May 01, 2007

Eastern Washington Man Sentenced to 70 Months on child Pornography Charges

SPOKANE, Wash. - A 59-year-old resident of Republic, Wash., was sentenced today in federal court to 70 months in prison on charges of transportation of child pornography, following an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE.)

Patrick L. Sweeney pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in March 2006, admitting to possessing a collection of sadistic and masochistic images of children. Upon completion of his prison sentence, Sweeney will be subject to five years of court supervision.

In May 2005, ICE agents initiated an undercover operation aimed at identifying individuals who were trading images of child pornography online. The investigation led the agents to Omak, Wash., where they identified a computer used by Sweeney as the source of child pornography images and video clips being shared over the Internet.

A federal search warrant was executed in July 2005 on Sweeney’s computer and he immediately admitted to downloading and storing child pornography. ICE agents seized a number of computers, computer equipment and other items belonging to Sweeney that contained more than 300 images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

"This is one of many cases demonstrating ICE's resolve to search out predators who sexually exploit innocent children," said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Seattle. "Predators who believe they can remain anonymous in cyberspace are sadly mistaken. Pursuing this type of criminal is one of ICE's most important responsibilities."

This investigation is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative launched in July 2003, aimed at protecting children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers.

-- ICE --