Springfield, IL–(ENEWSPF)– TIMOTHY J. FREELAND, age 23, of Fairview Heights, Illinois, was sentenced Friday to 97 months in the Bureau of Prisons, 10 years of supervised release, a $750 fine, and a $100 special assessment for possession of child pornography, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Stephen R. Wigginton, announced.
According to information revealed at FREELAND’s change of plea hearing, FREELAND possessed over 550 still images and 22 videos containing or depicting child pornography.
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 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 visitwww.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The investigation in this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigations Cybercrimes Task Force. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Nicole E. Gorovsky.
