Dec. 17, 2008 — A St. Thomas man was sentenced Wednesday to more than six years in prison after pleading guilty to receiving child pornography.
Bradley Douglas Highbarger, 35, also known as Douglas Jerome Stein, was also ordered to serve a lifetime of supervised release, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
On Feb. 15, 2007, Highbarger was indicted on two counts of receiving child pornography through the Internet.
"The charges arose after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents searched Highbarger's home in July 2006 while investigating crimes involving passport fraud and controlled substances," the release said. "Based on a search warrant, agents discovered approximately 78 videos and more than 30 images depicting the sexual abuse of children on Highbarger's computer."
Highbarger pleaded guilty June 18 to two counts of receipt of child pornography. As part of the plea agreement, he admitted to using peer-to-peer software to receive the images depicting the sexual abuse of children.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse, the release said: "Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices, 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 identify and rescue victims."
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Everard Potter of the District of the Virgin Islands, with advisory assistance from trial attorney Elizabeth M. Yusi of the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. The case was investigated by ICE, the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the release said.
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