Soap Lake Man Sentenced To Five Years In Federal Prison for Receipt of Child Pornography

Spokane – Michael C. Ormsby, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced that Timothy Andrew Casey, age 49, of Soap Lake, Washington, was sentenced today after having previously pleaded guilty in November of 2013 to Receipt of Child Pornography. Chief United States District Court Judge Rosanna Malouf Peterson sentenced Casey to a five year term of imprisonment, to be followed by a 20 year term of court supervision after he is released from Federal prison. In addition, Casey will be required to register as a sex offender.

According to court records, while the Department of Interior ("DOI") was monitoring its internal electronic network traffic it discovered that a computer on the DOI network, which was registered to Timothy A. Casey, had been used to view and downloaded child pornography images. Casey was employed by the DOI at the Bureau of Reclamation ("BOR") office in Ephrata, Washington. An investigation conducted by the DOI Office of Inspector General, revealed that for approximately the last five years, while at his BOR office, Casey would search, view and then download child pornography images from his work computer onto thumb drives. Casey would then take the thumb drives home and insert them into a digital photo frame in order to view the child pornography at home. Approximately 2,800 pictures and videos depicting sexually explicit conduct by minor children were extracted from captured DOI network traffic, the work computer assigned to Casey, and three USB removable storage devices seized from Casey's residence pursuant to a search warrant.

Michael C. Ormsby said, "Federal employees are entrusted by the public to comport themselves lawfully and appropriately in the execution of their employment responsibilities. Mr. Casey violated this trust by using a government computer to commit his criminal conduct. Such conduct by any Federal employee is inexcusable and will not be tolerated. Let me be abundantly clear --the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Washington will prosecute and its investigative partners will investigate aggressively child pornography-related crimes. I commend the Department of Interior, Office of Inspector General for its superb investigative efforts in this case"

This case was pursued as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the United States Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. The Project Safe Childhood Initiative ("PSC") has five major components:

• Integrated federal, state, and local efforts to investigate and prosecute child exploitation cases, and to identify and rescue child victims;
• Participation of PSC partners in coordinated national initiatives;
• Increased federal enforcement in child pornography and enticement cases;
• Training of federal, state, and local law enforcement agents; and
• Community awareness and educational programs.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources".

This investigation was conducted by the Department of Interior, Office of Inspector General. The case was prosecuted by Stephanie J. Lister, an Assistant United States Attorney and PSC Coordinator for the Eastern District of Washington.

CR-13-00138-RMP