Child Pornography Charges

Nassau County Man Indicted on Federal Child Pornography Charges


JACKSONVILLE—United States Attorney A. Brian Albritton announces the indictment of Cristopher O’Neal Burks (age 37, of Yulee, Florida) on one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Burks faces at least five years and up to 20 years in federal prison on the receipt count and 10 years on the possession count. He was arraigned in federal court today in Jacksonville before United States Magistrate Judge Thomas E. Morris, and remains in custody.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Nassau County Sheriff’s Office, and the Child Predator CyberCrime Unit of the Florida Attorney General’s Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney D. Rodney Brown.

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 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.