Rock Island, Ill. – A criminal complaint charging Christopher A. Budd, age 35, of Moline, Illinois, with child pornography crimes was filed today in the United States District Court at Rock Island. Budd was thereafter arrested at his residence in Moline. He made his initial appearance this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields, and a detention hearing has been scheduled for March 14, 2007 at Rock Island. Budd remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending the detention hearing.

The affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint alleges that on September 9, 2006 and December 5, 2006, Budd knowingly received child pornography via the Internet. It also alleges that Budd knowingly distributed child pornography to other persons over the Internet from on or about September 9, 2006 through December 13, 2006. The complaint further alleges that Budd knowingly possessed child pornography from June 19, 2003 through December 13, 2006.

According to the affidavit, Budd possessed images of child pornography that were stored on two separate hard drives for his computer. As further alleged in the affidavit, Budd possessed approximately 78 video files that contained child pornography. The complaint further alleges that Budd used a particular computer file-sharing program to obtain images and videos of child pornography. Through this program, according to the affidavit, Budd was able to share child pornography stored on his computer over the internet with other computer users, including one child pornography file that was allegedly viewed over the internet by others approximately 2,917 times.

If convicted for each of the offenses of receiving and distributing child pornography as charged in the complaint, Budd faces at least five years in prison and up to twenty years in prison plus a fine of up to $250,000. If convicted of the possession of child pornography as charged, Budd faces a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

The charges were investigated by the Moline Police Department, the Central Illinois Cybercrimes Task Force at Peoria, Illinois, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Springfield Division.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew J. Cannon of the Rock Island Branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois.

Members of the public are reminded that a complaint is merely an accusation; the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood. In February 2006, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales launched Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative designed to protect children from online exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys, 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.