May 25, 2007

St. George man sentenced to more than seven years for possession of child pornography following national ICE probe

SALT LAKE CITY - A construction worker from St. George, Utah has been sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to one count of possession of child pornography as part of Operation Emissary, a nationwide investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) into a website that offered images and movies of hardcore child pornography

Zachery Michael Sherrill, 31, is among the approximately 125 defendants nationwide charged in connection with Operation Emissary. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson sentenced Sherrill yesterday.

In a plea agreement reached with federal prosecutors in January, Sherrill admitted that between January and July 2006, he possessed more than 600 images of child pornography on his computer. The images were of prepubescent minors.

Sherrill was charged after ICE agents executed a search warrant at his St. George residence and seized his laptop computer and other computer equipment. Sherrill was indicted in October 2006 on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

This case was prosecuted as a part of Utah Project Safe Childhood, an initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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