Preston man sentenced for receiving child pornography
Gregory Schvaneveldt, 40, of Preston, Idaho, was sentencedtodayin United States District Court to 96 months in prison followed by seven years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.
U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Schvaneveldt to pay $10,250 in restitution to victims of the crime and to forfeit computers and related property used in the commission of the offense.
Schvaneveldt pleaded guilty to the charge onAugust 12, 2015.
According to the plea agreement, an undercover special agent with Homeland Security Investigations was able to download 48 images and four videos of child pornography from Schvaneveldt’s shared computer files, after Schvaneveldt shared the password protecting the files with the agent during an online chat.
This led to a federal search warrant for Schvaneveldt’s home, where law enforcement agents seized two computers, an external hard drive, and related equipment.
On the computers and external hard drive, law enforcement agents discovered approximately 1,638 images and 409 video files of suspected child pornography.
When interviewed by law enforcement, Schvaneveldt admitted that there was child pornography on the computers in his home and “hundreds” of images on the external hard drive.
He stated that he had found child pornography on the Internet about a year prior and admitted saving images of child pornography from the Internet to his computer. He also admitted to receiving child pornography through an online chat function.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched inMay 2006by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
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Information provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office
