Crimes against Children 9-19-12

Springfield, IL
William A. Martin, 29, of Collinsville, Illinois, was sentenced in federal district court on September 17, 2012, to 120 months in prison (the maximum statutory sentence for the offense) on a one-count indictment charging him with possession of child pornography, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. Martin was also ordered to serve a 30-year term of supervised release, fined $1,000, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. Martin previously pled guilty to the one-count indictment on March 27, 2012.

Evidence showed that agents executed a federal search warrant at Martin’s residence based upon an investigation which revealed that Martin was able to download videos and images of child pornography from a computer located at his residence. Agents seized two computers from Martin’s bedroom, which, when forensically examined, were found to contain images and/or videos of child pornography. Martin admitted receiving child pornography through a file-sharing program and admitted possessing both computers, knowing that each contained child pornography.

Jacksonville, FL
United States District Judge Roy B. Dalton, Jr. sentenced Robert Allen Brammer (24, High Springs) yesterday to 72 months in federal prison for receiving child pornography over the Internet.

Brammer was also sentenced to a term of 10 years’ supervised release upon completion of his prison term, and was required by the court to register as a sex offender and forfeit his computer media.

According to court documents, a detective working with the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force began an undercover operation to identify persons using a particular file-sharing program on the Internet to obtain and share child pornography. The detective determined that other law enforcement officers had identified a computer using a particular Internet protocol (IP) address in Florida that was observed offering images of child pornography for distribution. Subsequent investigation revealed that, during the time frame that this IP address was seen offering images of child pornography for distribution, the subscriber for this Internet service account was an individual located at the residence of Robert Allen Brammer in High Springs.

On September 3, 2010, a federal search warrant was executed at Brammer’s residence. During the search, officers seized, among other things, a laptop computer and a desktop tower computer. During an interview, Brammer stated, among other things, that he began searching for and downloading child pornography approximately three-and-a-half years ago, and that he used file-sharing programs to search for and download child pornography from the Internet. A subsequent forensic analysis of Brammer’s computer media revealed at least 28 images and 15 videos of child pornography.

St. Louis, MO
Reginald Williams was arrested by FBI and St. Louis County officers Friday afternoon on a charge of interstate transportation of a minor with the intent to engage in prostitution. He appeared today in federal court for his preliminary and detention hearings.

According to the affidavit filed with the criminal complaint, on September 12, 2012, Collinsville, Illinois police received a report regarding a missing 16-year-old girl who was being forced to work as a prostitute by one or several adult males. The person reporting the information was familiar with online postings on the website Saint Louis backpages.com in which photographs of the girl were used to offer her services for commercial sex. The telephone number associated with the advertisement was recognized to be used by “Reggie,” who was later identified as Reginald Williams. Detectives reviewed the advertisement, which contained sexually suggestive language and listed the poster’s age to be 20 years old. However, Illinois police were able to confirm that she was born in 1996.

Investigators also learned that a second minor female was believed to be in the 16-year-old’s company at a hotel in St. Louis County. Detectives from Illinois then contacted the St. Louis FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department.

Liberty, TX
Jurors on Thursday sentenced a man convicted of taking part in the repeated sexual assault of a middle school student to 99 years in prison.

Eric McGowen wasn't in court when jurors found him guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child or later when they returned with the sentence. The 20-year-old had been free on bail and he skipped out during a break in proceedings Wednesday, the first day of testimony.

The judge issued an arrest warrant for McGowen Wednesday and allowed testimony to resume Thursday. Jurors returned with the guilty verdict after deliberating for about 20 minutes. Then, after brief court proceedings on his punishment, they decided his sentence in less than 30 minutes.

Prosecutors say the girl, who was 11 years old at the time, was sexually assaulted on at least five occasions from mid-September through early December of 2010 by 20 men and boys from her town, Cleveland, which is about 45 miles northeast of Houston.

Police began investigating after one of the girl's classmates told a teacher he saw video of her being sexually assaulted in an abandoned trailer.

McGowen was in court Wednesday when the girl, now 13, spoke about her ordeal. Testifying using a pseudonym, she told jurors about an encounter in October 2010 and one the following month in which she said McGowen and several other men and boys took turns sexually assaulting her while recording the encounters on video.