Burnett pleads guilty to possession of child pornography

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Benjamin Allen Burnett, 31, of Grand View, Idaho, pled guilty Thursday in United States District Court in Boise to possession of sexually explicit images of minors.

The U.S. Attorney's

Office said the investigation began when agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce developed suspicion that activity involving sexually explicit images of minors had taken place using a Yahoo! email account assigned to Burnett.

The investigation showed that Burnett's personal information and credit card data had been used to facilitate payments for memberships to commercial websites known to be selling child pornography.

ICE Agents, assisted by Owyhee County Sheriff's deputies, U.S. Postal Inspectors, and investigators from the Idaho Attorney General's Office-Criminal Investigation Division, searched Burnett's home on Oct. 28, 2008, and recovered computer media containing sexually explicit images and videos depicting prepubescent minors in various sexual acts.

Investigators were able to identify 15 minor victims of abuse depicted in 69 of the images.

The images were produced in France, Switzerland, Germany, England, Sweden, Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Illinois, and Washington State, and had been transmitted in interstate commerce by computer.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 6, 2009, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise.

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