JEFFERSON COUNTY MAN CHARGED WITH DISTRIBUTING, RECEIVING, AND POSSESSING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted a 66-year-old Jefferson County man for distributing, receiving and possessing child pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Col. Chris Murphy, director, Alabama Department of Public Safety.
A three-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges that WALTER D. SPRUILL used the Internet to distribute, receive and possess images of child pornography in Jefferson County from about May 20, 2009, to June 23, 2010.
“Distributing images of child pornography furthers the damage done to the children originally abused and exploited to create the images, and supports the abhorrent industry that profits from that abuse,” Vance said. “My office will prosecute anyone who creates, distributes or possesses child pornography.”
“The Internet has revolutionized the way the world communicates and shares information,” Murphy said. “For online predators, however, the Internet is nothing more than an invitation to prey on children. As long as they troll the Internet for innocent victims, we will continue to work with our partners in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Department of Justice and other law enforcement agencies to shut down online exploitation of children for good,” Murphy said.
He praised the cooperative work of the ABI’s CyberCrime Unit, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC). In this case, the ICAC members were law enforcement personnel from ABI and police departments in Wheaton, Ill., and Noblesville, Ind. Funded by a U.S. Department of Justice grant, ICAC members work to combat Internet-based child victimization by conducting online, undercover investigations and forensic analysis of computers seized in investigations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel J. Fortune is prosecuting the case.
Members of the public are reminded that an indictment contains only charges. A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.
