Peoria, Ill. – Two Knox county men were sentenced today to federal prison terms in unrelated child pornography cases. U.S. District Judge Michael M. Mihm ordered Mark A. Hathaway, 39, of East Galesburg, Illinois, to serve 15 years in federal prison. In an unrelated case, Judge Mihm sentenced Stephen E. Olinger, 53, of Abingdon, Illinois, to serve 152 months (12 years and 8 months) in prison. Both were ordered to remain on supervised release for life following their release from prison.

Hathaway, of the 400 block of West Main Street in East Galesburg, pled guilty on February 12, 2009, to possession and distribution of child pornography. Hathaway admitted he distributed child pornography via the Internet on or about March 13, 2008 and that he possessed child pornography from March 2008 through October 6, 2008. Hathaway was arrested and charged by criminal complaint on October 7, 2008, and has remain detained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest.

Agencies participating in Illinois’ Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in partnership with the Central Illinois Cybercrime Unit (CICU) worked cooperatively with ICAC task forces in South Carolina and Mississippi in the investigation of Hathaway.

Olinger, of the 100 block of North Austin Avenue, in Abingdon, waived indictment and pled guilty on February 11, 2009, to an information charging him with possession of child pornography in August 2008. Judge Mihm ordered Olinger to report on July 7, 2009, to the federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving his prison sentence.

The investigation of Olinger was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and task force officers from the Decatur Police Department and the Illinois Attorney General’s Office. The Abingdon Police Department and the London, England Metropolitan Police Department also provided investigative assistance in the case.

Both cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Greggory R. Walters in the Central District of Illinois and were brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.

Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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 to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.