Illinois man charged with child pornography offenses following HSI investigation

URBANA, Ill. — An Illinois man was indicted Tuesday on charges of trading child pornography images, announced U.S. Attorney Jim Lewis, Central District of Illinois.

These charges resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Urbana Police Department and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

A federal grand jury in Peoria, Illinois, returned an indictment July 22 charging Shannon Logan, 35, of Urbana, with distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography. The indictment alleges that from March 5 to May 30, Logan traded images on the Internet of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. He allegedly retained the images and videos he traded on computer storage devices.

Logan remains in law enforcement custody following his arrest May 30 on state charges. In consultation with Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz, the U.S. Attorney's office has adopted this case to prosecute these child pornography charges.

A future date will be determined for Logan to appear for arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge David G. Bernthal in federal court in Urbana.

If convicted of the federal offenses charged, the statutory penalty for each count of distributing and receiving child pornography is a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison, and up to a lifetime of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. For defendants with prior child sex abuse or child pornography conviction, the statutory penalty is not less than 15 years and up to 40 years in prison. For possessing child pornography, the penalty is up to 10 years in prison.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elly Peirson with the cooperation of Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz.

Members of the public are reminded that an indictment is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

This investigation was conducted under HSI's Operation Predator, an international initiative to protect children from sexual predators. Since the launch of Operation Predator in 2003, HSI has arrested more than 10,000 individuals for crimes against children, including producing and distributing online child pornography, traveling overseas for sex with minors, and sex trafficking children. In fiscal year 2013, more than 2,000 individuals were arrested by HSI special agents under this initiative.

HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

For additional information about wanted suspected child predators, download HSI's Operation Predator smartphone app or visit the online suspect alerts page.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.