Charlottesville Man Sentenced in Child Pornography Case

Ian Zearley to Serve 76 Months in Prison

February 23, 2010 - CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA—A local man who undercover police officers caught attempting to download images containing child pornography on a popular file sharing website was sentenced today in United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia to more than six years in prison.

In November, Ian Andrew Zearley, 28, waived his right to indictment and pled guilty to a two-count information charging him with one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Today he was sentenced to 76 months in federal prison.

“This case is just one small step forward in the ongoing battle between law enforcement and the individuals who victimize our children through the online downloading of child pornography,” United States Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy said today. “This case should serve as a warning to others out there participating in this deplorable activity, we are watching you and we will find you and bring you to justice.”

This investigation into Zearley began as a proactive enforcement case by the Charlottesville Police Department. Working in an undercover capacity, a detective with that department logged onto a popular file-sharing program and began looking for shared images that could contain child pornography. After identifying one or more items in the defendant’s shared folder that appeared to be child pornography, detectives traced the IP address to Zearley’s home, and subsequently executed a search warrant at his home. As a result of the search, a laptop computer, and a thumb drive belonging to the defendant were recovered. Both devices were found to contain child pornography.

The investigations of cases involving child pornography are conducted by a number of agencies, including the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Charlottesville Police Department, the Staunton Police Department, the Southern Virginia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and the Louisa County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Nancy S. Healey is prosecuting these cases for the United States.

This cases 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 visit http://www.projectsafechildhood.gov/.