11/08/2010

News / Virginia Man Sentenced to 66 Months in Prison for Child Pornography Offenses

WASHINGTON – A Virginia man was sentenced today to 66 months in prison for possession and distribution of images containing child pornography, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Heaphy for the Western District of Virginia. Senior U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon also ordered Rimmer to serve 10 years of supervised release following his prison term.

Gary Lee Rimmer, 56, was indicted in June 2010 and charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of distribution of child pornography. Rimmer pleaded guilty to both counts on July 30, 2010, in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.

At his plea hearing, Rimmer admitted that while living in Greene County, Va., in 2006, he started an online relationship with a 13-year-old girl from Florida. Throughout their Internet conversations and subsequent cell phone conversations, Rimmer portrayed himself as a 20-year-old man named "Jason," posting images he claimed to be of himself, but that were in fact images of another young man. According to court documents, Rimmer had conversations with the girl, whom he ultimately learned was under the age of 16, about starting a sexual relationship. Rimmer mailed the victim sexual items and sent her sexual images using the Internet. When investigators searched Rimmer’s computer, they found images of child pornography, including images of the victim with the items he previously mailed to her. Search terms associated with child pornography were also found on his computer. A forensic examination of Rimmer’s computer also revealed that he distributed child pornography to a person outside of Virginia during a chat session using an online message service.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. 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 .

This case was prosecuted by CEOS Trial Attorney James Silver and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nancy S. Healey of the Western District of Virginia. This case was investigated by the High Tech Investigative Unit of CEOS, the Virginia State Police and the Citrus County, Fla., Sheriff’s Department.

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/November/10-crm-1260.html

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