Former Hall County School Bus Driver Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography Offenses

GAINESVILLE, GA—JOHN COOPER SPINKS, 41, of Oakwood, Georgia, a former bus driver for the Hall County, Georgia school system, was sentenced today by Senior United States District Court Judge William C. O'Kelley to six years in federal prison for his convictions of distribution, receipt and possession of child pornography.

United States Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said, “As a school bus driver, this defendant was in daily contact with the children of Hall County. While he was entrusted with our children by day, he was later searching for, downloading, and distributing sexually exploitative images of children at his home computer.”

SPINKS was sentenced to six years in federal prison to be followed by 20 years of supervised release. He was also fined $2,000. There is no parole in the federal system.

According to United States Attorney Yates and information presented during the guilty plea hearing on June 18, 2010, SPINKS distributed images of child pornography over the Internet to an undercover law enforcement officer who he encountered in a chat room named "#baby&toddlerlove." In January 2010, SPINKS was again found in a chat room known for trading images of child pornography. On March 25, 2010, federal agents executed a search warrant at SPINKS' home and seized a laptop computer and several other pieces of electronic media. SPINKS admitted to agents that he had searched for, downloaded, and viewed images of child pornography and that he had distributed child pornographic images over the Internet. FBI agents did in fact find hundreds of images of child pornography on his home computer.

This case was investigated by special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys Jill E. Steinberg and Brent Alan Gray prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact Sally Quillian Yates, United States Attorney, or Charysse L. Alexander, Executive Assistant United States Attorney, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.