Photo for Headline Surfer® / At left is the jail mug for Alexander Lee, who the long arm of the law caught up with after he downloaded images of child porn using a 'peer-to-peer' sharing program. Now he'll he sharing space in a federal jail cell.
ORLANDO -- Senior U.S. District Judge John Antoon has sentenced a 31-year-old Kissimmee man in September to five years in federal prison for receipt of child pornography, that included more than 100,000 still images and videos. Lee also was ordered to register as a sex offender and to serve a 10-year term of supervision, upon his release from prison.
The sentencing hearing was a follow-up to Alexander Lee's June 26, 2012, guilty plea before Antoon.
The story comes in at No. 82 on the Headline Surfer® countdown of the top 100 stories of 2013.
According to the evidence presented at the sentencing hearing, Lee used a "peer-to-peer program" to download child pornography.
On Oct. 9, 2012, special agents with Homeland Security Investigations, along with agents from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, executed a federal search warrant at Lee’s apartment.
A forensic review of Lee’s computer revealed that he downloaded 1,047 images of child pornography on Feb. 19, 2012.
Further forensic review revealed that Lee downloaded more than 100,000 images and videos of child pornography.
“Receiving child pornography is not a victimless crime. It haunts the children depicted in it, who live daily with the knowledge that countless strangers use an image of their worst experiences for their own gratification,” said Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Tampa, which oversees the agency’s Orlando office that conducted this investigation.
“It is our duty as special agents to find and arrest these child predators and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Receiving child pornography is not a victimless crime. It haunts the children depicted in it, who live daily with the knowledge that countless strangers use an image of their worst experiences for their own gratification,” said Susan McCormick, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Tampa, which oversees the agency’s Orlando office that conducted this investigation. “It is our duty as special agents to find and arrest these child predators and ensure they are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
This case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Custom’s Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Shawn P. Napier.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.
Counting 'em down: Headline Surfer® Ranking of the Top 100 Stories of 2013
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