Hubert Man Sentenced to More Than 15 Years Imprisonment on Child Pornography Charges

RALEIGH — The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announced that today, United States District Judge James C. Dever, III, sentenced JAMES ROBERT BONNETTE, 39, of Hubert, NC to 188 months’ imprisonment, followed by a lifetime term of supervised release.  BONNETTE pled guilty on July 22, 2019 to one count of receipt of child pornography.

A 2017 investigation into a file sharing network identified BONNETTE’s IP address as advertising known child pornography files and files were directly downloaded from BONNETTE’s IP address.  An administrative subpoena identified BONNETTE’s residence and a search warrant was obtained.   On October 27, 2017, investigators executed the search warrant and multiple devices were seized.

BONNETTE agreed to speak with investigators and, during the interview, admitted to downloading and storing child pornography.  A forensic review of the seized devices uncovered two hard drives containing thousands of images and videos of child pornography.

This case is part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level.  For more information about this important national initiative, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Child Exploitation Task Force investigated this case.  Assistant United States Attorneys Melissa Belle Kessler and Bryan M. Stephany represented the government.