to Transport Child Pornography

SPRINGFIELD, IL—Late yesterday, the grand jury returned an indictment charging Richard J. Jimenez, 48, of Bloomington, Illinois, with five counts of using the Internet to transport images of child pornography. The indictment alleges that Jimenez, of the 1900 block of Tracy Drive, used the Internet to transport images of child pornography in March 2011.

Jimenez was arrested on May 19, 2011, and charged in a criminal complaint. During a court appearance on May 20, before U.S. Magistrate Judge John A. Gorman in Peoria, Jimenez waived a detention hearing and was ordered to remain detained in U.S. Marshals Service custody.

The charges were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the East Peoria Police Department and the Bloomington Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk D. Schoenbein.

If convicted, the statutory penalty for each count of transportation of child pornography is a mandatory minimum five years to 20 years in prison and terms of supervised release of up to life following any term of imprisonment.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The 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 U.S. 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.