GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - Earlier this week, Robert H. Field, 60, of Gainesville, Florida, was sentenced to 151 months in prison followed by ten years of supervised release for the receipt and distribution of child pornography, announced Pamela C. Marsh, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

The sentencing was held Monday before Chief United States District Judge Stephan P. Mickle. Evidence introduced at Field's plea and sentencing hearings established that between May 2009, and February 2010, Field used specialized file sharing software to exchange child pornography with others over the Internet. When investigators executed a federal search warrant at Field's Gainesville home in March of last year, they recovered a computer containing file sharing software and numerous images and videos of child pornography. The images on Field's computer included prepubescent children engaged in sexual acts, and the sadistic and masochistic sexual abuse of children.

U.S. Attorney Marsh praised the work of the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Gainesville Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Alachua County Sheriff's Office, whose joint investigation led to Field's conviction and sentence.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006, to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by 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 exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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