Colorado Man Pleads Guilty to Receiving Child Pornography

MINNEAPOLIS—Yesterday in federal court, a 26-year-old Denver, Colorado man, formerly of Plymouth, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to receiving numerous images of child pornography. Russell Ronald Brimeyer pleaded guilty to one count of receipt of child pornography. Brimeyer, who was charged on May 7, 2012, entered his plea before United States District Court Judge Patrick J. Schiltz.

In his plea agreement, Brimeyer admitted that on April 15, 2009, he received several images via his computer that contained depictions of a minor under the age of 12 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. In addition, Brimeyer admitted that he received the images from a peer-to-peer file sharing program on the Internet. On September 24, 2009, the items were found on Brimeyer’s computer and other media devices during the execution of a search warrant at his residence.

For his crime, Brimeyer faces a potential maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, with a mandatory minimum penalty of five years. Judge Schiltz will determine his sentence at a future hearing.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Minnesota Cyber Crimes Task Force, which is sponsored by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Clifford B. Wardlaw.

Presently, the Justice Department is funding a study concerning the correlation between involvement in child pornography and the hands-on sexual abuse of children. A 2008 study (The Butner Study) published in the Journal of Family Violence found that up to 80 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for possession, receipt, or distribution of child pornography also admitted to hands-on sexual abuse of children, ranging from touching to rape.

The U.S. Department of Justice is committed to combating the sexual exploitation of children, particularly via the Internet. In fiscal year 2010, 2,235 defendants pleaded guilty to federal child pornography charges, 2,222 of whom were sentenced to prison. In fiscal year 2009, 2,083 defendants were sentenced to prison on child pornography charges. For more information about these efforts, please visit the Department’s Project Safe Childhood website, at www.projectsafechildhood.gov.