Ohio sex offender receives maximum sentence in child pornography case
CINCINNATI – A convicted Ohio sex offender was sentenced to the statutory maximum for child exploitation crimes following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
William Lee Allen Jr., of Cincinnati was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 240 months in prison and ordered to be placed under court supervision for the rest of his life for possessing more than 600 images of child pornography and sharing them over the internet.
Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio and Brian M. Moskowitz, special agent in charge of HSI Michigan and Ohio, announced the sentence handed down today by Chief U.S. District Judge Susan Dlott.
"Child pornography is the permanent record of the sexual exploitation and abuse of a child and it must be stopped," said Moskowitz. "We will continue to aggressively target those engaged in this activity."
According to court documents, Allen approached an undercover investigator patrolling the Internet in January 2011 expressing a desire to look at child pornography and watch someone abusing a child. HSI investigators identified Allen by tracing his internet address, obtained a search warrant for his apartment, and found a computer containing more than 600 images of child pornography. Many of the images and/or videos depict minor prepubescent children being sexually abused and/or posed in sexually explicit poses. Some of the images involve children being bound.
Allen pleaded guilty on April 25, 2011 to possession of child pornography. Allen was convicted in Clermont County of rape and gross sexual imposition involving three minor victims.
"The need to protect the community from further crimes of the defendant is paramount in this case," Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Muncy wrote in a sentencing memo filed with the court prior to sentencing. "While incarcerated the defendant should be ordered to participate in all available mental health and sex offender programs."
The 20-year sentence is the maximum permitted under federal law for this crime.
As part of Operation Predator, HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE or its online tip form. Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.
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