WASHINGTON—(ENEWSPF)–A former Rochester, Ill., firefighter was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison and lifetime supervised release for child exploitation charges, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois James A. Lewis.
Justin D. Weaver, 27, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Mills in the Central District of Illinois. Weaver pleaded guilty on Jan. 27, 2011, to one count of production of child pornography, one count of possession of child pornography and one count of destruction of evidence. At his plea hearing, Weaver admitted to molesting a child under the age of 12 and producing child pornography of that molestation.
Weaver is also required to register as a sex offender in accordance with state and federal law.
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 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 and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly Peirson of the Central District of Illinois and Trial Attorney Mi Yung Park of the Criminal Division’s CEOS. The case was investigated by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; the Springfield, Ill., Police Department; the Adams County, Ill., Sheriff’s Department; and CEOS’s High Technology Investigative Unit.
Source: justice.gov
