Raleigh Man Sentenced to 10 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 DUSTIN LEE BISHOP, 32, of Raleigh, NC to 120 months’ imprisonment, followed by an eight-year term of supervised release.  BISHOP was also ordered to pay more than $19,000 in restitution to known child pornography victims identified through the investigation.  BISHOP pled guilty pursuant to a plea agreement on November 12, 2019 to one count of receipt of child pornography.

In September 2017, investigators with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received information from Google regarding a user account that had uploaded multiple files of child pornography.  The cyber tip was forwarded to the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children (NCICAC) task force and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Raleigh Police Department.

Investigators confirmed that that the account identified in the cyber tip belonged to BISHOP and later obtained a search warrant for BISHOP’s residence that was executed on February 20, 2018.  Investigators with the FBI executed the warrant and seized 19 electronic devices and 6 DVDs from BISHOP.  A forensic review was conducted and revealed over 9,300 images and more than 840 videos containing child pornography.  BISHOP agreed to speak with investigators at the time of the search and admitted to receiving, trading, and possessing 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 (FBI) in Raleigh, North Carolina and the Raleigh Police Department conducted the investigation of this case.  Assistant United States Attorney Bryan M. Stephany represented the government.